I had far too much fun test driving the latest in self-charging cars that I had to remind myself a few times that this is not about fun, this is serious and we’re going down this road to save the planet.
This new Yaris is like your old best friend who knows how to make you smile and presses the right buttons in the enjoyment of being behind the wheel.
It’s the title for a song from Madness, One Step Beyond, a band from my youth but very appropriate to describe the way I feel after spending a while behind the wheel of the new Toyota Hybrid this week.
Maybe it was me receiving my second jab or maybe just because it was a summer’s evening but it was good to look forward and see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel and get back out on the road. I was under battery power only which the car selected itself.
I silently made my way out of the multi-storey car park from Arc Medical Centre feeling like Knightrider in the all-new Toyota Yaris.
The interior of our new Toyota Yaris showing a great driving position with the least amount of effort. Photo Brian Mc Daid.
It was a deep sky blue colour with a no-fuss interior. It’s a hybrid which is the norm now, earlier me and Stephen, the sales manager at Kelly’s Toyota went through a few pointers before we set out on the road.
As I headed out the gate I floored the Yaris and it wasn’t long picking up to speed with the flow of traffic. The Yaris has grown over the years, I would say it’s bigger now than the first Corolla I ever seen back in the seventies belonging to Ivan Furey, still a Toyota man it was beige if I remember right,
Back then even the bigger cars were small enough on the inside this new platform for the Yaris has continued to manage to provide an amazing amount of room on the inside.
Enjoying the view of a beautiful Co. Donegal and from the equally beautiful new Toyota Yaris. Photo Brian McDaid.
The new Yaris is wider and its new design makes it look lower to the road. The photos of this new generation Yaris speaks for itself, the lines on this new Yaris just loves the camera, some of these lines make the car as stream-lined as possible and the lines like the dip going across the middle of the roof are more like what you’d expect to see on a sports car and not on a small family saloon.
Even the smallest of fins built into the taillights and on the inside of the two wing mirrors which help split the wind flow.
This small five-door hatch is as comfortable to drive around town as it is on the open road, the 1.5cc engine combined with the electric motor gives you the best of both worlds. It is powerful when you need it and it is also so easy on petrol when you keep the car within the economy range on the dash. Floor the throttle and this engine on the hybrid feels a lot more than its 116 brake horsepower unit suggests when it teams up with the electric motor working through Toyota own version of an automatic, its CVT gearbox.
A view of the well appointed interior at night of the New Toyota Yaris. Photo Brian McDaid.
Photo shoot
On a summers evening I pull off the coast road along Knockalla to get a few photos and this wee Yaris Luna looks the business. The use of black around the back boot lid and on the front grill gives this car a very sporty and robust look. If I had a choice it looks as if those lovely 15inch wheel filling out the shaped arches beautifully.
Safety
I don’t think I have ever driven a small hatchback car like this before with so many safety features on board. From lane positioning distances to the car travelling in front of you to limiter on cruise control it’s amazing how quick it picks up on the faintest of a white line on the middle of the road and gives you a gentle reminder on the wheel to guide you back to your side of the road.
A view of the very roomy interior of the new Toyota Yaris . Photo Brian McDaid.
Airbags are in abundance not that you would ever notice them at first glance from the neatest one in the beautiful three spoke leather stitched steering wheel right to two placed in the two front pillars of the roof and two more in the seats.
Charging down Knockalla
Along with this there are so many settings from braking position going downhill to generate energy to recharge the battery which I did on the way down Knockalla, you could see your benefits on the gauges. For all the right reasons I had to go and check how much fuel that the Toyota Yaris held (which is 42 Lts) driving it all evening and not with economy in mind I couldn’t help but notice how little the fuel hand had moved this one litre Yaris. Toyota say up to 72 mpg I’m thinking it would achieve near to 60 plus to the gallon when would be driving it right, and not like me enjoying it turn of power.
And with the Yaris as with all hybrids it not on the long run to Dublin where you always would check what your car was doing to the most miles to the gallon, it on the small runs around town stopping and starting working on electric or petrol or on both when you need it that cars like these out class the rest of their competitors. It will even give you an end of drive report on how much of your journey you travelled on which power source.
A black and white image of the Toyota Yaris showing it beautiful design lines. Photo Brian McDaid.
One step beyond
To finish at the start the decades of development that Toyota has put into hybrid cars is what makes all Toyotas so good in this sector.
It’s so long ago since I first test drove the then new Prius in a weekend run to Dublin. In those days it was different but now it just the norm, mind you, you would have to remind yourself that these hybrid have been developed with the bigger picture in mind to save or environment something that you imagined would be a bigger effort on the drivers part.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big believer in all-electric cars but along the western seaboard of Ireland the network of fast charging plug-in points have not moved with the amount of all -electric cars sold.
The smallest of details like this air splinters on the Yaris are both functional and beautiful. Photo Brian McDaid.
The all-electric driver has more planning to do for their journey and the infrastructure of public charging points needs to be improved. This is where hybrid drivers of the likes of a Toyota Yaris have the edge at the moment, they can have their cake and eat it thanks to forward planning that Toyota has put into their hybrids for now and the near future.
Happy Motoring Folks
