Toyota Yaris Premium Review | Hilton Car Supermarket

24th Feb 2021

In the world of small hatchbacks, few contenders manage to be as fun to drive, compact yet plenty spacious on the outside, and about as reliable as a wood-burning oven as the ever-popular Toyota Yaris.

Within the same supermini category, you find market favorites such as the Honda Jazz, Volkswagen Polo, and the Nissan Note. So, the Toyota Yaris needs to be more than decent if it wants to stand out against the crowd.

Exterior

Previous Yaris models always lacked in sales, since people thought the styling was just a bit too Japanese and didn’t have that euro chic that everyone here craves for. So, Toyota went back to the drawing board, to try and remedy this.

The 2015 Toyota Yaris did a pretty banging job at bringing the superminis styling to the 21st century. This facelifted model features the same X-shaped front design that made its debut on the Toyota Aygo not too long ago.

Some subtle chrome trim and some snazzy alloy wheels help it to stand out against its competition. It manages to be cute while strikingly handsome at the same time, a rare feat.

Sure, it isn’t as aggressive as some of its rivals on the market today, but that’s a good thing. It’s a car that appears equally to the elderly as well as it does to teenagers.

Interior

Step inside and you’ll find that Toyota completely reharled the interior to create a more premium and minimalistic design that’s much easier on the eyes and makes great use of the available space.

The three-spoke steering wheel, the triple gauges in the instrument cluster, and the fairly simplistic central dash make for a nice change compared to the plethora of buttons and fake materials you find in other vehicles within its price range.

Interior space is more than decent both for the front seat and rear-seat passengers. Despite being a small car, the Yaris is surprisingly spacious on the inside. What’s more, there’s no annoying transmission tunnel hump in the rear, so three people will be able to travel in the Yaris without impeding on each other’s legroom.

The boot is plenty spacious as well, though not quite as big as something you get in a Polo at 286 litres of space available with the rear seats in place. Fold the back seats down and that space increases to a rather impressive 768-litres.

This generation of the Yaris was available with four different trim levels. The active, icon, sport, and excel. The Icon variant is considered to be the best bang for your buck. This trim level includes extras such as air conditioning, reversing camera, softer feel materials on the inside, and Bluetooth connectivity.

Engine & Drive

The Yaris is available with four different engine options as standard. The 1.0-litre petrol, a 1.33-litre petrol, 1.4-litre diesel, and the 1.5-litre both with and without hybrid assistance. The standard 1.5-litre packs 73hp. So, it’s got plenty of grunt to keep with traffic and even engage in some light overtaking.

While it’s a tad bit slower than its European rivals, none of them possess the same level of legendary reliability that makes Toyotas and especially the Yaris so bulletproof.

The suspension has also seen a complete overhaul with a stiffer torsion beam at the rear and softer springs upfront. This allows the Yaris to corner flatter and harder while being more comfortable through bumps and potholes.

The steering does lack a bit of feel due to the electric setup, however, it’s still precise and very light. Making it great for casual city and motorway driving. Numbers-wise it’s also fairly decent with CO2 emissions hovering around 114g/km and a claimed average of 57.6mpg.

So, it’ll sip on fuel, is plenty spacious, looks the part, is great for small families and teenagers thanks to its seven airbags, and it’s pretty zippy once you get on it.