Toyota Yaris 2018 Quick Takes

TestDriveNow Overview: Toyota Yaris 2018 Quick Takes

• New Sharpened Looks Front and Rear
• New Upgraded Standard Equipment
• Standard Toyota Safety Sense C
• Nine Airbags, Including Front-Passenger Seat Cushion Airbags
• Refined Amenities in a Quiet, Roomy Cabin

Small on the outside, the Toyota Yaris is very big where it counts: safety, fuel economy, value, and now, more than ever, style.

Yaris continues to offer our standard advanced active safety package, Toyota Safety Sense C (TSS-C). TSS-C features three active safety technologies: Pre-Collision System, Lane Departure Alert, and Automatic High Beams. TSS-C combines an in-vehicle camera and laser for outstanding performance and reliability. The package is designed to alert the driver to and/or help mitigate or prevent collisions in a range of vehicle speeds.

Once again offered in three-door and five-door body styles, the Yaris is also big on practicality. Each body configuration is offered in two grades, L and LE, in addition to the five-door sporty SE. A manual transmission is available on the three-door L and five-door SE.

The 2018 Yaris gets a fresh new face with a bolder front grille and updated headlight design. The L and LE grille features a chrome accent, while the sporty SE debuts a unique front fascia with piano black mesh grille and chrome trim.

The updated rear design now has wider horizontal tail lamps and a revised lower bumper, giving the Yaris a wider-looking “hot hatch” stance.

The SE turns up the hot hatch look even more with

new projector-beam headlights

and 16-inch machined alloy wheels having dark accents.

New colors accentuate the edgier looks, including Blue Eclipse Metallic (replacing Blue Streak Metallic) and a new two-tone, Blue Eclipse Metallic with Black Sand Pearl roof (replacing Crushed Ice/Black Sand Pearl roof).

Audio and convenience updates abound are inside the 2018 Yaris, as well

All grades have an integrated backup camera display with projected path function.

The L grade receives a standard three-spoke tilt steering wheel with audio controls. Both the L and LE grades feature the same comprehensive analog instrumentation as the SE. The sporty instrument panel includes speedometer, tachometer and fuel gauge; LCD display with odometer, trip meters, clock, outside temperature, current/average fuel economy, distance to empty, average speed and shift position; ECO-driving indicator; and warning messages (automatic transmission only).

The L and LE grades feature an Entune Multimedia bundle that includes a 6.1-in. touch screen display, AM/FM/CD player, MP3/WMA playback capability, six speakers, auxiliary input jack, USB 2.0 port with iPod connectivity and control, advanced voice recognition, hands-free phone capability, phone book access, and music streaming via Bluetooth and Siri Eyes Free.

Yaris SE gets a big-car kind of audio upgrade with standard Entune Audio Plus with Connected Navigation App using a 7-in. high-resolution touch screen, Connected Navigation Scout GPS Link App, SiriusXM Satellite Radio with 3-month complimentary All Access trial and Gracenote album cover art, HD Radio and HD Radio Traffic, and Weather in major metro areas.

Euro Designed, Euro Built

Designed and assembled in France, the Yaris has quite the international pedigree.

Stretching just 155.5 inches from bumper to bumper, the Yaris can scoot through urban landscapes with ease, aided by a class-leading 31.5-ft. turning circle (three-door model). Yet, Yaris offers a very roomy cabin.

The five-door model offers up to 15.6 cu. ft. of carrying space (15.3 cu. ft. for three-door) behind the rear seats.

Of course, there’s significantly more carrying room with the 60/40 rear seatbacks lowered.

Yaris gets its solid road feel from a rigid body structure that also forms the foundation for a quiet ride. The chiseled bodylines are designed for aerodynamic goodness, as exemplified by its 0.30 coefficient of drag (Cd). Specially shaped side mirrors help to reduce drag and wind noise too.

Premium noise-control features make the Yaris a quieter cruiser. An acoustic glass windshield and foam-type sound insulation material injected into hollow structural spaces help block outside noise. Rocker panel protectors, asphalt sheets for the floor panel and silencers for the floor tunnel help cut road noise.

