Toyota Yaris Hybrid Review

The Toyota Yaris has been the manufacturer’s city car that has proved incredibly popular since its launch back in 1999. With more than 8 million Toyota hybrids on the road, a very impressive figure, what is the third generation of the Toyota Yaris Hybrid, with it’s new front end styling and bi-tone colours, like to drive and how does it cope packed to the brim with a family on a long journey? We tested it to find out.

The hybrid engine consists of a 1.5-litre petrol engine producing 73bhp alongside a 59bhp electric motor and combined these make a compelling case of why hybrids just work so well.

If you’re looking to use the Yaris hybrid for plenty of urban driving then running it in the very smooth full electric EV mode will save on fuel costs as it runs up to 40mph, ideal for a morning commute or just nipping around towns.

Using a CVT automatic transmission, once up to higher speeds the petrol engine kicks in but not in an awkward, noticeable way as some hybrids do while the four-cylinder gives the model enough power to make it ideal as a motorway cruiser too.

The ride isn’t that great, the suspension struggles to deal with less than smooth roads and taking it through a very muddy field proved quite a jostling experience to all passengers. OK, it’s not an off-roader, but we expected to not be thrown around as much.

The heavy steering though is responsive, it reacts positively to the tight, twisty stuff and it’s great around town for parking as it’s nimble and has a turning radius of just 4.8 metres.

Anything with an electric motor is very Bjork, (it’s oh so quiet) when setting off and at low speeds - just be careful when passing pedestrians and cyclists as the lack of engine noise will make them unaware you’re there.

It can get quite noisy when going uphill, it almost sounds like it’s straining and there is some wind buffeting off the mirrors, although all round it is much quieter at higher speeds.

Jumping into the Yaris Hybrid is surprisingly really comfortable, one of my passengers had reservations about doing a long journey in it, but once they’d completed the trip they realised there was nothing to complain about; the ripple effect material on the seats provided plenty of snugness and support.

The instrument panel is quite plain and simple, when you experience the funkiness of the latest Toyota Aygo, you almost want this to have the same impact, but maybe it’s aimed at a different generation. There is an intuitive touchscreen using their Toyota Touch 2 multimedia system, displaying media, navigation, phone connectivity and trip information.

Some of the standard equipment on the Yaris hybrid includes a rear spoiler, rear-view camera, the multimedia system and telephone controls on the steering wheel. Extras like the Bi White paint will cost £795.

It’s surprisingly spacious for a car of its size, we took a long journey in it with a 14 month old, so you can imagine we didn’t travel light, a pushchair, large suitcase, various other bags and a child seat had to be packed in and the Yaris didn’t disappoint. OK, we couldn’t fit it all in the boot but we managed to avoid being one of those cars packed to the brim where you can’t even see the interior for items.

The rear split-folding bench seat offers greater space, increased from a decent boot size of 286-litres and there is plenty of space in the rear footwells.

Although the front has drinks holders and storage it’s distinctly lacking in the rear and headroom isn’t so great either.

The Toyota Yaris Hybrid is priced from £14,995 and with no hybrid rivals in its supermini segment it’s a well priced car, it’s not only practical but economical too, which is what most people want from a car nowadays and it comes with a 5-year/100,000 mile warranty.

Toyota claim it can achieve 78.5 mpg, in the real world probably not likely and if you can get anything near that then hats off as we only managed 60. With CO2 emissions of just 82g/km then running costs are really good as it won’t cost anything in road tax and it’s also exempt from the London Congestion Charge.  Bonus.

The quality of the Toyota Yaris Hybrid is pretty good, plastics feel solid and there are plenty of soft touch materials in the cabin which has enhanced it over the previous generation.

Toyota have an excellent reliablity record and they have topped a lot of the satisfaction surveys, they were in the top 10 manufacturers of the JD Power Vehicle Dependability Survey and the Yaris Hybrid achieved success in the 2016 Which? Car Survey, so you’re in good hands should anything do go wrong. Most Yaris owners tend to stick with the brand, the Yaris hybrid proving popular for its low running costs and amount of space.

The Toyota Yaris took the full five stars in the Euro NCAP tests back in 2011 for the previous generation, scoring 89% for adult occupant protection with 81% for a child.

It comes with airbags, ISOFIX mounts, daytime running lights and to aid with tricky driving conditions there is traction control, brake assist and vehicle stability control.

Optional safety equipment includes their Safety Sense package which features a collision warning system, lane departure alerts and automatic high beam.