If you're old enough to remember the heady days at the turn of the century - and let's face it, most new-car buyers are - then there will be a lot of goodwill attached to Toyota's Yaris supermini.
Back in 1999 when it debuted, the maker's supermini was called Echo here (but still Yaris in Europe). Regardless of the badge, it was a game-changer: totally design-driven, cleverly packaged and fun to drive.
But having helped define the segment, Toyota leaves the funky stuff to others these days. The third-generation Yaris has grown up - not in dimensions, for it's still usefully compact at just 3855mm long. But in styling, comfort and attitude.
The exterior shape owes a lot to the designed-for-Europe iQ city car (sold here briefly as a Signature Class used import). There's big-car cabin comfort, with upgraded/enlarged front seats and generous rear-seat legroom for such a small car. No more outlandish cabin design, although the classy range of textures and colours can't disguise the unrelentingly hard plastics. It's still a car built down to a price - at least in terms of the bits you can see and touch.
Perhaps less so in terms of the engineering underneath. Proper mileage in the Yaris shows how far the model has come in terms of platform rigidity and dynamic demeanour - it feels rock-solid on the road and corners with aplomb, even at open-road speeds. Sporty? No. But capable and composed in all driving conditions.
