Consumer Reports not too pleased with Yaris

[nsmitchell]

My Odyssey will smoke a Yaris and it can only do 0-60 in 7.5 seconds. You may do a 6.5 sec 0-60 but you will need a Corvette and a rope. hehe

[BMGYaris]

well now, i dont know much about all of this, but i was looking at these numbers.

if he went 0-53mph in 6.5 seconds that means 53/6.5 yields an average accelleration of 8.153 mph/second. Now, from what i have read on yaris world it seems that the Yaris has much better acelleration from 0-40 than say, 40-70, or even 40-60. So lets say that his rate of acelleration is decreasing from 40 mph so that he is getting about an increase of 7.153 mph every second. Then he hits fifty and his rate of acelleration slows to lets be generous and say about 6.65mph/second. that means at 53 mph it would take him an additional second to reach 60 mph. that would put him at 0-60 times of 7.5 seconds, throw in human error (since it sounds like he doing this alone?) and it could easily be 8 seconds. so maybe in a manual on a slight incline?

Further, my understanding is that modern cars naturally read slightly higher than they are actually going as a safety precaution which could cost him an additional 3 mph off his recorded time, that would then mean an additional .5 seconds added to his time making his reading a possible 8.5 second time.

I suppose since many of you are getting low 9s for manual its concievable that a good driver might, on some occasion, break into 8? especially if there were a slight, maybe not very perceptible, downhill slope. Or perhaps the switch from second to third would cost more time and have reduced his speeds by larger amounts, meaning that he would have been right in the sub nines with the rest of you guys for 0-60 times?

maybe i am crazy, but just some thoughts from an idiot.

[Pars]

Originally Posted by BMGYaris

well now, i dont know much about all of this, but i was looking at these numbers.

if he went 0-53mph in 6.5 seconds that means 53/6.5 yields an average accelleration of 8.153 mph/second. Now, from what i have read on yaris world it seems that the Yaris has much better acelleration from 0-40 than say, 40-70, or even 40-60. So lets say that his rate of acelleration is decreasing from 40 mph so that he is getting about an increase of 7.153 mph every second. Then he hits fifty and his rate of acelleration slows to lets be generous and say about 6.65mph/second. that means at 53 mph it would take him an additional second to reach 60 mph. that would put him at 0-60 times of 7.5 seconds, throw in human error (since it sounds like he doing this alone?) and it could easily be 8 seconds. so maybe in a manual on a slight incline?

Further, my understanding is that modern cars naturally read slightly higher than they are actually going as a safety precaution which could cost him an additional 3 mph off his recorded time, that would then mean an additional .5 seconds added to his time making his reading a possible 8.5 second time.

I suppose since many of you are getting low 9s for manual its concievable that a good driver might, on some occasion, break into 8? especially if there were a slight, maybe not very perceptible, downhill slope. Or perhaps the switch from second to third would cost more time and have reduced his speeds by larger amounts, meaning that he would have been right in the sub nines with the rest of you guys for 0-60 times?

maybe i am crazy, but just some thoughts from an idiot.

My 1st and 2nd switch is done right at the red and always result with the tire chirping. I could get rid of the chirp, but that means I'd have to slow down with the shifting, which would add to the time. Normally, my tinny tires are a big factor on the initial take-off, but in that particular occasion, they gripped well. Perhaps they were running hot or the incline factor.

Anyways, getting 8.5sec to 60mph shouldn't be a problem. Initially, my Yaris wasn't that quick, the over 9sec seemed reasonable, but now after 24,000km and some hard driving mid 8's seems more accurate and possible better with sticky rubber.

[boris13]

C'mon, let's say it: the Fit is just plain UGLY.

I ordered my loaded Yaris hatchback at a price of about $15,800. The main thing it lacks in comparison to the Fit Sport ($17,000+) is a tach. It's not as roomy inside as the Fit, but it's not bad... enough room for me.

A Yaris that's well equipped competes very well with the Fit Sport, IMO.

[Pars]

The RS version of the Yaris is a rip-off. You're basically paying a huge premium for minor stuff that would be standard on most entry level cars. So, using the Yaris RS as a comparison point against the Fit just doesn't make sense. It's Yaris's LE model that dominates the road. Reason being, it looks exactly the same as the RS model (except for painted side mirror) has the same power options and sells for about $3000 less.

