Consumer Reports Is On Crack!!!

[DMZ]

Originally Posted by BIGTAZ351

Now for those of you who think an Auto equipped Yaris is slow, You obviously have never driven a early 80's Ford pickup with the carburetor equipped inline six! It did the job, but really slow, even slower with an auto. 0-60 was in the 25-35 second range!

You make a good point. I remember when most compact pickups had inline fours w/carburetors. They were notoriously gutless loaded or unloaded. My '81 Datsun King Cab seemed to be staining most of the time at highway speeds.

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by BIGTAZ351

Other than I'm a newbie and nobody will care as this topic is old.. I'm not starting a posting war!
I am a VERY large guy,(5'11" 375#) and 4/5 door cars are a freaking joke, and high MPG's are a must (100 mile round trip daily), and low price, so with that said I had very few options especially considering some of the cars in my list were discontinued at the end of 2010 with no 3dr replacements. My 3dr options were, Yaris, Accent, Cobalt, Focus. I went with repair records, and mpg reports and of those, the Yaris was obviously the winner, the biggest plus on the maint. side of things (the timing chain) most of the others use a belt...I'm old school, steel is stronger and more durable than rubber.
OK that's off my chest!
Now for those of you who think an Auto equipped Yaris is slow, You obviously have never driven a early 80's Ford pickup with the carburetor equipped inline six! It did the job, but really slow, even slower with an auto. 0-60 was in the 25-35 second range!
As for Noise and the Bumpy ride, you're kidding right? I only hear noise at above the posted limits, and the ride of this car is better than all of the others on my list.
These cars are Econoboxes built for long life on the highway getting high MPG's, not a freakin' Cadillac XLR!
I will agree...
The gas pedal is touchy, the brakes are scary good!
The center gauge is different, and the dash does collect dust easy, and CR and almost every other "Consumer Information Magazine/website" are biased by who advertises, and are totally useless even as bath tissue!
I love my leftover '10 Yaris, and this website is awesome, after all, where else have you seen a car like mine with a plow? Thats my two pennies, now I'll shut up

No need to shut up, good post.

It's true, 2-door models have the easiest front seat access with the bigger doors. It's sad that automakers are starting to abandon them. The new 2012 Yaris will apparently NOT come as a 3-door option. Oddly enough, it was the only option in the US for its first two years. Even now, I would say at least half of all liftbacks sold since the 5-door came out have been 3- doors. You mentioned Yaris, Accent, Cobalt, & Focus were your only options fitting this criteria. Guess what, they all cease to exist this year. The Cruze sedan, '12 Accent, '12 Yaris, and '12 Focus hatchbacks will only be available as 5-doors. Looks like you'll be keeping your Yaris for a while.

[Hershey]

We dumped C.R.. Were long time readers . Same old cr*p . Over and over and ....

[DMZ]

Originally Posted by Hershey

We dumped C.R.. Were long time readers . Same old cr*p . Over and over and ....

Plasma TV's, computers, digital cameras, vacuums and high end autos.

It got old and redundant.

[Hershey]

Originally Posted by DMZ

Plasma TV's, computers, digital cameras, vacuums and high end autos.

It got old and redundant.

Nailed it . We'll go to the library if anything of interest is in it . Plus , some of the things are available for free at their site .

[p123456789]

My only complaint with the yaris is I wish the shifter and center console was higher up, I feel like I'm reaching for the shifter and it would also be nice if it was made from a little better plastic. Other than that what can you excpect for a 12k car? I think in about 10 years the yaris will have the following like the civic hatchback and the value's will stay pretty strong.
If the fit was the same price as the yaris I would have picked the fit hands down I think it is that much nicer of a car but its not worth the extra price for me I needed a point a to b car and the yaris does that best.

[rick996]

I'll add that I'm not a fan of the electronic fuel gauge. I can never tell if it's blinking slow or fast. Some things should just be analog. Like a watch. I can't tell time on a digital watch .

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by rick996

I'll add that I'm not a fan of the electronic fuel gauge. I can never tell if it's blinking slow or fast. Some things should just be analog. Like a watch. I can't tell time on a digital watch .

Huh? You just read the numbers. Not sure I understand how you cannot read numbers.

It's 12:40 right now. "Twelve Forty". Numbers are kind of an important part of life.

[rick996]

No, to me it's 20 till 1:00.

[rick996]

My problem with the digital gas gauge bars is that they jump instead of flow. Say you get to 1/2 tank and the gauge is exactly correct and shows you 4 bars out of 8. Then you drive 50 miles and there are still 4 bars. You can't still have 1/2 a tank. I want to see what's between 1/2 a tank and 3/8 of a tank.

