Consumer Reports not too pleased with Yaris

[PetersRedYaris]

When buying my wifes new Civic I told the salesman I was going to buy a Yaris. He of course tried to push me into a Fit. He showed me multiple reports and with each article the Fit beat the Yaris.

Heres the catch; In each report the Yaris was compared to a Fit Sport. Did you know the Fit Sport starts in the $17,000 range? In my opinion this is not even the same price bracket as the Yaris.

What makes the Fit Sport beat the Yaris? I think the real difference is the Fit has a 5 speed automatic, paddle shifters on the steering wheel, outside temp. guage, a tachmeter, and dual front, side, and side curtain airbags.

Five speed auto; I admit it works very well in my wifes Civic with a 1.8L, however, since the Yaris beat the Fit in acceleration I don't see the need for it. Paddle shifters; This isn't a Ferrari, do people really want to push the 1.5L to the max. An outside temp guage and Tach would be nice. Lastly, Toyota really needs to make 6 airbags standard like Honda. Safety is a big issue in these reports.

As far as looks, the Yaris blows the Fit out of the water.

[Pars]

All the Fit models gets the 6 airbags (not just the sport), but here in Canada, the Yaris also gets a tachometer (which is a very good thing...no tach is a deal breaker in my opinion). Outside temperature gage would be safety issue here in Canada, with the temperature constantly handing around zero Celsius.

It seem that style is a motivating factor when purchasing a new car and the Fit without the skirt package is too simplistic, so it'd require the Fit's Sport model with the skirt package to compete with Yaris's looks. And those skirts on the Fit comes at a hefty premium. Here in Canada, a loaded 5dr Yaris goes for $16720 while the Fit sport cost $19480.

The Fit's standard side airbags got good results in side impact test, as did the optional airbags in the Yaris sedan. In rear end crash test, the Yaris faired better then the Fit. So overall, the Yaris could be a safer car. But since the side airbag isn't offered in the liftback model (which is very popular in Canada), the Fit wins in that department.

[corey415]

Originally Posted by PetersRedYaris

He showed me multiple reports and with each article the Fit beat the Yaris.

Heres the catch; In each report the Yaris was compared to a Fit Sport. Did you know the Fit Sport starts in the $17,000 range? In my opinion this is not even the same price bracket as the Yaris.

What makes the Fit Sport beat the Yaris? I think the real difference is the Fit has a 5 speed automatic, paddle shifters on the steering wheel, outside temp. guage, a tachmeter, and dual front, side, and side curtain airbags.

Five speed auto; I admit it works very well in my wifes Civic with a 1.8L, however, since the Yaris beat the Fit in acceleration I don't see the need for it. Paddle shifters; This isn't a Ferrari, do people really want to push the 1.5L to the max. An outside temp guage and Tach would be nice. Lastly, Toyota really needs to make 6 airbags standard like Honda. Safety is a big issue in these reports.

As far as looks, the Yaris blows the Fit out of the water.

Most of those articles test the Yaris with options as well you know. Its not like they would compare a base Yaris with a Fit Sport. If they did, that is obviously an apples to oranges comparison. A comparably equipped Yaris does end up costing within the general vicinity of the Fit Sport, albeit a little cheaper.

With regards to why the Fit wins comparos; its mainly due to the classier interior and Fit is often described to have the "sport[iest] handling", especially when compared to its subcompact brethern.

Also, the paddle shifters may be more useful than you think. They are sort of gimmicky, but they can come in handy. It is nice to be able to control what gear you are in when descending down a curvy mountain road for example. One can do this with a regular automatic, but it definitely is a more akward task to accomplish. Another use is to do a downshift when you know you are going to need passing power, perhaps whilst on the freeway. If they really annoy you that much, you dont even have to use them.

[PetersRedYaris]

Originally Posted by corey415

Most of those articles test the Yaris with options as well you know. Its not like they would compare a base Yaris with a Fit Sport. If they did, that is obviously an apples to oranges comparison. A comparably equipped Yaris does end up costing within the general vicinity of the Fit Sport, albeit a little cheaper.

With regards to why the Fit wins comparos; its mainly due to the classier interior and Fit is often described to have the "sport[iest] handling", especially when compared to its subcompact brethern.

Also, the paddle shifters may be more useful than you think. They are sort of gimmicky, but they can come in handy. It is nice to be able to control what gear you are in when descending down a curvy mountain road for example. One can do this with a regular automatic, but it definitely is a more akward task to accomplish. Another use is to do a downshift when you know you are going to need passing power, perhaps whilst on the freeway. If they really annoy you that much, you dont even have to use them.

Classier interior? More functional seat adjustments I admit, but thats it. The comparisons I saw was a Fit Sport vs. Yaris LB base model, no airbags. Thats a $17,000 plus Fit vs. a $11,900 Yaris. No wonder the Fit won, but mot buy much.