The series of ten test drive tales concludes (for now) with a review of a car which I only drove last month: a 2014 Toyota Yaris Icon Plus! We thought at the time that my lady wife's 2014 MG3 may be passed onto a friend, so I set about finding a suitable replacement, should the need have arisen (it ended up not happening). Searching on the Internet, I came across a four year old example of one of Japan's most endearing small cars for sale at a reasonable price, and so headed off to Hertfordshire to take a look at it.
The weather was appalling as I approached the dealership (viewing cars in the rain is never recommended), but my spirits refused to be dampened as I asked to take the little Toyota out for a test drive. The current generation Yaris was launched in 2011, and this has had a couple of facelifts in its time. I am sure that Toyota will replace it fairly soon, but for now you can still buy one of these in the current generation, even if it does not look exactly the same as new one.
The 1.33 litre engine, which develops around the same power as my lady wife's MG (around 100 bhp) seemed smooth another, but without a turbo, the power delivery seemed quite flat and uncharacterful. The steering was light enough, and there was plenty of grip, but the ride was quite firm without the trade off in handling which an MG3 has down to a T. Overall, the car was comfortable (with the exception of the jiggly low speed ride) and felt stable, but quite undistinguished overall.
The interior, whilst being better quality than the MG (with a list price when new which was 50% more, that is to be expected), still had some scratchy and cheap plastics. It did, however, have a nice colour touch screen in the middle with a reversing camera, which was a nice touch. The space in the rear and the boot seemed fine, but no more than class average. The thing I noticed most from sitting inside was the single front wiper blade, which is absolutely massive and like something from a double decker bus.
Ever since its initial launch in 1999, the Yaris has been solidly built, economical and with a few interesting quirks (thank goodness they ditched the digital instruments for this third generation car), but not the most exciting thing to drive. The first two even had sliding rear seats to maximise luggage or rear passenger space depending on need, but this one did not. Despite the good specification and reasonable price, it certainly didn't cause me a great deal of excitement, and I don't think it would enthuse anyone who is a very keen driver. However, for simply a reliable, spacious runaround, particularly in urban environments, I can see a certain appeal. The newly released sporty GRMN model sounds much more exciting, I must say!
