Today I had a brief test drive in a Yaris petrol manual, first let some pictures speak, then I will do
To be very frank, for once it looked a bit odd and I am quite skeptical that those air deflectors will work perfectly in long run or not. IMO, they could have gone a bit conventional way.
That's Toyota 'Thank you' footmat, sorry if this resulted in some dust going into the system, that said; they are simply the blowers with no cooling coils. What's the issue? Well, we tried three different situations:
- Very hot noon: Enter the car and they will throw proper hot air towards your face, best is to keep them off for first 5 minutes. Thankfully you get proper air volume control and hence can manage the things in a better manner.
- Direct central vents towards the top: That's effective and you can start feeling cool air on your face within a few seconds of it starting to flow from front AC vents
- Central vents directed in any direction: The rear passengers will get their share of cool air only after 3-4minutes of the moment the air conditioning starts working
That said, the ACC is quite effective and having the air flow volume control is very helpful - but if they introduced cooling coils in there, it would have been massively helpful.
I, for one simply open the sunroof of the car for first 1 minute with ACC running, opening the sunroof always makes me feel relaxed as the hot air escapes from the sunroof and air conditioning takes care of everything else - my experience says that this method is quite effective. In other words, instead of having this 'aeroplane' on the roof,
I will prefer having a Honda City with rear AC vents directing cool air at the back and having a sunroof doing the job for me.
The instrument cluster is quite functional and legit, is loaded with a lot of information and the fonts definitely look and feel better than those in City.
Buttons work with a nice tactile feel and leather armrest is wonderful too.Since Innova Crysta, we are seeing this kind of armrests in Toyota cars which are slightly slanting towards inside - and that's a good thing. I drive in a laid back position with seat set at lowest position and this one is just perfect for me. The front central armrest is slightly idiotic IMO as even in my laid back position too, hardly 20% of it was accessible for me - for the first time I have seen Toyota doing a Mahindra or Tata.. ie: an ergonomic disaster!!
The rear seat offers a reasonable legroom, that is with the seating position of a 5'8" friend, but even with my seating position, the legroom is definitely good. That, down there is the slanting foot resting area under the front seats. I must say that thigh support is quite good. I, being 5'10" found this seat better than Ciaz (This car has poor - Swift grade interior plastics and only legroom) or Verna and probably 90% as comfortable as that of City.
I liked the shape of the squab and the thigh support on offer - I personally hate the ones which end up digging into my knees from behind. Compared it directly to the City and the squab length difference is hardly 1 inch, but the overall shape of the rear seat is definitely better in the city. Yaris seat is lagging behind, but by a very small margin.
Yaris claws back with a better set of headrests and I felt the armrest better suited to my seating position. Even the middle passenger gets three point seatbelt but I am damn sure that the middle passenger will love to be in the rear of a City rather than this.
I really am not very much impressed with this front - as good it looks in the pictures, it feels less mature than City or Verna front when seen in person. What else? Well, although it's as wide as the City; the Yaris doesn't look and feel as wide the the City or even Verna in person - be it outside or inside.
I really don't understand why the cars get such a useless rear bumper these days, this isn't a sub 4m car; I can see that even if a hatchback strikes this car from the back - the owner can look forward to replace his bootlid.
Thanks a lot for your expert observations Vidyut, I found them all to be spot on after I returned back from my TD and read your observations.
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Originally Posted by Vid6639 Yaris styling was not as flamboyant as City. Completely inoffensive. Infact driving it for an entire saturday, nobody even gave it a second look |
It looks a segment smaller than the City IMO, in fact it even looks louder too from that overdone front. I personally feel that City and verna are more mature designs.
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When you get inside, the feeling was similar. Everything is built really well but the design didn't look premium or luxurious.
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Completely agree, it feels a bit better built than the City, textures and material quality used are quite good and will manage to impress a few.
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The 1.5L motor has decent low end but is flat after that. In MT guise, it is a lot better and more fun to drive.
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The low end and driveability is the forte of this engine, I engaged 6th at 50 kph on a flat surface and the Yaris managed to show some progress - definitely the low end is better than that of the City.
Mid range felt quite reasonable, it's definitely not flat as the progress can be felt right there. Yes, the top end is not closer to that of the City, but this motor doesn't feel strained and manages to cleanly pull till 6000 rpm at least - and it makes nice sounds too.
City starts coming into character only after 3000-4000 rpm, but the Yaris offers a more usable power delivery IMO. I agree that City has a manic top end and what not, BUT... and a big BUT indeed, how many times any owner is going to drive till 7000 or even above 5000 rpm in actual ownership period? Overall, I agree that Yaris is lower on power but it offers quite a silken and relaxed power delivery with enough grunt for some fun moments of any family man.
Is it the car for me? No, I will prefer driving the Honda i-VTEC any day.
But yes, this engine knows how to deliver fuel economy and it managed to stun me with the numbers I saw in the MID - and going by the engine state of tune, I am damn sure that it will be any day more economical than a City to drive as it packs enough grunt in the lower end itself that most of the driver's won't need to downshift in the situations in which they do in the City.
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The gearbox is really nice but again the weak link is the Engine.
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Feels more of a Toyota gearbox, it neither slots with the confidence of a City nor is creamy like a Verna. It feels to have narrow gates and short throws, I felt a bit notchyness (Very less of it, don't get me wrong) but overall it's quite a decent experience to use it.
That said, why can't Toyota manage to give those slick and short levers with precise throws as in City? That Honda gearbox is fun to even slot, engine takes care of the remaining part.
Which out of 1.6 VTVT, 1.4 VVT or 1.5 i-VTEC doesn't? IMO only this one and 1.5 i-VTEC manage to sound a bit sporty too. What's missing? Well, the 1.5 i-VTEC makes the car go like a bullet from a rifle and this one makes it go like a bullet from a desi double barrel bandook!
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What is good is the dynamics and suspension setup. Ride quality is very superior to the City and can take on any road conditions without transmitting much into the cabin.
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100% agree
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The all round disc brakes give it fantastic braking. The MT brakes were brilliant.
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Indeed, I had to rewire my brain map and re-adjust my right foot for the brakes,t hey bite quite well and offer a wonderful stopping power. I tried at 100 kph and it was a wonderful stopping. I guess the car I drove was on Bridgestone Turanza shoes and they did their job of gripping the tarmac quite well.