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2007 Toyota Yaris Hatchback Review

Ugly as a pug, but just as lovable

Christian Wardlaw
by Christian Wardlaw
May 11, 2007
7 min. Reading Time
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Toyota Yaris Hatchback – 2007 Review: This is the car of the future. Don’t believe it? Check out any variety of forecast data pertaining to population growth, global warming, gas prices, and infrastructure investment. The trajectories are dire unless something happens now. Experts say that by mid-century there will be 100 million more Americans, that our atmosphere will be irrevocably damaged by excess carbon emissions, that gasoline prices will rise exponentially, and that our cities will begin to crumble under increasing strain. The tough, fuel-sipping, clean-burning, park-it-anywhere, fun to drive Toyota Yaris Hatchback might look a little goofy today, but represents an intelligent transportation solution for tomorrow.

What We Drove

Toyota loaned us an Absolutely Red 2007 Yaris Hatchback with a $15,640 sticker price, including the $580 destination charge. Admittedly, that sum caused jaws to drop, but our test sample was a fully-loaded model with a Power Package, upgraded audio, alloy wheels, ABS, side-impact and side-curtain airbags, remote keyless entry, a rear spoiler, and carpeted floor mats – in other words, a whole bunch of stuff economy car buyers don’t really need. According to Toyota’s website, it’s possible to get a Yaris Hatchback for as little as $11,770 and well equipped (without the safety add-ons) for less than $14,500. We put hundreds of miles on this little bugger, a mix of city, highway, and twisty road driving that clearly revealed the Yaris’s preference for urban point-and-shoot travel over open road cruising.

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Performance

A city car first and foremost, the Toyota Yaris’s automatic transmission is geared for spirited off-the-line response and to best manage the 1.5-liter four-cylinder’s 106 horsepower at lower speeds. Belying its mission as a world car, the 2,290-pound Yaris can cruise at 90 mph on the highway but any loss of momentum due to traffic or an incline results in a significant wait to reestablish such velocity. Mashing the accelerator kicks the transmission down to deliver meager amounts of extra power, so it doesn’t really help. Most people will buy the Yaris for its fuel-thrifty nature, and we earned a respectable 31.2 mpg average despite continually flogging it for all the acceleration it could muster.

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Handling

Lightweight and nimble, the Toyota Yaris delivers entertaining handling and peerless maneuverability in the city, and can even tackle freeway ramps with unexpected competence. The suspension is delightfully tuned for a pleasing blend of road feel and ride comfort. On the open road at speed, however, the Yaris demonstrates the straight-line stability of autumn leaves swirling down an alleyway on a blustery October day because of numb steering that requires plenty of correction and tires that like to hunt on grooved pavement. Add a crosswind, and the Yaris takes real concentration to pilot. Good thing the brakes work well to scrub extra speed.

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Visibility

Seeing out of the Toyota Yaris is no problem. If anything, it takes awhile to acclimate to the extremely short hood. In every parking situation that we figured we had zero room for error, there was at least another foot or two of distance between the Yaris and whatever we didn’t want to bump. The Yaris has lots of glass, very short overhangs, thin pillars, big side mirrors, and nothing of note to get in the way of visibility. And it squeezes into spaces that other cars can’t, making it easy to find a legal spot in congested cities.

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Fun to Drive

It is sometimes said that it is more fun to drive a slow car fast than it is to drive a fast car slow. Given that the Yaris can be driven flat-out the majority of the time without risking “demonstration of speed” violations, that it’s a blast to pitch around corners, that it’s capable of dicing through traffic with ease, and that nothing is more fun than outwitting a testosterone-dripping moron in a menacing Mustang thanks to the Yaris’s smaller size and better sightlines, yes, this is an entertaining car. Just keep it off mountain two-lanes and the expressway where its dearth of power and lousy steering make driving a chore.

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Front Comfort

Inexplicably, Toyota just can’t seem to figure out how to make its smaller vehicles accommodate larger drivers. Honda doesn’t have this problem. Neither does Nissan. But Toyota’s driver seats simply don’t offer enough fore/aft or height adjustment to fit people with inseams greater than 32 inches properly behind the wheel. That said, the Yaris does offer comfortable seats. A center armrest is optional, the upper door panels are covered in thinly padded fabric, and the urethane steering wheel is better to hold than look at. Still, our taller drivers felt crammed in behind the wheel.

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Rear Comfort

If you need to carry people in the back seat on a regular basis, skip the Toyota Yaris hatchback. Try the Yaris sedan, or choose a different model altogether, because there’s scant comfort to be had in this microcar’s rear seat. Normally, we’d recommend just folding it down and calling the Yaris hatchback a two-seater with a giant cargo area, but that doesn’t work very well either because the load floor has numerous nooks and crannies into which small items can disappear.

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Interior Noise

This is a loud car. When accelerating, it sounds like the engine might as well be sitting in your lap. Wind and road noise are constant companions on the freeway, and to hear the stereo at higher vehicle speeds it’s gotta be cranked up to ridiculous levels. Do not buy a Toyota Yaris hatchback if you’re looking for a commuter car that doubles as a serenity chamber after a long day at the office. It must be noted, however, that despite its plastic fantastic interior, the Yaris was squeak- and rattle-free.

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Loading Cargo

Hatchbacks are handy vehicles, and it’s really too bad that image-conscious Americans have written them off as cheap econo-cars that people buy because they have to rather than because they want to. That said, the Toyota Yaris suffers utility compromises due to the packaging requirements of the temporary spare tire that resides under the cargo floor. The floor sits rather high, and with the rear seat raised there is little space for more than groceries. Flop the seats down, and a canyon between the spare tire well and folded seats creates a lumpy load surface. There is a plus, however, and that’s the recess in the hatch door that serves as a closing assist.

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Build Quality

Look closely at how Toyota constructs the Yaris hatchback, and you’ll see few panel seams where gaps and joints frequently give clues to assembly quality. Outside, we found minor fit variances with the hood, driver’s door, and hatch. Inside, the plastic covers for both upper storage bins didn’t fit flush with the dashboard. Otherwise, the Yaris was constructed with exceptional care, displaying build quality that would be impressive on a top-of-the-line Lexus let alone the least expensive model in Toyota’s lineup.

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