Consumer Reports Is On Crack!!!

[highwaypass]

I think it's only a "propaganda" to bring down the image of toyota.Whenever you reach the highest place,the more people will force you to leave it.

[eTiMaGo]

I think they looked to the Aztek for inspiration..

And yet I see a decent amount on the roads here... gotta be dirt cheap, cuz you can't look at a car like this and think "wow, I love it, I want it!"... unless you're Stevie Wonder... but that's a whole other can of worms

[nsmitchell]

My 2009 Honda Fit Sport gets 45MPG on the highway using cruise! The 33MPG/hwy is total crap. My Yaris only gets about 38MPG/hwy with the cruise control. The Yaris is better in the city. I'm getting about 33 to 35MPG city. The Fit gets about 30MPG in the city. I think it's the Fit's aerodynamic front end that allows the better hwy mpgs.

The Rio, Cube and Versa are crap in my book!

My Yaris is just so well made and reliable. It's a Toyota after all.
The Fit is so sporty and solid too.

You can't go wrong with a Fit or a Yaris. Both cars are awesome!

[roxy1]

comparing apples to apples as best possible, auto vs auto, manual vs manual, all the data ive found tells me the yaris beats the fit in mpg's across the board and the epa estimates reflect this. i even made a crude spreadsheet when debating on a change to an 09 corolla vs the new fit. the average mpg for the fit. the corolla won out on highway driving by over 2 mpg's. of course, anyone should be wiping out the epa estimates as they are calculated now. i ended up w/ a lifetime avg of 42.3 mpg with my yaris hb manual, and that was 70% light suburban, 15-20% highway and 10-15% city driving. this was using reasonable driving habits but by no means hypermiling.

at any rate, in evaluating all the subcompacts being discussed, using as much objective testing and observations as possible, the yaris is still coming out tops in mileage.

by the same token, being as objective as possible, the fit is more fun to drive and the better handler. heck even my 09 corolla allows me to take twisty off ramps at much higher speed and still feels far more secure than my yaris did.

i still will contend that at the same price the yaris doesnt quite measure up to the fit, outside of looks (which is pretty subjective) and fuel economy (which is not subjective). but, those two items are high on many peoples list.

[carnageehw]

I'm a driving instructor, and have 111,900KMS on my 2009 Yaris. Came across this site while researching for my new car (lease is up in April)

I've driven the 2009 model more than most people in history, most likely.
I don't think Consumer Reports is on crack. The Yaris is a slightly below average car. Here's my review:

What I like, and why Consumer reports is wrong:

1) Acceleration. On a flat surface, the Yaris' acceleration is good. It's light and quick, and getting on the freeway at merging speeds is always easy (Unless you're stuck behind the dreaded slow merger).

The exception to this, is uphill acceleration. Going uphill, this car stinks.

2) Handling. I think the yaris handles turns and evasive maneuvers really well. Parking is great and the steering is quite responsive and turning radius nice and tight.

3) MPG. Obviously pretty damn good, and really important in my line of work.

4) Center gauges. Most of the negative reviews I've seen mention this. It stupid to mention. It's obvious, and a matter of opinion. And yeah, if you're not used to it, it's weird and takes a few days to get used to, but that's no different than ANY new thing. The center gauges are excellent in my line of work, as I don't need to stretch to see any of the important things.

5) The horn. It's all over the wheel and I love it.


What I don't like, and why I think the consumer reports article is fair

1) The pedals. Holy crap are these things awful. Light and twitchy, smooth accelerating is something that is really hard to do. Way too many bumpy rides in thing.

2) Low quality interior. The Dash is cheap looking, and collects dust like no ones business. Which is more important to the Yaris, because there is no gauges in front of you, only the dash. The Shifter sucks, and my hand grip has been worn down like crazy. Yes, there are a lot of storage cubbies, but they are not very well thought out. You lose and change or pens in the center cubbies and it is really, really hard to get back out again. It's nice for papers and such, but it's really hard to see what's in there.

The Steering wheel and radio are average. Nothing even worth mentioning, even though I just did :)

3) The cupholders. This could qualify as "interior" but I hate them so much. They are RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE VENTS! What the hell? In the winter, my cold drinks get heated up And forget about a can of pop in the winter. You have the heater on, and the pop can is too hot to drink from. In the summer the Air Conditioning is blocked!

4) The noise. Ugh. This car is LOUD. The sound system is decent, buit when the car is running, especially at high speeds you can't hear anything. The road noise is so loud. Louder than any car I've ever driven. Even the windshield vibrates loudly from time to time!

5) The ride. It's bumpy. I know it's a cheap car, but it just doesn't ride well at all. Bumpy, loud and this car drifts quite a bit.

6) The reliability. While I've obviously driven the car a lot, I've had a few major problems. I won't get into it unless anyone cares, because anecdotal evidence is just that, but let's just say I'm not thrilled with the Toyota Quality.

So all in all, I'd rate it what the original review rated it: A slightly below average car. I'd only recommend it to people who don't drive too often, or too far.

[Flipper_1938]

Originally Posted by carnageehw

6) The reliability. While I've obviously driven the car a lot, I've had a few major problems. I won't get into it unless anyone cares, because anecdotal evidence is just that, but let's just say I'm not thrilled with the Toyota Quality.

What issues have you had?

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

What issues have you had?

I'm very curious as well.

As my sig points out, 102,000 miles without a single problem. That puts me in awe over the Yaris's quality.

The Yaris has been rated the most reliable Toyota. That's significant since Toyota is the highest rated company in reliability. Do the math.

