A Toyota Yaris was my first and only car. I entered the dreary world of MOTs, road tax and parking tickets two years ago when I moved to Manchester to be the Guardian’s northern editor. Reluctantly accepting that I was no longer going to be able to cycle everywhere, I sought counsel on which model to buy. I wanted something small and reliable, but big enough to fit a bike in the back with the seats down. Ideally it would have one of those clever parking sensors which beeps like an increasingly frantic morse code machine when you’re about to back into someone’s bumper.
A secondhand Yaris without the beeps was the compromise. Five doors, manual, petrol driven. I’ve never loved it. You can’t love a Yaris. It would be like loving socks or carrier bags. It does the job, traversing the M62, M6, A1 and Snake Pass in all weathers – but you can’t get too excited about it.
The hybrid version looks much the same, with a few unwelcome additions. They’ve moved the speedo from the middle of the dash to behind the steering wheel, along with the clock, making both harder to read. And while the boot remains the same size, the seats don’t fold down to make one level surface, but an irritating two-tier arrangement. There’s a touchscreen analogue radio, which ought to be digital in this day and age. And what’s with this daft trend for having “on” buttons instead of key-driven ignitions, when you need a key fob to open the car? Pointless.
I’ve always been irritated by how noisy my Yaris is on the motorway, and little has changed with the hybrid. It doesn’t have brilliant acceleration either, but cruised along at 70mph once we got there. It’s really a town car, which makes the hybrid a tricky sell at six grand more than its petrol equivalent. To get the cost savings you’d need to be doing decent mileage and it’s not a terribly good motorway vehicle. It is exempt from the London congestion charge, however, if you are foolish enough to own a car in the capital.
Still, mine came with not only a parking sensor but a camera, which came into its own when reversing into the spot I’d usually drive straight past, filing under “not a chance, sunshine”. I’d taken my 84-year-old neighbour shopping, and had nipped into Max Spielmann to pick up Enid’s prints (she has an iPad but she’s not ready for digital photography). When I got back, she was sitting still as a statue in the passenger seat. “It started going by itself,” she said, “I decided not to move a muscle in case it lurched forward.” I saw what she meant when she popped in to a friend’s house while I waited outside, having put the automatic gear stick into “P” mode but not pressed the stupid power button. Suddenly it reared into life, giving me a right fright. I won’t be upgrading.
Toyotal Yaris Hybrid
Price From £16,195 (mine was £17,890)
Top speed 103mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 11.8 seconds
Combined fuel consumption 85.6mpg
CO2 emissions 75g/km
Eco rating 7/10
• Zoe Williams is away