As to telling time on a digital watch, I was being a little funny . The truth is that I prefer using an analog watch for the same reason. I don't want to see minutes jump from one to the next I want to see them flow from one to the next. Just my preference as there were no digital watches until I was older (or calculators, I used a slide rule).

But I do look at my watch at 12:40 and think 20 of.

[BIGTAZ351]

Rick,
I wish the car had a whole set of Analog gauges Tach, and oil pressure...but thats the motorhead of me coming out....Digital?...I like water temp to be digital!

Another car I considered, and forgot to mention in my first post was the Golf TDi, but the so called better mileage (with more expensive fuel) doesn't justify their ungodly high price $24,000+ not to mention that there is more maintenance to do on a VW TurboDiesel!

[rick996]

I have an analog tach. We both drive 2010's and I don't have the power package. Maybe you get the tach with the manual transmission. And speaking of slow, I once had a 62 VW bus.

[BIGTAZ351]

Originally Posted by rick996

I have an analog tach. We both drive 2010's and I don't have the power package. Maybe you get the tach with the manual transmission. And speaking of slow, I once had a 62 VW bus.

Yeah, thats kinda what I got out of it too..A Tach isnt really necessary on an A/T car anyway, on a Pickup where you do towing out of O/D yes! along with Trans Temp!

The early 80's diesel Bus was slow also, I followed one for about 10 miles several years ago, he pulled into a gas station..and the gear head part of me had to follow and ask...Was that factory? he showed the whole deal and yes it came that way, and I looked it up when I got home, I think it had something like 50HP! Not a popular option?

[SailDesign]

Originally Posted by BIGTAZ351

The early 80's diesel Bus was slow also, I followed one for about 10 miles several years ago, he pulled into a gas station..and the gear head part of me had to follow and ask...Was that factory? he showed the whole deal and yes it came that way, and I looked it up when I got home, I think it had something like 50HP! Not a popular option?

We had one of the first of the Mark II buses (1970-ish) with the 1200 engine. WooHoo! Drove that to Florida and back from RI one year, and then across to California the next. Sure got to admire the scenery in that thing.

[rick996]

Originally Posted by rick996

And speaking of slow, I once had a 62 VW bus.

Correction - I was making up a list of cars I owned and realized that it was a 1968 bus. Also had a 1978 bus.

[DMZ]

I wish CR would do base model cars and trucks only. They always test the fully loaded or fully equipped models. I think a better comparison would be with the base models, to show what is offered at that price and trim level.

[BLKHILLSGUY]

Hello. Been lurking in this forum for over a month and have spent HOURS researching. Some great people here. First off let me start by saying I purchased a 3 dr LB w/ Power Package in Polar White a few weeks back. And of course it is a manual :)

Let me explain my purchase. I have wanted a Yaris for several yrs now, however, until recently you had to pay an arm and a 2 legs for the safety items I wanted, minus stability control. So I settled for the 1st generation 2008 Honda Fit Sport. The looks were not great but it was a good lil car. So then the 2nd generation Fit came out in 2009 and I purchased a top of the line model. Unfortunately I was also forced to purchase the $1,800 navi to get VSC :( The car was just under 20k loaded with every feature. I still wanted the Yaris but it did not have 6 air bags, VSC so I went with the Fit, aesthetics aside. I drove this Fit for 2 yrs w/ several minor probs all fixed under warranty. Probs included squeaky pedal(minor) to more major issues such as the drivers window CONSTANTLY, slowly edging down, requiring me to pull it up and dificulty (grinding actually) while putting it in 5th gear. I've driven a manual my entire life(since 14, and 35 now) so I know it wasn't me. The dealership was fantastic with the pedal squeak but could never fix the other 2 probs. I also forgot to mention the VERY inaccurate computer mpg guage!! I spoke to a 19 yr Honda mechanic and he also explained he was not AT ALL happy with the build quality of the 2nd generation Honda,especially for it's price and for being a Honda. SO, unhappy with the Fit I moved into a 2011 LOADED Honda Element. Problems from day two on the Element. Problems with difficulty starting(garaged all winter) to buttons on cruise control not working.