[carnageehw]

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

What issues have you had?

I've had 2 major ones, and little problem.

The first is the battery/starting. I was on a lunch break(about half an hour) and had my radio (and only the radio) running the whole time. When I tried to start the car up the battery was apparently drained. I'm willing to call this one my fault, even though half hour of listening to the radio shouldn't really drain the battery.

However, after that, the battery had maybe 2 minutes of charge left for the rest of it's life. The battery would die on me after leaving the accessories running for an honest-to-goodness 2 minutes. In the middle of winter, I shouldn't have to choose between turning my car completely off, and idling there and wasting fuel.

Obviously something was wrong with how the battery was either being charged, or how it was holding a charge. However, the kicker came when I was taking a student for a road test, and when the examiner came out and asked him to start the car...it wouldn't. We were waiting with NO ACCESSORIES ON! The key wasn't even in the car. Nothing was draining the battery, and yet...it wouldn't start.

So I replaced the battery after that, and all was fine for a little while untill two weeks ago. I was picking up a student (all my battery failings seem to happen on the job) and when he went to turn the key...nothing. And this time, I mean NOTHING. The engine wasn't even trying to turn over, no lights came on, I couldn't even use the auto locks. Literally nothing had happened. It was like there wasn't even a battery in the car at all.

After canceling two days worth of lessons to get the problem looked at, the result was.....nothing. Nothing was wrong with my car. The nearest anyone can figure was that the cables connecting to the battery terminal somehow wasn't connecting properly, because in the end, when I took out the battery, and plopped it back in, it worked.

Another time I had my Yaris in the shop (10 cars on our street were keyed) and I was using the company's Yaris the check engine light came on, and the car would shift violently. I was worried that my students who were going on road tests would get bad marks for not driving smoothly, even though it was the car shifting terribly itself. I can't remember what the problem was, as my personal Yaris was fixed soon after.

A final problem I noticed with the spare Yaris and my personal Yaris (the spare one moreso) was an unusual amount of windsheild noise. It really sounded like the windshield was rattling around a lot, and while that may just be a noise complaint, I kind of think windsheild problems fall under safety.

I do understand that the battery isn't even a toyota part, however, they still put it in their cars, and should be held accountable for it.

[Ingear]

all for the same reasons that the actual mpg is misrepresented. I really really dislike sounding like a conspiracy theorist, BUT... The auto manufacturers make more money when you buy the bigger fancier cars that get worse fuel mileage. They know that the people who really know will buy the Yaris anyway. So why should they even care. Look at the hybrid dilema... It might be difficult to convince someone to buy a Toyota prius at twice as much money getting 44 mpg when a Yaris gets 42 mpg... Admittedly, safety issues aside.

[brg88tx]

Originally Posted by Ingear

all for the same reasons that the actual mpg is misrepresented. I really really dislike sounding like a conspiracy theorist, BUT... The auto manufacturers make more money when you buy the bigger fancier cars that get worse fuel mileage. They know that the people who really know will buy the Yaris anyway. So why should they even care. Look at the hybrid dilema... It might be difficult to convince someone to buy a Toyota prius at twice as much money getting 44 mpg when a Yaris gets 42 mpg... Admittedly, safety issues aside.

i agree that (imo) toyota lowballed the yaris mpg so it wouldn't cut into their prius sales.

[Kal-El]

Why do so many people think that automakers make MPG ratings?

[Gr8ful_Ken]

My biggest gripe with the yaris, is the lack of gauges. Especially a tach. CR and other press takes into account these extras and creature comforts.

But that stuff I think is secondary for the target buyer of a subcompact. We want to save money: in fuel, maintenance costs, reliability, and in price.

Yeah, I preferred the instrument clusters on the Rio 5 and the Fit better. As I did the driving position. But when I factored the reason why I decided to look at these 3 cars, I realized The Yaris would work best for me overall. I got used to the driving position and will learn to deal withought gauges.

and the Fit is FUGLY!

[bronsin]

As if CRs problems with the Yaris werent enough, they rate the C5 Corvette much worse than average for reliability. In several surveys I have seen out of 200 plus people the average was 4.9 out of 5 stars. I wonder does Pelosi have anything to do with them?

[QuantumIguana]

They didn't like the center dashboard. I thought it was odd at first, but I got used to it really fast. On a short test drive, I could see it being distracting. My Yaris was totaled in a crash last week. I had only had it a few months. I had a PT Cruiser for a loaner, and I found it very distracting NOT having the guages in the center. And I don't know what they are talking about with an odd driving position. I'm 5'6", and neither I nor my 6'6" friend have any problem with the driving position.

And no, Pelosi had nothing to do with CR's review.

[Steveh27]

I looked at the 2010 CR auto mag. It lists the 2009 Yaris as the highest rated used car in the US, confirming my research before I bought my 2010.

[Zaphod]

Originally Posted by Steveh27

I looked at the 2010 CR auto mag. It lists the 2009 Yaris as the highest rated used car in the US, confirming my research before I bought my 2010.

It just baffles me that they can come up with two completely contrasting opinions of the exact same car just one year later.

[sue08401]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is with the center instrument placement there is room directly in front of the driver for a GPS. I have a Garmin placed directly in front of me that is easy to read at a glance. One added benifit is that I usually have it in a mode that displays the speed I'm going with the speed limit off to the left. The Garmin's display is easier to read and if I go into map mode I have it right in front of me which to my thinking is a lot safer.

[echaru]

That's because Toyota didn't pay them but the others did. A year later with all the success of the Yaris, CR has to tell the truth.