Thoughts on first month of Yaris ownership

[Dick_Dastardly]

Apart from 2 forays into other marques I've pretty much bought Fords, and mostly the XR/ST/RS ones at that, my whole life. I only switched to Toyota due to Ford withdrawing the Fiesta as I really missed the smaller cars. And their obsession with electric only 🤔

So I was always going to be a reluctant soldier and my purchase was going to be full of scepticism and maybe (hopefully not) regret.

But I have to say that I absolutely love the Premiere edition because:

- I love the blue colour 

- The body shape is excellent 

- The economy is amazing 

- It drives beautifully 

- It's a technical tour de force. Love playing with the throttle to try and tease as much economy out of it as I can and the HUD is just fab

- The adaptive cruise is more intelligent than Ford's

- The ability of the speed limiter to match itself to the current speed limit with just one button press is just excellent. I use the speed limiter constantly so this is really good

- Mrs Dastardly (Penelope?) loves it

- The configuration options on the dashboard are excellent.

- It just feels like it's been designed by boffins, rather than people in overalls 

But it's not all roses 🌹

Some, albeit minor, annoyances.

- The engine is quite harsh/growly. Ford's 3 pot system is much smoother and not nearly as loud.

- The door handles feel quite flimsy due to being quite thin but I'm sure I'll get used to that.

- The positioning of the window controls are a little strange compared to what I am used to. Very high up. Probably just me though

- Severe lack of internal storage. Door pockets are tiny, no opportunity to store anything in the centre console

- Quite annoying that your personal options, e.g. turning off PCA, resets every time you re-start the engine, unless I'm just being thick

- The "Hold" button resetting itself on every journey is bizarre. Should remember the setting or just be a configurable menu option.

- Lack of factory options e.g. sunroof, heated seats. Would have paid for both

The negatives are just minor/personal really as the positives are so good. Haven't been this happy with a new car acquisition for a long time 👍

 

[Neptuneblue]

Thanks for the detailed review, waiting till June for mine (exact same) so appreciate any good info👍

[Mojo1010]

The MK4 is the best small automatic car in the world, your one is mk 4.5 shall we call it. Am very satisfied with the normal 116 hp. 

[Jules88]

On 4/20/2024 at 6:01 PM, Dick_Dastardly said:

- Quite annoying that your personal options, e.g. turning off PCA, resets every time you re-start the engine, unless I'm just being thick

 

 

All cars do this I think. Must be some silly safety reason for it. At least you don't have to wade through various menus like in some full electric cars.

[Dick_Dastardly]

35 minutes ago, Jules88 said:

All cars do this I think. Must be some silly safety reason for it. At least you don't have to wade through various menus like in some full electric cars.

Must be part of the new EU 24 directive that means you have to cancel the speed limit alerts every journey 

[Jules88]

How is the driving view? I've always felt it's a little restricted with the driving position and the rear view mirror position.

[Dick_Dastardly]

34 minutes ago, Jules88 said:

How is the driving view? I've always felt it's a little restricted with the driving position and the rear view mirror position.

Forward view is just fine, haven't noticed any issues.

Funny you should say about the rear view though. I noticed for the first time yesterday that I couldn't find any position that made the rear view central or didn't make the headrests the center of attention.

Apparently there's a means of adjusting up and down, in addition to the swivel ball, but I haven't figured that out yet

[dash]

44 minutes ago, Dick_Dastardly said:

Apparently there's a means of adjusting up and down, in addition to the swivel ball, but I haven't figured that out yet

I'd like to know that too. I can't see a way of lowering the mirror to provide better view through the rear window. Currently I cannot see as far behind as I would.

[Dick_Dastardly]

20 minutes ago, dash said:

I'd like to know that too. I can't see a way of lowering the mirror to provide better view through the rear window. Currently I cannot see as far behind as I would.

According to the manual

 

 

Looks like there's a ball joint at both the top and bottom of the stalk.

[dash]

I’ll have to exert a bit more force as being gentle hasn’t worked 😉

[Cyker]

One of the Mk4's weaknesses is poor visibility; Forward visibility is okay, but the A-pillars create blindspots which can obscure oncoming vehicles; I find they're particularly leery on roundabouts and I'm having to rock back and forth to look around them.

The rear view mirror is very much in the way - I can see why GR owners cut a slot into the arm to allow it to be pushed higher.

Rear visibility is probably the worst of all the Yaris models - The B and C pillars create huge blind spots all round with all the headrests covering what they don't, making the rear 270 degrees practically blind aside from directly backwards. I've had some near misses that I only caught because of the blind spot monitors.

[CPN]

8 hours ago, Dick_Dastardly said:

According to the manual

 

 

Looks like there's a ball joint at both the top and bottom of the stalk.

...and it works well although it is very stiff in the straight up and down motion.

[Tommy X]

16 hours ago, Cyker said:

One of the Mk4's weaknesses is poor visibility;

Rear visibility is probably the worst of all the Yaris models - The B and C pillars create huge blind spots all round with all the headrests covering what they don't, making the rear 270 degrees practically blind aside from directly backwards. I've had some near misses that I only caught because of the blind spot monitors.

Not helped by the rear headrests 👎

[Dick_Dastardly]

Poor man's Lamborghini Countach 😎

[Jimota]

I was just about to say that rear view vision in my car is good but then I have the Yaris Cross and not the hatchback.  Silly me.

[Cyker]

4 hours ago, Tommy X said:

Not helped by the rear headrests 👎

I don't know why they didn't use ones similar to the Mk2, which slid down completely out of the way of the rear view - That was a much cleverer solution to how obstructive they are.

[Tommy X]

35 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I don't know why they didn't use ones similar to the Mk2, which slid down completely out of the way of the rear view - That was a much cleverer solution to how obstructive they are.

Another cost cutting exercise no doubt 

[hind]

Or maybe they are not needed that much with the rear camera? Plus people often forgot to extend them when having passengers on the rear seats and they were more prone to the injury in case of the crash?

[anchorman]

I never struggled with rear vision, I can work out where the back is by using the mirrors and the camera.  Of course my work vehicle is a tad bigger.  A mate of mine filmed me passing him yesterday but his is even bigger than mine.  

[Cyker]

On 4/23/2024 at 10:45 PM, hind said:

Or maybe they are not needed that much with the rear camera? Plus people often forgot to extend them when having passengers on the rear seats and they were more prone to the injury in case of the crash?

I think that's the justification for why the rear view isn't better, but having gotten used to the rear view camera (My first car with one!) I can honestly say it's no substitute for looking with my eyes - It's much harder to judge position and distance with the rear view camera because of the fish-eye effect - I still find it much more accurate to use the mirrors and only use the camera for balancing my distance to the car behind at somewhere between "too polite" and "downright rude"  

 

11 hours ago, anchorman said:

I never struggled with rear vision, I can work out where the back is by using the mirrors and the camera.  Of course my work vehicle is a tad bigger.  A mate of mine filmed me passing him yesterday but his is even bigger than mine.  

Alright alright no need to boast!  

And be careful, PartsKing will have that horn off you for his car if you're not careful!!  

[dash]

Talking of horns, has anyone replaced the puny horn on the Yaris?

[Cyker]

Plenty - There are a bazillion threads about it already!!  (I may be exaggerating a bit, but there are a few!!)

[anchorman]

10 hours ago, dash said:

Talking of horns, has anyone replaced the puny horn on the Yaris?

It’s not a horn, it’s a loud sigh.