Bye Bye Hybrid

For a while back, the Prius had been giving us sporadic error lights. Usually would go away and run fairly normally after a few restarts. Finally it stopped and was towed to Toyota. After being taken back twice, Toyota finally replaced the main battery pack. A sizeable cost if not under warranty. Since then it seems to have been running ok. Until last weekend when my mom picked me up from airport. I got in to drive it home, when cranking it gave the array of check engine and warning lamp. I tried power of and on cycles three times. Still had warning, and drove it home ok on surface streets. Next day it seemed normal. But my parents were worried of more problems cropping up, so there was talk of replacing it. I suggested they look at the 3 door Yaris.

Fast forward to Friday of this week. I get home to see a shiny 5 door Yaris S in the driveway. Looks like the parents discovered that the 5 door model is now offered. I spent the night climbing all over it and checking it out. It’s a nice little car. Small, yet comfy. With a full load of passengers, cargo space is very limited, but if only one or two people there is plenty of space. The rear seats slide forward to give a bit more cargo space without folding down. The seat backs also have a small amount of recline adjustment. It’s possible to sit in discomfort in the rear seats (unless you have stumpy, or no legs) in this position. This position still leaves the rear cargo space covered from view. Folding the rear seats down gives full cargo space. At first I was puzzled by the rear cargo floor flipping up to reveal a plastic floor. No additional storage well, then what is the purpose of the floor flipping up? It turns out it’s a nice touch to cover a gap between the folded seat back and cargo floor. The spare tire and tool well is actually one more level below this plastic floor. The cargo floor is almost level with the hatch opening. This should serve my mother well. A bike with both wheels off should easily fit. Only front off will likely fit.

They got the S trim, which comes with the “sport seats”. Actually nice and snug. The side bolsters don’t look as aggresive as the FX’s, but its narrower so it holds well. The design is contemporary height wagon style, so the seat is fairly high while the door sill is low. This makes entry and exit very easy, the 5 door even more so. This should also suit my parents well. Steering wheel & shift knob (4spd auto) is leather trimmed, nice.

Ergonomics is Toyota, the wiper and turn/light control stalks are where I expect. Center instrumentation has always struck me as odd, but coming from Prius, parents should be used to it. This arrangement I suppose makes manufacture for LHD or RHD easier, and it gives you an extra glove compartment on the drivers side. Speaking of compartments, there’s a profusion of them. In addition to the mentioned upper glove compartment for the driver, there’s a matching one on passenger side, along with a lower glove box in the more expected spot. Below the side air vents on each side is a flip out drink holder, and on the drivers side below that there is another flip out compartment that looks like sunglasses would fit well. In all four doors there is a slot pocket and well for PET bottle drinks. Center hump has a single drink holder for rear passengers. In the front center console there are slot pockets along each side also. Under the rear cargo floor is the spare tire and in that well are two removable boxes, one holding the tool kit. The jack is tucked under the drivers seat.

The door arm rests are pretty well positioned. Visibility is good even with the contemporary high window sill design. Wonder if the funky little front triangle of glass above the side view mirrors really does anything. It’s speced as five passenger, you’ll need a pretty narrow passenger for the rear center position. Doors all operate solidly in this still made in Japan Toyota. The factory stereo as equipped with this optioned model has an aux input and iPod connector in center console. My parents will never use it, but should be cool for whenever I borrow it. Equipped with power package so it has the array of power window, lock, mirrors, and keyless entry. 

Safety features are well speced. 4 wheel ABS, front, front side seat and front & rear side curtain airbags, front pretensioner seatbelts, 3 point belts in all positioins.

I have yet to drive it, but I am sure this well serve my parents well. Mechanically the only thing I wish it had were rear disc brakes, but it’s not my car. In all, quite a nice car for what is Toyota’s entry level “econobox”. As equiped here, it was around $16K, barebones 3 door is supposed to be around $12K.