Is the Yaris mostly for Urban Transportation?

[eTiMaGo]

Yes, the Yaris is primarily a city car.

No, the Yaris will never be as comfortable or quiet as a bigger car on the highway. Bigger cars will never be as efficient and practical as a Yaris in the city.

But Yes, the Yaris can handle highway speeds (and higher) with ease for extended periods of time with little impact on engine longevity as long as proper maintenance is observed (which applies to all cars anyway).

And yes, in the end, it's a question of your personal threshold for noise when driving at 3000RPM+ Personally I have no problem with it, I always have music playing and I don't even need it to be that loud to cover the mechanical noises. Then again I do enjoy listening to my cylinder symphony

and lastly, on the topic of 14" vs 15" wheels... Dorkinheimer does have a point, Toyota USA official tire sizes are 175/65R14 or 185/60R15 , which does have about a 3% difference in rolling diameter, so yes, at an equal speed the 15" equipped car would rev 3% lower. So at 120km/h that's about a 120RPM difference?

In closing:

If the 5% of highway driving bothers you so much that you'd spend the money on "upgrading" to a bigger car, you could have invested on some soundproofing and larger tires, while keeping the real advantages of the car. But, in the end, it's your money, your life, your decisions. You ask us if we mind the high RPMs on the highway, and the vast majority don't mind, question answered, case closed, end of discussion, dead horse beaten.