Do you feel the Yaris is almost a mini crossover SUV?

[Kongo-Otto]

Originally Posted by Yaris Hilton

But yeah, Toyota's gotten as big on the "Longer! Lower! Wider!" kick as U.S. carmakers in the late '50s.

Actually they didn't with the hatchback. They kept the ~3,75m length from the old Starlet up to now while other manufactures made their small cars longer and bigger. They made the Yaris taller to compensate the lack of length compared to other manufactures in the same class. The Yaris feels very big inside but it isn't. Its just because of the tall roof and the windscreen moved to the front of the car. A little "space miracle".

Especially here in europe (and of course Japan), where we have less space i think it was very clever to keep the length of the car like its predecessors. Its a true city car and it should fit in any parking lot. My companies car has been a Ford Fiesta and now is a VW Polo. They are bigger but they feel much smaller.

And when it comes to lowering springs. I don't use them because i feel my car is too tall in general. It is just to reduce the awful wheel gap.