Toyota Yaris 2021 review: SX petrol

Um. No. No matter which way you add it up the new Yaris is not good value. Do you get a lot more stuff in the Yaris than you generally do in this class? Yes. Does it have new drivetrains and technology? Yes. Does this mean you should be paying a whopping $27,020 MSRP for a mid-grade small car? Probably not.

To put it in perspective: You can have an entry-level Corolla for pretty much the same money, but not any entry-level Corolla, you can even have the fuel-sippin’ hybrid version at $27,395. 

Really, would you rather this little Yaris or a very good base Corolla? I know which car I’d pick.

No matter which way you add it up the new Yaris is not good value.

It also puts the Yaris in an awkward position in its own size category, placing it in the void between a VW Polo Style ($25,960) and GTI ($32,890), Suzuki Swift GLX Turbo ($25,290) and Sport ($29,990), and well above the top-spec Kia Rio (GT-Line - $23,590).

Toyota does try to level the playing field a little, by offering the Yaris very well equipped. Standard items include a 7.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and built-in navigation with live traffic, single-zone climate control, full LED exterior lighting, keyless entry and push-start ignition, a digitized instrument cluster (but not a fully-digital instrument screen), leather accented wheel, and 15-inch alloys. 

Standard items include a 7.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and built-in navigation.

The safety suite, which we’ll touch on later in this review, is also excellent for the segment.

It all feels and looks good compared to rivals, too, but to make the Yaris really stand out in this segment you’ll still need to spend almost $30 grand to get the hybrid version of this SX ($29,020).

Toyota says the tall pricing is partially due to “new powertrains, driving experience and cutting edge safety” but this new Yaris also faces the production cost challenge of being built in Japan.

For a small car the new Yaris isn’t bad so long as you ignore the fact you could get a car in the segment above with much more space, like a Hyundai i30 or Toyota’s own Corolla for the same money.

Regardless, the Yaris compares well to even good cars for its own segment like the Kia Rio. 

The cabin does manage to feel roomy through a neat space-increasing design, and there’s an abundance of headroom for a car in this class. 

It doesn’t quite have the comfort of its larger Corolla sibling, but that’s to be expected.

There’s an abundance of headroom for a car in this class.

Front passengers benefit from a very adjustable seating position, ergonomic switchgear for the multimedia and climate functions, the aforementioned tall roofline, plus large binnacles in the doors and console, dual cupholders, and some odd binnacles cut out of the textured dash. 

These have the cool textured pattern in them in a thematic reference to other TNGA platformed Toyota cars, but as they are shallow and not rubberized I fail to see how useful they can be as storage areas given they’ll simply disgorge their contents at the suggestion of a corner or brisk acceleration.

A downside, there’s no top box console, which always detracts from cars in this segment.

The rear seat is a less interesting story. It’s quite claustrophobic in the SX with dark textures and small window apertures, and while headroom is good, legroom behind my own (182cm / 6.0') seating position is less impressive. 

The rear seat is quite claustrophobic in the SX with dark textures and small window apertures.

I had my legs hard up against the front seat, and I wouldn’t want to be an adult sitting in the middle position.

There are also no amenities for rear passengers, with no charging ports or directional air vents. This isn’t unusual for the segment, but still a letdown in a car costing this much.

The boot serves up 270 litres of space (VDA) which easily consumes our largest 124L CarsGuide travel case with a little room to spare. It’s not the best in the segment, still weighing in at lower than its key Kia Rio rival, and is in fact down from the previous Yaris (286L). 

The Yaris is powered by a new 1.5-litre, three-cylinder, non-turbo petrol engine producing 88kW/145Nm in this non-hybrid guise. It doesn’t sound like a whole lot but performs better than the numbers would suggest. Check out the driving section for more on this.

All new-generation Yaris variants have a continuously variable transmission that drives the front wheels only.

The new Yaris is pitched as being much more efficient, with fuel consumption for non-hybrid variants like the SX tested here at 5.4L/100km, down from the outgoing car by 23 per cent, according to Toyota.

In the real world though, after a week of driving in what I would consider reasonably combined conditions, with a decent stretch of freeway thrown in for good measure, our SX returned a dash-indicated 7.1L/100km. 

I’m hoping to get at least a week-long test of the hybrid at some point, because to give you a bit of perspective, my Corolla hybrid long-termer is currently doing 4.9L/100km.

The Yaris can consume base-grade 91RON unleaded petrol, and has a 40-litre fuel tank.

Toyota has built a reputation on reliability, and backs it with a industry-standard five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty (extendable up to seven years) and importantly, very cheap capped price servicing.

Toyota has built a reputation on reliability.

The Yaris will need to be serviced once a year or every 15,000km, with each of the first five services costing an absurdly low $195. Excellent.