Toyota Yaris TR

9:29am Friday 6th June 2008

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TOYOTA'S Yaris is about as close you will get to the ideal city car.

Frugal, safe, reliable, a doddle to drive and eager to please, it will squeeze through narrow streets, sprint from traffic lights, give a fairly composed ride and, when it comes to parking, make do with the tightest of spots in the municipal car park.

But you might think the same could be said about its smaller sibling, the Aygo. And you would be right.

What enables the Yaris to stand out in the crowded marketplace of city cars and superminis is its so-called "big car thinking", which can make it seem both as small as the Aygo and nearly as big as the company's Auris family hatchback.

First launched in 1999, the versatility of the Yaris saw it become Toyota's top performer, accounting at one point for one in every four of the brand's models sold in Europe.

So it was a hard act to follow for the designers and engineers when they sat down to create the second generation in 2006 following a couple of years of fiddling about with special editions, new colours and engine debuts.

For such a small car, the attention to detail in making it a more useful, comfortable and enjoyable car has been extraordinary.

From the outside, the arched belt line gives a sense of forward movement, and a solid stance is created by locating the wheels at the extreme corners of the body - a measure that also creates the Yaris's feeling of reassuring stability.

The integrated bumper shape and the front end design gave the new Yaris a strong face, another factor in its ability to seem larger than it is. The bonnet bulge has quickly become a typical Toyota design feature, too.

The car is 110mm longer than the previous model, but has a turning radius better than all its rivals, and at 30mm higher has that bit more presence and is more accommodating for taller passengers.

Those changes in dimensions allowed the the windscreen and instrument panel to be moved forwards, releasing more cabin space, and - by moving the pedals forward - gave more legroom to the driver. Clever, that.

The redesigned instrument panel, which sits above and beyond the vertical centre console, now has a 3D digital display.

The attention to detail in the quest to squeezing every last inch of space is even more impressive as you move further back. They even took 5mm off the backs of the front seats to improve rear legroom.

The rear seats, divided 60/40, can be slid independently by up to 150mm and even reclined by ten degrees, and the exhaust pipe has been re-routed so the passenger in the centre seat no longer has to place their feet either side of the exhaust tunnel.

Using Toyota's Easy Flat system, these seats can also be fully flat-loaded to free up more space in the boot, which is 130mm longer and 29mm wider than in the previous model and can carry items as large as a baby buggy As if all these improvements were not enough, a new best-seller was introduced to the range this year - the Yaris TR. Based on the T3 model, with the addition of 15-inch alloy wheels and a chrome boot trim, standard features include nine airbags, a six-speaker audio system with digital music file playback and steering wheel-mounted controls, air conditioning, colour-keyed door handles and mirrors and leather steering wheel and gear knob trim.

There's a price saving of at least £650 on the T3 model specification, but at £10,495 for the five-door model it is still a rather expensive car in this sector.

On the road the YarisTR's 1.3-litre VVTi engine is extremely willing and responds positively. At speeds of 60 to 70mph there is less noise intrusion into the cabin than would be expected because of the use of material that absorbs and dissipates noise, rather than insulating it.

Delivering a modest 86bhp, it accelerates from 0 to 62mph in a respectable 11.5 seconds and will go on to a top speed of 106mph if really pushed. The CO2 emissions figure of 141g/km puts it in band C for road tax.

Safety isn't wanting, despite this being a small, lightweight vehicle. The Yaris achieved the top five-star rating for occupant safety in Euro NCAP crash testing, making it among the safest cars in its class.

At a glance

Model:
Toyota Yaris TR (five-door)

Price:
£10,495

Engine:
1.3-litre VVTi, delivering 86bhp

Transmission:
Five-speed manual

Economy:
47.1mpg (combined cycle)

Performance:
0-62mph in 11.5 seconds

CO2 emissions:
141g/km.