The Yaris rides on front MacPherson-strut and rear torsion-beam suspension systems, with the SE grade getting its own special sport tuning, four-wheel disc brakes and 16-inch wheels for a more agile feel.

Economical Scoot

Yaris makes saving on fuel fun with a smooth-revving 1.5-liter, 16-valve, four-cylinder DOHC engine.

It’s a responsive performer, with 106 hp at 6,000 rpm and 103 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,200 rpm.

And, thanks to variable valve timing with intelligence (VVT-i), the engine produces a broad torque curve to give the Yaris an eager feel in everyday driving.

For those who still prefer to shift their own gears, the Yaris L three-door and SE are available with a slick-shifting five-speed manual transmission, featuring an easy-effort hydraulic clutch. A four-speed electronically controlled automatic transmission is available and is standard on LE.

EPA estimates city/highway/combined fuel economy to be 30/36/33 miles-per-gallon for the manual transmission-equipped Yaris, and 30/35/32 for grades equipped with the automatic.

Making the Grade for Toyota Value

The Yaris’ mono-spec grades – L, LE, and SE – eliminate option packages, and in the Toyota tradition, standard equipment is comprehensive.

The Yaris L comes equipped with air conditioning, sport-tuned electric power steering, three-spoke tilt steering wheel, power door locks with illuminated entry, cargo area cover and lamp, power windows with driver’s side auto up/down, and color-keyed folding outside mirrors.

LE adds power mirrors, cruise control, steering wheel audio controls, and a remote keyless entry system with engine immobilizer.

Cabin comfort is maximized in the SE with its inclusion of all LE interior upgrades, plus sport-fabric trimmed seats with contrast white stitching, leather-trimmed tilt shift lever and three-spoke steering wheel, and piano black interior trim accents.

Look closely for special details. For example, the innovative wet-arm windshield washer system sprays washer fluid from the base of the wiper arm directly into the blade’s path for improved cleaning.

All Yaris grades also come standard with a rear window wiper. Should the driver should forget to turn off the headlights, when the ignition is switched off, they’ll automatically shut off after 20 minutes of nonuse to help prevent a dead battery.

Quality at Every Touch

The feeling of solidity and quality carries through to the Yaris cabin, where high-quality soft-touch materials convey a “class above” look and feel. Quality lives in the details, too. For example, a glovebox damper lets the compartment open with a smoothness seen on luxury models. Dual extendable sun visors with vanity mirrors are among features not always standard in this class.

The LE and SE grades feature bright trim around the instrument gauges and shifter bezel. Plenty of storage compartments, including numerous small pockets around the driver’s seat, can keep digital devices and other personal items out of sight.

Other Safety Features

While Toyota Safety Sense C gives Yaris advanced driver-assist technologies, the high-quality Yaris has the safety basics covered, too. Collision protection starts with an impact-absorbing body structure that makes wide use of high-tensile strength steel to help absorb and distribute collision forces. All Yaris models come equipped with nine SRS airbags, including:

• Driver and front-passenger dual-stage airbags
• Driver and front-passenger seat side airbags
• Front-passenger seat cushion airbag
• Side curtain shield airbags
• Driver’s knee airbag

The Advanced Whiplash Injury-Lessening (WIL) front-seat structure helps to ensure that the region from the head to the lower back is supported,

helping to reduce whiplash-type injuries during certain types of rear end collisions.

The 2018 Yaris features the Star Safety System, which includes:

• Vehicle Stability Control (VSC)
• Traction Control (TRAC)
• Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)
• Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD) and Brake Assist
• Smart Stop Technology (Toyota’s brake-override system)

Warranty and Care

Toyota’s 36-month/36,000 mile basic new-car warranty applies to all components other than normal wear and maintenance items. Additional 60-month warranties cover the powertrain for 60,000 miles and against corrosion with no mileage limitation.

The Yaris also comes standard with Toyota Care, a complimentary plan covering normal factory-scheduled maintenance and 24-hour roadside assistance for two years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first.

2018 TOYOTA YARIS 5-DR SE LIFTBACK: MSRP $18,260

As shown with Blue Eclipse w/Black two-tone paint: Total $19,655