However, in appearance, there's a noticeable difference between Fit LX vs Sport. The LX version without the skirt package looks bad. And to avoid the dopey look, you need to pay a huge premium ($19480) for the Sport. Considering that the Civic DX-G can be had for less, paying that much for the Fit is stupid.

If you really want to compare apple vs apple, then pit the Fit LX against the Yaris LE. Considering that both cars will be running on similar size tires and the Fit's plain-jane looks will be noticeable without the skirts, it'd put the the Fit at a huge disadvantage, even though equipment level and price are almost identical (Canadian models only). In the States, the Fit's sport model is more reasonably priced, so pitting it against the Yaris makes sense, but here in Canada, the Sport model is totally over priced when compared to a loaded Yaris.

Regarding interiors. I like the Yaris seating and view of the road (but Fit is almost as good, so no clear winner). The Fit has a very upscale dash layout, but the Yaris simplistic but elegant design has it's own character, so once again, no clear winner. For me the deciding factor was the placement of my portable NAV system, which mounted perfect onto the glass covering for the Yaris's instrument panel and actually gives the dash a more upscale appearance since the Magellan unit has the same chrome finish and blends in with the stock layout.

[corey415]

Might you have links to said articles which make such ridiculous comparisons?

Of course looks are subjective, but the Fit is often praised by automotive journalists as having a "classier interior"...

[Jem_hadar]

Yeah, I think generally the Fit has an interior dash look that would appeal to most ppl far more than the Yaris's does...

but myself I like the Yaris's interior look much better!

Its more "techno" hah

[Pars]

Same here, I'm personally in favor with clean looking dash layout in the Yaris, but the Fit's dash looks rich. In fact, a friend of mine who drives a new Accord prefers the Fit's dash over her Accord.

One thing I totally dislike about the Yaris's in-dash system is No AUX port for an MP3 Player and paying over $300 for an iPod adapter is ridiculous when everyone else is offering it for free. It's not going to cost the manufacture that much more to offer a stereo system with AUX-in port. So why leave it out? My old Civic had an Alpine system with an iPod adapter and now with the New Yaris, the iPod is collecting dust on the dresser and I'm listening to AM/FM for my music. How primitive. But on the bright side, I'm working on getting a 2 din DVD player with iPod adapter which should also add some 'richness' to the centre dash's appearance.

[foxtrot685]

well... this is 2006 and ABS is standard on almost every other car in its class, including the scion cousins, even the Hyundai accent sedan has it... its becoming one of those features that is now expected on a car in this price category to be standard equipment. how dare they compare a yaris to an aveo... ewww! the difference between them is night and day. they should have had a separate category for the aveo... "super ultra crappy Korean-built car segment"

[graywolf_14]

Shoot for 17k you can get a yaris with every option they have and that is with the 18"s.

[foxtrot685]

thats close to a fit sport with automatic tranny and no upgrades (meaning the stock 15 inch alloys)

[eTiMaGo]

I just have my 2 cents to share

I have never driven a Fit, but I am back home now down in Phuket where my mother has a 3-year-old Honda City, which for all intents and purposes you could call a Fit Sedan. Similar styling, same motor and platform, very similar interior layout. More info can be obtained here:

http://www.honda.co.th/city/


I've been driving it quite a bit since a few days that I am back here, and can make some comparisons.

First of all, the manual shifter in the Honda is so much better than the Yaris. The throw is quite short, it moves from gear to gear easily and with a very positive feel, you can just flick it, basically, no need to really push the stick into gear. I'm sure when I install my TWM short shifter I'll have a similar experience in my Yaris, but this I consider a very big difference, if you are into manual cars, it's a joy to change gears.

The clutch is also very light, and much more intuitive than the Yaris. Driving slow and shifting smoothly is not a problem.

I can't really compare the engines since this City has the non-VTEC engine (rated at only 88hp!), but this motor has a lot of low end torque (peak at 2,700rpm!) so you don't need to be shifting around all so much, even going up hills. I'm sure the 110hp VTEC engine has a similar response to our engines, though.

The car's handling is difficult to compare as I have basically never driven a stock Yaris, nor have I driven a Yaris on a mountain road as I have driven this City. But, the ride is firm but comfortable, though on fast turns you do lose traction pretty easily. Which is fun in its own way, nothing like sliding that tail out The steering wheel (and the whole feel of the car) is light, but not twitchy as ours can be on rough roads or at high speed.

