Did anyone drive both a CVT Aygo X and a hybrid Yaris?

[Amu]

Hello all!!

I have a question, please.

I often drive on highways in a hilly area where roads are never perfectly flat.

I used to have a 5-speed manual Aygo, people said that it was a 'city car', that it was not versatile and unfit for the highway: I did not agree, I think it was fine. Now I have a CVT Aygo X and I must admit that, although I love everything about this car and it hurts me to criticize it, it is not very comfortable on the highway. When the highway goes slightly uphill, reaching a reasonable speed is hard, long and noisy (4 to 5k RPM). I often stay below the speed limit, around 60 mph, because going faster is so painful for the ears. Sometimes, I have no choice, I am stuck behind lorries with not enough power to pass by.

As my next car, I am considering buying a HSD Yaris (116 HP). I know that the Yaris has a bigger engine and more power. Theoretically, it should offer better accelerations at a lower engine speed, hence lower sound.

Did anyone have the opportunity to compare these two cars at highway speeds? Is the difference in power noticeable?

Thank you!

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

I have no direct experience with these two but I can tell you that any Toyota/Lexus hybrids has very similar behaviour when driving at high speeds or uphill. The reasons is how the eCVT transmission works similarly to standard cvt without having anything physical in common.
However with hybrids we have electric motor that helps the engine in any speeds so if you need to overcome these unnecessary high rpm dead noises you ca push further and sharper the accelerator and the car will respond immediately and engage more the electric side of the hybrid system providing faster acceleration and more natural feel over standard cvt petrol car. Also in cvt cars and in all autos actually the bigger the engine the less high rpm you will get under heavy acceleration. 
Aygo x vs Yaris hybrid, the hybrid is many times better in all driving situations. 

[Wiz201]

Hi, yes I've got a CVT Aygo and have driven hybrid Yaris on loan. I think in terms of performance, the Yaris is overall a bit better on the roads, but because of my budget, I'll have to stick with my Aygos. I do like the Aygo though, the CVT has made the auto Aygo a lot better in terms of perfomance even though the engine is the same.

[Cyker]

I find the Yaris Mk4 extremely punchy - It's not a fast car, and frankly doesn't feel great if you like sustaining high speeds, but the pickup when changing speeds, e.g. for overtaking or accelerating from a standstill, is fantastic.

However, if you want a quiet car, it is not that - It is not very well insulated so has a lot of road noise (I think it might have the most road noise of the 3 generations of Yaris I've owned), and while the engine is very quiet when cruising, if you monster the accelerator pedal it will get verry roarty.

Unlike a normal car, the noise from the engine is directly connected to how hard you're pressing the accelerator and the change is instant. If you progressively increase pedal pressure, the engine note will rise like it might in a normal car. If you floor it, it will immediately jump to the redline, which is a bit unnerving if you're not used to it, as the immediacy is like having a slipping clutch  However you tend not to do that often or for long as the car will take off like a scalded cat, and unless you're just ignoring the speed limit completely, you should reach your target speed quickly enough you can back off.

It very much suits my bursty driving style, as I tend to stick to the speed limit or 60mph on the motorway, which gives plenty of headroom for a short burst of power, and then drop back to my chosen cruising speed.

Also remember it's a 3-cylinder with no balance shaft (Unless you get one of the new ones with the 130HP engine), and it can get very diesel-like when given the beans.

When driving steady, the car will tend to stay at around 2000-rpm; You can be going up a hill, down a hill, 20mph, 60mph, it'll still tend to be around 2000rpm   It's only when you give it the beans it'll rise significantly above that.

[Amu]

Thank you very much for your messages!

I always drive and accelerate very gently and I do not want a nervous car. I have always had city cars. If I bought a Yaris, it would be my first car beyond 100 HP 😄

Again, I love the CVT Aygo X, it is an excellent car 🙂 And to me, it looks much better than the Yaris. But 70 HP with the CVT, in most situations it is more than enough, it drives like a charm, but on the motorway... Yesterday I had passengers who are not familiar with this gearbox, on the motorway they were like "what's going on with the engine, WTF?" 😄

[Hicardo]

The Aygo X is a small car with a small engine, so there will be compromises.  I do know that most of the time the Aygo X is perfectly fast enough.  It's in the extreme situations like pulling uphill onto a motorway or something like that where its low power is exposed.  But  - a few years back, most family cars were around 50-80bhp only, and everyone got along fine with them.  I think it's something you either get used to, make allowances for, or perhaps you'll never get on with the power level, but you should find this out on a test drive.  

In my whole driving career, I've had loads of cars, some quite fast ones.  But the car I enjoyed driving the most - was a 1998 Yaris 1.0 manual in metallic dark green, with a green leather steering wheel and gearknob!!  It was rapid up to 30mph, after that forget it, but GREAT fun to wring out that engine.  I sold it to my sister in law and bought a Subaru WRX.  Nice car - but in hindsight, not as fun as the 1.0 Yaris.  So I'm looking forward to the Aygo X arriving , and hope to 'channel' that old Yaris somehow.

I've not driven the latest Yaris, but I currently have a Yaris Cross with the same engine, and its pretty rapid - especially 30- 50 or 30 -70 ..leaves most cars for dead.  Pretty quick from rest too.  Don't know what some of the motoring press were talking about, as they all said it was slow. 

[Dave the aygo]

On 3/23/2024 at 9:24 PM, Amu said:

Thank you very much for your messages!

I always drive and accelerate very gently and I do not want a nervous car. I have always had city cars. If I bought a Yaris, it would be my first car beyond 100 HP 😄

Again, I love the CVT Aygo X, it is an excellent car 🙂 And to me, it looks much better than the Yaris. But 70 HP with the CVT, in most situations it is more than enough, it drives like a charm, but on the motorway... Yesterday I had passengers who are not familiar with this gearbox, on the motorway they were like "what's going on with the engine, WTF?" 😄

I have found a way around the problem with passengers is don't carry them in the car😀😀😀

[Amu]

On 3/30/2024 at 10:04 PM, Hicardo said:

The Aygo X is a small car with a small engine, so there will be compromises.  I do know that most of the time the Aygo X is perfectly fast enough.  It's in the extreme situations like pulling uphill onto a motorway or something like that where its low power is exposed.  But  - a few years back, most family cars were around 50-80bhp only, and everyone got along fine with them.  I think it's something you either get used to, make allowances for, or perhaps you'll never get on with the power level, but you should find this out on a test drive.

Thanks for the answer.

I agree but personally, I have always owned cars with tiny engines: a 50 HP Matiz, a 60 HP Punto, a 68 HP Aygo...

Toyota's 3-cylinder engine is awesome when paired with a manual gearbox, it even feels sporty somehow. With the automatic gearbox however, it feels 30 HP rather than 72. It is not horses, it is hippopotamuses 😄

[TonyHSD]

Cvt transmission requires low end high torque engine, and Aygo x is equipped with exactly opposite, high revs low torque naturally aspirated small capacity engine, total disaster. It’s like taking a 50cc scooter 🛵 on a motorway.