So I went to visit my sister near KC Missouri and stopped at Toyota dealer after reviewing their new inventory of Yaris's fitting my criteria. I was sooooooooo happy that Toyota finally added ABS,6 air bags, and VSC STANDARD!!! Traded in the Element, lost $2,500, or my ass, however you want to look at it. BUT I finally got what I wanted and to be honest their is NO comparison between a Honda and a Toyota in build. EVERYTHING on the Yaris is tighter and more solid than the 2nd generation Fit I had. The door shuts more soundly. The ONLY thing "better" on the Fit was the pretty dash and the cushier materials and the "magic seats." The ride of the Yaris is just as good, the seats feel great(I'm only 5'7" but I've traveled in them in 14 hr increments) and EVERYTHING feels more solid. Honda might have spent the extra money($4,700 more in my case) on a fancier interior but I would take the Yaris over the Fit anydamn day of the week. AND I'VE OWNED TWO!! I feel like a pig in shit and have a great Yaris that does everything I want it to. I considered waiting for the Scion IQ(Toyota IQ) coming late summer, but it is smaller and I don't need to pay 4k more like I did for the Fit for a fancier interior. So if any of you out there in this forum feel like you should have bought a new Fit, I'm here to tell you you made the right decision. I know I won't be stranded on the side of the road with the Yaris and I couldn't have made a better decision.

Consumer Reports is soooooooo wrong about this car-the Yaris.

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by BLKHILLSGUY

Hello. Been lurking in this forum for over a month and have spent HOURS researching. Some great people here. First off let me start by saying I purchased a 3 dr LB w/ Power Package in Polar White a few weeks back. And of course it is a manual :)

Let me explain my purchase. I have wanted a Yaris for several yrs now, however, until recently you had to pay an arm and a 2 legs for the safety items I wanted, minus stability control. So I settled for the 1st generation 2008 Honda Fit Sport. The looks were not great but it was a good lil car. So then the 2nd generation Fit came out in 2009 and I purchased a top of the line model. Unfortunately I was also forced to purchase the $1,800 navi to get VSC :( The car was just under 20k loaded with every feature. I still wanted the Yaris but it did not have 6 air bags, VSC so I went with the Fit, aesthetics aside. I drove this Fit for 2 yrs w/ several minor probs all fixed under warranty. Probs included squeaky pedal(minor) to more major issues such as the drivers window CONSTANTLY, slowly edging down, requiring me to pull it up and dificulty (grinding actually) while putting it in 5th gear. I've driven a manual my entire life(since 14, and 35 now) so I know it wasn't me. The dealership was fantastic with the pedal squeak but could never fix the other 2 probs. I also forgot to mention the VERY inaccurate computer mpg guage!! I spoke to a 19 yr Honda mechanic and he also explained he was not AT ALL happy with the build quality of the 2nd generation Honda,especially for it's price and for being a Honda. SO, unhappy with the Fit I moved into a 2011 LOADED Honda Element. Problems from day two on the Element. Problems with difficulty starting(garaged all winter) to buttons on cruise control not working.

So I went to visit my sister near KC Missouri and stopped at Toyota dealer after reviewing their new inventory of Yaris's fitting my criteria. I was sooooooooo happy that Toyota finally added ABS,6 air bags, and VSC STANDARD!!! Traded in the Element, lost $2,500, or my ass, however you want to look at it. BUT I finally got what I wanted and to be honest their is NO comparison between a Honda and a Toyota in build. EVERYTHING on the Yaris is tighter and more solid than the 2nd generation Fit I had. The door shuts more soundly. The ONLY thing "better" on the Fit was the pretty dash and the cushier materials and the "magic seats." The ride of the Yaris is just as good, the seats feel great(I'm only 5'7" but I've traveled in them in 14 hr increments) and EVERYTHING feels more solid. Honda might have spent the extra money($4,700 more in my case) on a fancier interior but I would take the Yaris over the Fit anydamn day of the week. AND I'VE OWNED TWO!! I feel like a pig in shit and have a great Yaris that does everything I want it to. I considered waiting for the Scion IQ(Toyota IQ) coming late summer, but it is smaller and I don't need to pay 4k more like I did for the Fit for a fancier interior. So if any of you out there in this forum feel like you should have bought a new Fit, I'm here to tell you you made the right decision. I know I won't be stranded on the side of the road with the Yaris and I couldn't have made a better decision.

Consumer Reports is soooooooo wrong about this car-the Yaris.

Thanks for the write up and comparison.

Sorry you had to dump so much money switching 4 vehicles.

I can almost guarantee you that you'll have no problems for a long time with the Yaris. Mine hasn't been to the dealer for any issues yet with 105,000 miles. Another member here drove 425,000 miles as a courier with only one minor repair. Truly remarkable quality and reliability.

Enjoy!