back to article Toyota Yaris Hybrid: Half-pint composite for the urban jungle

As befits the company most closely associated with the technology, Toyota/Lexus now has a hybrid for you, no matter what size car you're after. From the medium-sized Auris and Prius to the big hybrid saloons and wagons like the NX300h, it has most of the automotive bases covered. With the Yaris Hybrid just subjected to a mid- …

  1. Dieter Haussmann

    Ridiculous price for a Yaris.

    1. jonathanb Silver badge

      But no congestion charge, which could make a difference.

      1. Dr_N

        How much is this congestion charge you speak of?

        You could get one of those there MG3s for less than 10 grand.

        Would the congestion charge cost 6 grand over 3 years?

        1. david bates

          Yes but the 3 will probably have dropped 6k or more in those 3 years. If MG have decided they can't be bothered any more (and they have yet to show any signs that they CAN be bothered, or indeed that they can run a car company at all in the recognised sense of the word) and pull out it'll be worth scrap value.

        2. jonathanb Silver badge

          522 days of congestion charge over those 3 years would cover it. Some people will do that.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Ugh!

    Yaris always sounds to me like the name of an ugly, squat Narnian Dwarf, and it's comforting that Toyota's designers clearly agree with me.

    No-one should buy this car, it'll just encourage Toyota to make more of them.

    1. PNGuinn
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Ugh!

      Sir, you insult ugly, squat Narnian Dwarves!

  3. Minimaul
    IT Angle

    IT angle?

    1. PNGuinn
      Trollface

      IT angle?

      P'ugly as TIFKAM??

  4. Eponymous Cowherd

    How times change

    This little city car has almost identical performance figures to a 1970 Mk3 Ford Cortina 2000 GT. Apart from fuel consumption which was in the region of 27mpg if you were careful.

    1. John Tserkezis

      Re: How times change

      "This little city car has almost identical performance figures to a 1970 Mk3 Ford Cortina 2000 GT. Apart from fuel consumption which was in the region of 27mpg if you were careful."

      That's nothing, you want scary? You got it.

      It compares very closely to my 125cc Scooter. That's performance and fuel economy - almost identical.

      By "almost", I mean my Scooter will get to 60mph in about half the time, AND the scooter is less than a tenth of the price.

      Being a motorbike, it's also exempt from congestion charges (or a 100% refund as I understand it, I don't live there). Worried about getting killed? Obesity and related diseases are the biggest killers, start counting down from there, and when you get to bikes, let me know. Best of all, you won't ever creat clouds of Smug.

      1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: How times change

        Worried about getting killed? Obesity and related diseases are the biggest killers, start counting down from there, and when you get to bikes, let me know.

        If you want to avoid obesity related diseases, ride a pushbike. It's also safer than riding a motorbike.

        The fact remains that the death rate for motorcycle riders per kilometre travelled in the English speaking world is 30-40 times higher than for car occupants.

        The leading causes of death (at least for for my age group) are suicide, accidental poisoning and transport accidents in that order.

  5. Pen-y-gors

    I'm not convinced...

    I think I sort of understand the idea of a hybrid - charge up the electric for pottering to and around town, but have the petrol hybriddy bit so that you don't run out of oomph after 50 miles and can actually drive to Scotland and back. It makes a certain sense, and that could justify the cost of having an 'engine' that's a lot more complicated than leccy only or petrol only.

    As I said, that sort of makes sense. But an electric range of ONE MILE???? WTF are they thinking of?

    1. Eponymous Cowherd

      Re: I'm not convinced...

      "As I said, that sort of makes sense. But an electric range of ONE MILE???? WTF are they thinking of?"

      That is because you don't understand the idea of a hybrid. What you are thinking of is a plug-in hybrid, like a Vauxhall Ampera. In standard hybrids like this, the battery is used as a reservoir to hold energy recovered by regenerative braking, etc, so that it can be used for motive power and, therefore improve fuel consumption.

      1. Robert Helpmann??
        Childcatcher

        Re: I'm not convinced...

        I get the idea, but this model looks like the worst of both worlds. It does much better at urban driving than most gas burners, but there are cheap electrics coming into the market now that perform even better. They can't be used for highway driving, but if that is a requirement, there are other options that do quite well in that area. From the review, if nothing else, this vehicle sounds pretty boring.

