Toyota: Hide and seek

The 1.5-litre Toyota Yaris is a practical runabout, with plenty of storage. Photo / Jacqui Madelin

It's easy to admire the Yaris in this candy-red colour. With its bulbous lines and cheerful demeanour it's like a Willy Wonka creation, albeit one with practical aspirations.

For this car is astonishingly easy to live with, in part because it's packed so full of containers you could lose a flock of sheep in there, let alone your wallet and cell phone.

The proliferation of hatches and compartments seemed a little OTT when the first generation - the Echo - arrived. But live with the car and soon you can't manage without them.

Fortunately the updates to this 1.5-litre model are few.

There's a new front and rear bumper, headlight and grille design - none of it especially noticeable - with LED rear lamps and two reversing lights instead of one and a fog.

There are different, 15-inch alloy wheels as standard, and there are now seven airbags, including one to protect the driver's knees, which in part explains the five-star NCAP crash-test rating it achieved in 2005. It would not win that rating now, because stability control is not fitted despite the $29,490 price.

Still, the Yaris' 109kW/141Nm 1.5-litre engine is pleasantly perky, delivering plenty of pull even in four-speed auto format as tested.

The handling's decent too, and she scampers along even demanding roads with enough brio to offset the marginal drop in power over the likes of Honda's 1.5-litre Jazz. No doubt it helps that though shorter than the Honda, Yaris is wider - and 20kg lighter.

That four-speed transmission wasn't at home on my hilly commute, and the cogs too widely spread for the little engine to get comfy on the steeper bits. But she'll dart happily away from lights or cruise quietly enough on the highway.

Overall, this 1.5-litre Yaris is a goody. I like the fold-down seats that step the seat base to give a flat load floor; the fact they'll slide to-and-fro to increase rear leg or luggage room. I like this engine, the handling and the looks.

But are the minor trim differences, the slightly larger alloy wheels over steel, the under-seat storage drawer and, above all, the power increase worth the $5000 premium over the 1.3-litre auto variant? That may depend on how hilly your commute is, while the lack of ESP could prompt a delayed buying decision until Toyota remedies the omission, it hopes by the end of this year.

TOYOTA YARIS

We like
Looks, plentiful storage cubbies, perky performance

We don't like
No stability control at this price

Powertrain
1.5-litre DOHC four with variable valve timing, 80kW at 6000rpm and 141Nm at 4200rpm, four-speed auto drives front wheels

Performance 0-100 fuel
0-100km/h not available, 6.7 litres/100km claim

Safety
ABS brakes, seven airbags

What it's got
15-inch alloy wheels, air-con, single CD and aux port

Vital stats
3785mm long, 272-litre boot, 42-litre fuel tank