Persuade me to buy a Yaris!

[TONIZZLE]

Originally Posted by vector9mm

The Yaris has good resale and it doesn't matter anyway as you would be buying a used one and it is already devalued. I love my Yaris. I get about 35 mpg average. The only thing it needs is a rear sway bar to handle good if you drive the back roads.That's 150 bucks and 1/2 hour to install.

I'll keep that in mind. My first mod would probably be tints.

Originally Posted by DMZ

You are comparing a 4Runner to a Yaris?

I have a Tundra DC 4X4 SR5, but I would never compare it to my Yaris. They are two completely different vehicles that I use for different things. They are both great vehicles.

Buy the Yaris for fuel economy and low maintenance cost. Keep the 4Runner for bad weather and more comfort on long trips. If you expect the Yaris to replace your 4Runner, you are going to be disappointed.

Unfortunately can't afford two cars. I was actually getting disappointed when I looked inside the Yaris' interior. You can definitely see the difference in price between a T4R Limited to the Yaris. Which brings me to...

Originally Posted by swidd

For $400-$460 you can put a great leather interior in the Yaris.

...this is true, now if there was something that can be done with the plastics. I do like how the Yaris has a sunroof. Seems rare w Yaris S hatches.

Originally Posted by Kal-El

Yaris gets twice the gas mileage and gas is $4/gal and rising, enough said.

May depend on how much you drive though. If you only drive 5 miles a day, then it depends more on what you need your vehicle to do.

To the OP, you'll love the Yaris.

I probably drive less than 20 miles a day. I mainly go to the train station, and take that downtown. I definitely have the Yaris' gas mileage as one of its main points.

Originally Posted by BEEF

most front wheel drive cars are pretty good in inclement weather. the yaris probably isn't an exception to that rule.

handling mods are pretty cheap if you want to go that route.

it will be hard to get a nonbiased opinion from either of those sites. they are both going to be biased in their direction. the 4runner guys are going to think you are crazy and the yaris guys are going to say go for it. that's just how it works.

I recently purchased a 3 door hatch. it is a 2008 with less than 18k on it. it was under $12k the payments really are small. given all the factors that went into my decision, it was a great deal. I will say I have no use for an SUV or a truck for that matter. if you actually use your 4runner for stuff and need the towing or cargo space, you can either keep it and get the yaris or not get the yaris.

the resale on these things are crazy (at least what I have seen) sometimes the used ones are almost as expensive as the new ones. granted I was looking at 1 or 2 years old. that was a big reason I bought one that was 3 years old. I still stayed with low mileage.

in the end, you have to live with it. if you don't like small cars, the yaris is not for you. if you like the good gas mileage and the fact that it is a toyota and will probably last a really long time, go for it. test drive it, scrutinize it, make sure it is the way you want to go. finance it for 6 years and pay it off in 2. make sure you are OK with the deal. nobody can tell you it is or isn't a good deal.

hopefully some of that made sense and it isn't just me rambling.

good luck my friend.

Nice post. Biased opinions are what I have to work with. There was a guy on here that owned both a '99 4Runner and a Yaris. His sn is 120.0.0.1 i think. He's banned though, so couldn't get his opinion.

I checked KBB on the resale of a 2010 base yaris. Details here. From year 1 to year 2 of ownership it lost 50%, then $1K each year after.

Don't really tow anything, but I do put my mountain bike in the back of the T4R with the rear seats folded down.

Originally Posted by brg88tx

i sold my 03 tacoma doublecab for my 07 yaris sedan. doubled my mpg and save approx $1,000 per year in gas. i don't regret it, but then again we also have a suburban for hauling and long trips. just didn't need 2 gas hogs.

That's a lot of gas savings. What if you didn't have the suburban and only had the Yaris? That's where I'm at. One or the other.

[rick996]

Originally Posted by TONIZZLE

I checked KBB on the resale of a 2010 base yaris. Details here. From year 1 to year 2 of ownership it lost 50%, then $1K each year after.

I looked at that kbb page. I can't see how they can say there is a 50% loss on the Yaris in the first year.

I put my 2010 in as a base (not even a radio) 5-speed with 17K on it that I have owned/driven for 18 months for private party value and got Excellent $13,365, Good $12,515 and Fair $11,215. Not bad considering I bought it for $14,435 new (base $12,780 with $955 in added options and $700 transportation charges) with 0% financing for 3 years.

Value for suggested retail is $14,915 (excellent) and $12,225 for trade in.

I bought it retail at base $12,780 and it's still in excellent condition. If I compare it against retail value of $14,915 now, that's a 16.7% appreciation. If I add in transportion, which I think is fair for an apples to apples comparison, it's 10.6% appreciation.

Of course I can't sell it retail. The comparison for a private party sale at base + transportation ($13,480) to $13,365 current private party value is a depreciation of $115 or 0.85%. Even at trade in the depreciation is only 9.3%.

The kbb page for these calculations is here

If I could find any at $6,578.40 I would pick up a few to resell.

With the money I'm saving on gas and the fact that with 0% interest I'm paying for it with cheaper inflated money I would call it a pretty good investment.

And because I'm not sure if kbb meant value on the 2nd year (one year old) or after 2 years, here are the private party values for a 2009 5-dr hatch with 24,000 miles:

Condition Value
Excellent $13,075
Good $12,275
Fair $11,075