I really wish I could have taken my car down here and see how it behaves in the hills, that would have been so much fun Maybe I'll rent one, but it's pretty sure to be an automatic...

Interior wise, it is a lot more traditional than the Yaris, and the high center console does give it more of a big car feel. But, you can easily feel the difference in storage space, the main passenger side glove compartment is full of manuals and documents, and apart from that, there isn't a lot of space to keep stuff.

I'm not sure if the USDM Fits would come similarly equipped, but I am constantly pleasantly surprised at the stock sound system. This car came with a single-DIN Sony cassette player, but the stock speakers are more than adequate and can handle a pretty good amount of bass. All we did was to add a 10-disc changer in the trunk, but it could also do with a couple of tweeters to bring up the sharps.

All in all, from a driving experience point of view, if the USDM Fit can be compared to this City, it's really not that bad. Standard and optional equipment, pricing, safety features, and so on, I really cannot comment on as it would be very different between US and Thai spec cars.

[Havana]

When shopping, I compared the 09 Fit to the 09 Yaris. I know Honda and Toyota both make outstanding cars. The Fit was awesome and very fun to drive. It came with more standard features. It was also about $3000 more. Fits are in short supply in my area and manual tranny Fits are virtual blue diamonds. The Honda dealers were not very flexible at all on price. The Yaris is a more simple car but of equal quaility in my opinion. Six airbags and ABS are standard on 09's. There was also a $500 rebate at that time and the Toyota dealers seemed more interested in making a sale. In the end, I got a great car for several thousand less than a Fit. I'm happy with that.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by Havana

When shopping, I compared the 09 Fit to the 09 Yaris. I know Honda and Toyota both make outstanding cars. The Fit was awesome and very fun to drive. It came with more standard features. It was also about $3000 more. Fits are in short supply in my area and manual tranny Fits are virtual blue diamonds. The Honda dealers were not very flexible at all on price. The Yaris is a more simple car but of equal quaility in my opinion. Six airbags and ABS are standard on 09's. There was also a $500 rebate at that time and the Toyota dealers seemed more interested in making a sale. In the end, I got a great car for several thousand less than a Fit. I'm happy with that.

Interesting reviving an old dead thread... :-)

I also compared the 09 Fit to the 09 Yaris. A few years ago (07) we were looking at cars but decided to wait put another 50k on the Camry first. At the time I drove a Yaris but wasn't impressed, mostly because of the lack of safety features. I had completely removed it from consideration. I had settled on the Fit and for two years kept saying I'd buy a Fit when the time came. The thing is, both the 07 and the 09 Fit felt 'off' to me. Not sure why, but they did. The handling wasn't anywhere near as impressive as I'd heard. This year I put the Yaris back in consideration due to the standard safety features and as you can probably guess we bought the Yaris.

During the test drive I did feel that the Fit had a slightly more comfortable driver's seat, though my kids said that the back seat was better in the Yaris. The Fit seemed to bounce MORE on big bumps than the Yaris did and though might have been slightly quieter the noise that it did make was more annoying to me. I actually felt like the Yaris was quieter. The lack of cruise on the base Fit meant that I'd have to upgrade to a Fit sport which dropped the MPG rating and raised the price quite a bit. Overall the Yaris ended up being significantly cheaper (about $4000) with the options that we wanted and the rebate from Toyota. We're very happy with it and I *LOVE* how tightly it can turn -- I can't get over how easy it is to park and do U-turns! :-)

[PaidTimeOff]

Yup, if there's one thing that all reviewers can agree on (whether they like the car or not), it's that the Yaris' turning radius can't be beat.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by PaidTimeOff

Yup, if there's one thing that all reviewers can agree on (whether they like the car or not), it's that the Yaris' turning radius can't be beat.

After buying the car and noting how tightly it turns I did some research using edmunds.com's car compare feature. The only car that I found that could beat the Yaris on turning diameter was the Smart ForTwo, and by only two feet!

[rningonfumes]

I got a chance to browse April's Buyer guide from CR.... even with the new safety features, the Yaris does not have a "Recommended" check mark. It listed the last test rive as the 07 model.

Better than average reliability.

[Havana]

It's funny. I don't think I've read a single overall positive review by any professional automotive tester/critic. Yet, actual Yaris owners seem to universally love and recommend the car.