        1. jonathanb Silver badge

          Re: I'm not convinced...

          My commute is about 43 miles each way. The first 40 miles take about 40 minutes, and the remaining 3 miles take anything between 20-80 minutes, usually about 40 minutes. I don't have charging facilities at home, nor is it possible for me to install them, so a fully electric car is a non-starter. For those last three miles, a hybrid could make a difference.

    2. jonathanb Silver badge

      Re: I'm not convinced...

      If you are in really busy city traffic, it could take half an hour to drive one mile. With a normal car, the engine will be idling most of the time, burning fuel and not doing anything with it. In a hybrid, it will come on occasionally to charge up the battery, and the rest of the time, it will run on electric power. Electric cars are always more efficient than petrol at 0 mph.

  6. Kimo

    Looks like a much cheaper (as in cut-rate) version of the Prius C model.

    1. BigFire

      Prius C IS build on Yaris platform, so this is pretty much Prius C for the European market.

  7. Kar98

    On one hand, the Yaris is reliable and economical and has features I haven't had in a car before, like working A/C and in-dash GPS. On the other hand, I wish the damn thing would just dissolve already so I can get back into a car that's not torture to sit in.

  8. Hud Dunlap
    Boffin

    What about battery life

    I had a 2003 Honda Insight for ten years. I was on my third battery when I got rid of it. The first battery made 60K miles. The second made 30K. The battery was $4K and the electronic control module. was $1K. I did a little research at the time and found that once the first battery fails the next one doesn't last as long. I was lucky that I was covered by an extended warranty. I sold the car before the warranty ran out.

    Other than a brake job and scheduled maintenance the only issue I had with the car was battery related.

    1. pdlane

      Re: What about battery life

      Should be no problem..... I have a 10 year old 2nd generation Prius with 174,000 miles..

      No problems with the drive battery.... Toyota has their Hybrid technology under control unlike others...

      But the fob battery only lasts 2 years and the conventional 12v battery should be replaced every 5-6 years.

  9. Gordon 11

    EV mode isn't meant to be selectable driving around town...

    ...as, provided the engine is (even slightly) warmed up, you have juice in the battery and aren't trying to accelerate hard then you will run on battery anyway.

    As far as I can tell (I have an Auris Hybrid) the EV button is only there for a short drive where you know that starting up the engine at all would be a waste of energy (in the engine heat produced).

  10. imanidiot Silver badge

    I won't be caught driving one.

    The Yaris does absolutely NOTHING for me. I dislike it's looks and driving it is just plain soulless. (And this from a guy driving a Vauxhall/Opel Astra G stationwagon).

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    at least the new nose is distinctive

    in the fugly horizontally squat X way.

    And then, there's the price tag. 20 grand for a very small box on (four) wheels...

  12. Leeroy

    How much !

    That seems a little steep for a tiny car !

    I just got upgraded to a 1.6 diesel civic 2015 model and it's not much slower than my previous 2006 2.2 diesel civic (or the frv with the same 2.2 engine). It sure as hell feels quicker off the mark but a little less enthusiastic around the speed limit. The biggest improvement is getting it under the 95 / mile c02, saves a whack on tax and the purchase price was less than the yaris.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    very practical commuter around London

    I got one a year ago to replace a 10 year old Yaris. Ignoring the eco green things the drive train makes it very nice around town. It actually has two electric motors which as every engineer knows gives lots of torque which is just what you need pulling away. The auto gearbox (planetary set) is amazingly smooth and the entire drive train is straight off the Prius which is a rock solid reliable so I expect this Yaris to last as long as my previous one. If you buy a car to do the job of getting around in stop start traffic its well thought out. Drive, park and forget.

    1. David Paul Morgan

      Re: very practical commuter around London

      is it exempt from the congestion charge?

  14. David Paul Morgan
    Thumb Up

    we're two years into our current Yaris lease/hire

    and this means that they'll have the bugs ironed out by apr/may 2016!

    Seems like a worthy addition to the prius/toyota hybrid family.

  15. Tapeador

    70mpg?

    You could get that in a Citroen diesel AX; I can get 80mpg in my 1007 1.4hdi. We're back in the 90s.

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