Toyota Yaris - Should i consider

blacksta

I bought a merc c class classic se auto c180 04 reg for 13k in Nov 2006 and sold it for 4500 in April 2011 thus taking a hit of 8500, road tax was about 200 pounds a year.

After losing 8500 in just under 4.5 years and spending a number of years on this site. I have come to the conclusion, that kind of loss on a car makes no financial sense and i cant afford to be wasting that kind of money every 3 to 5 years.

I am looking at toyota yaris or car that returns at least 50mpg , Automatic ( my wife passed on an auto licence , so i am restricted to auto cars) and cost a fraction of what i payed to maintain the c class, Ideally with very low car tax

If i go for toyota yaris - which one should i go for

Please help

hollie.weimeraner

My wife is a driving instructor and currently on her 2nd diesel manual Yaris. The first one (A TR D4D) cost her 11,500 which she kept for 21/2 years before trading in for a new T Spirit in March this year. She got 6750 trade in against the price of the T Spirit which we bludgeoned down to 12,600.

The cars have been excellent and the service frm Toyota has been exceptional when required.

As far as the automatic Yaris is concerned though I have heard a lot of varied reports regarding the poor gear changes provided by the system so if I was you I'd go and test drive one. Honda Jazz's do very well on reliability and quality. We test drove the Hyundai i20 as well but poor quality plastics and front facia rattles put us off.

rodenal

At the moment if you want to minimize your loss then there seems to be two options:

1) Something small and economical (like the yaris). If you're looking at quite a new car you'll have to pay a bit more for a yaris than most of its competitors but it's a good car. You may not have any real choice r.e engine size etc as I doubt many of them are available with an auto. It will still lose money, but as the purchase price is so much lower to start with and your running costs are down overall it's a cheap way to go. Having said this you are talking a completely different class of car.

2) Something old(er) and a bit special - for example you can pick up an e39 540i estate in auto form for a couple of grand. Even if it dies after two years you've still lost relatively little. Of course then running costs will be, well, high - fuel will be the killer but it's not an 'M' car so the parts aren't too bad, infact probably cheaper than the yaris (amazing what parts for japanese motors cost). They also sound brilliant and go like sh*t off a shovel

LittleMissAspie

Boyfriend has a manual diesel Yaris, the D4D one. The tax is £30 a year and we get 60+mpg from it. I don't know how an automatic would compare to that though. He bought it when it was 6 years old and it cost £4k.

knightstyle

Yaris is very small, have a look at its big brother, the Auris, we have one and still get 50mpg from it, 1.4 diesel automatic.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Have an extended test drive of your own chosen route in a Yaris or another other car with the automated manual gearbox from hell before you sign up...serene competence as found in your MB's box is not what you will find, particularly at junctions, hills, manoeuvering, and when trying to get a move on.

Hyundai, Kia and Chevrolet small cars all have proper torque converter automatic boxes, try one or two of those maybe for comparison, most European small cars have automated manual auto's, as found in Yaris....not knocking Yaris, it's a fine car like almost all Toyota's, but the auto gearbox is garbage.

forgotmyname

Buy a 5 year old car for £2k, Look after it and sell it in 4 years time for £1k. Works for me.

property.advert

Fiesta auto, Corsa auto ?

andygb

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

My wife is a driving instructor and currently on her 2nd diesel manual Yaris. The first one (A TR D4D) cost her 11,500 which she kept for 21/2 years before trading in for a new T Spirit in March this year. She got 6750 trade in against the price of the T Spirit which we bludgeoned down to 12,600.

The cars have been excellent and the service frm Toyota has been exceptional when required.

As far as the automatic Yaris is concerned though I have heard a lot of varied reports regarding the poor gear changes provided by the system so if I was you I'd go and test drive one. Honda Jazz's do very well on reliability and quality. We test drove the Hyundai i20 as well but poor quality plastics and front facia rattles put us off.

This is the MSE forum, so making a loss of nearly £5K every 2.5 years on a car is not really the way to go. In fact the OP was better off with his Merc.

oldagetraveller

If you are buying new then I would wait for the new model release if an automatic is required. This is going to have a CVT option but only with the petrol version.
Think very long and hard, have a LONG test drive in various road and traffic conditions of the current Multimode Transmission (MMT) Yaris before opting for one of the current model.
I had a Yaris Diesel MMT and like many others found the transmission to be absolutely dire and in very poor MSE fashion got rid of it after 6 months taking a big loss. It changes gear quite illogically at times e.g. remains in a too high gear on an upward incline then changes down at the top, changes down to first at a ridiculously high speed causing the engine to race to around 3000 rpm or more, sometimes and quite randomly refuses to change up from 1st to 2nd when pulling away - particularly dangerous on a roundabout or emerging from a junction etc. It can be over-ridden manually but if that's the solution then buy a manual in the first place! The supplying dealer said it was all quite normal and working as it should. I did test drive one but I suspect not for long enough and on the wrong roads. The sales people must know which route to take to not show up the MMT's failings?!
It could indicate what Toyota think of the MMT by replacing it with a CVT 'box in the Mk 3 Yaris. They have hopefully acted on criticism and feedback from owners?
I am driving a CVT Jazz at the moment and that is very good. Have a drive of that too.
I suspect your wife along with many others, male and female, would have problems with Toyota's MMT. Try one though before passing judgement and don't be hoodwinked by the salesperson's "patter" - "you'll get used to it" etc.

blacksta

Thank God for this site - I have definitely swung away from the Yaris. I dont think i have the strength and time to be dealing with car drama and issues. Hence the reason i want to buy right in the first place.

My order of preference so far

vw auto polo
ford fiesta auto
vauxhall corsa auto
honda jazz ( but i suspect it is same MMT as Yaris - i might be wrong)

does anybody know the mpg for the above cars

what do you guys thinks - Please keep it coming