Fourth-generation Yaris ups its scale and sporting quotient, but to what effect?
Having been with us for a little over two decades, the Toyota Yaris headed back to its roots for its fourth generation. The French-built small hatchback is Toyota’s biggest-selling individual model in Europe, and that’s no mean feat given the ever-increasing number of SUVs taking over the market. Like the Toyota C-HR crossover, the esteemed Toyota Prius and the popular Toyota Corolla hatchback, this generation of Yaris sits on the brand’s TNGA-B platform. A completely new design came with the platform change, reimagining the supermini on a clean sheet of paper.As you might have noticed, the result looks more like the original Yaris of 1999 than either of the subsequent generations. And like its showroom siblings, it’s a modern Toyota that offers only a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain.For years, the Yaris’ biggest selling points have been its efficiency and safety credentials, but this time the brand has directed more attention to its performance, handling and general driver appeal. This is a car described in the same suspiciously catchy terms as the original Yaris was, one distinguished by “big small” characteristics both static and dynamic. Consider that an attempt to sweep away some of the memory of the Yaris’s awkward-looking teenage years, if you will.But whether you think such labelling is meaningful or not, now’s our chance to explore the Toyota Yaris’s qualities and characteristics in detail. Now then; let’s find out all about what this smaller, meaner, stiffer and more modern Toyota Yaris is all about. The Toyota Yaris line-up at a glanceToyota has resisted the urge to offer this latest Yaris with regular petrol motors and has instead focused exclusively on its 1.5-litre hybrid powertrain – largely because it would have been the best seller anyway.The Yaris comes with a choice of two power options, both with front-wheel drive and either 114bhp or 128bhp.Starting prices are steeper than the supermini norm as a result, but the pay-off is appealingly low CO2 emissions and competitive efficiency. Icon represents the entry-level trim and is followed by Design, Dynamic, Excel, GR Sport and Premiere Edition models.VERSIONPOWER1.5 Petrol Hybrid114bhp1.5 Petrol Hybrid128bhp
Source: Autocar
