Since their launch four months ago, Toyota’s neat little Yaris hatches have sold like torches in Cape Town, with almost 10 000 South African buyers voting for the Car of the Year finalist with their wallets. Sales are likely to rise even more with the arrival of the new Yaris sedan, introduced to us last week in KwaZulu-Natal. Rather than being simply a hatchback with a boot stuck on, the new offering delivers the same DNA as the five-door in a substantially different package. The sedan’s 550mm longer, has a 90mm longer wheelbase, and it’s 130mm lower. It’s also marginally narrower. Toyota tells us that the sedan shares not a single body panel with the hatch.
The Yaris sedan was designed to achieve a Euro NCAP five-star safety rating, and all four models come with anti-locking brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and emergency brake assist. Dual-stage driver and passenger airbags are standard — I successfully avoided testing them at the launch — but most of the luxury features came under scrutiny and were not found wanting. These include, in the R121 120 base model T3, an aircon, a headlight levelling system, electric power steering, an integrated radio with RDS and four-speaker system, a front-loading CD player, and a transponder-type immobiliser system.
Spend an extra R7 700 on the T3+ derivative and you’ll get remote central locking with answerback and a 30-second auto-lock delay, height-adjustable front seats, colour-coded mirrors and door handles, electric mirrors and front and rear windows, and a steering wheel that’s adjustable for tilt and reach. I suspect this is going to be the best seller in the range.
Next comes the full-house T3 Spirit. Those with R140 620 to spend on a small car will benefit from side airbags for the driver and front-seat passenger, curtain-shield side airbags, 15″ alloy wheels (including the full-size spare), front fog lights and luxury cloth trim. An electronically controlled four-speed automatic version of the Spirit is also available at R150 260.
The interior of the sedan is also entirely different to that of the hatch. The instrument cluster is still centrally mounted, but analogue dials replace the digital speedometer and rev counter of the five-door version. Although nominally a four-seater, the car can comfortably convey five adults when necessary, thanks to the excellent use of space and the virtually flat floor-pan in front of the rear seats. With all the seats in their usual position, there’s a healthy 426 litres of boot space, and Toyota’s Easy-Flat system makes an additional 312 litres available.
The sedan has the same 1,3-litre engine as the hatch. This is a hi-tech new-generation aluminium block unit with variable valve timing, twin overhead camshafts, and four valves per cylinder, which work together to deliver 63kW at 6 000rpm and 121Nm of torque at 4 400.
Although both ranges were launched at sea level, I was surprised to find the three sedans I drove around KwaZulu-Natal all felt livelier than the hatchbacks did in Cape Town. The added length of the sedan also gives the Yaris a more comfortable ride and added stability at speed. The little engine responds well to hard driving, although the suspension felt a little soft at high speeds over the lumps ‘n bumps of our province’s secondary roads. Top speed is claimed to be a respectable 170kph.
I like the Toyota Yaris a lot. It’s an attractive, relatively spacious, practical small car, and the two models at the bottom of the range in particular offer plenty of comfort and safety at competitive prices. Toyota’s excellent record for reliability and back-up, along with the four-year/60 000km service plan, three-year/100 000km warranty and excellent resale value are sure to make the Yaris sedan a popular choice for young families, and for older citizens looking for a reliable, value-for-money sedan.