Test drive review - 2019 Toyota Yaris (Malaysia)

If you are familiar with Malaysia's subcompact car market, particular the sales trend in the past 5 years or so, you would agree that the new 2019 Toyota Yaris is quite an important model for UMW Toyota (UMWT) Malaysia. 

Since 2014, the Honda Malaysia trifecta that is the Honda Jazz, Honda City and Honda H-RV (to a lesser degree, the Honda B-RV) had cornered the non-national subcompact market. 

Honda Jazz aka Honda Fit. image credit : EurovisionNim  @ Wikipedia.  CC BY-SA 4.0 

Since then, UMWT utterly had no answer to the Honda onslaught - Their primary sales mover, the Vios, offered lackluster and outdated equipment compared to the City. They had no subcompact hatchback to meet the immensely popular Honda Jazz, and the Sienta MPV was met with poor sales due to being more expensive than the B-RV. More recently they bungled the opportunity to dethrone the H-RV by bringing in a poorly-specced C-HR and priced it one segment higher, where most will rather pay for the much bigger Honda C-RV.

Fast forward to 2019, it seems that UMWT decided it was high time they turn the tables, starting with the new Toyota Vios with an impressive equipment list atypical of their usual offerings. But for enthusiasts, the more intriguing development was their decision to bring back the Vios's hatchback sibling, the Toyota Yaris.

This was not the first time UMWT brought in the Yaris. Back in 2007 they imported CBU Yaris but priced them outside of most consumer's comfort zone, so sales-wise it was a dud. 

Previous generation Toyota Yaris

The all new Yaris is CKD and is priced much cheaper, but is it any good, let's find out....

Exterior

Firstly, I do not care much for the front end of the car, which was mostly carried over from the Vios except for the lower grille which is some sort of weave pattern for the Yaris compared to the sedan's horizontal members. I know they are going for an aggressive look with a large lower grille, but it came off as a comically large stupid grin. It is made worse if you shell out for the optional "aerokit" which adds two pieces of plastic onto the lower grille like a misshapen-ed moustache.

That said, the long and slim headlamps makes the car look more grown up, with projector halogens for the E and G trim and reflectors for the J trim. Standard across the range are the LED DRLs  right beneath the headlamps. Two fake vents on each side of the lower grille houses the foglights, which is standard on the E and G trims. 

Come around the side and towards the rear quarter view, things start to look Caldina-ish. The side profile looks balanced although I feel the rear overhang is a bit too much for my liking. I like the darkened C-pillar even if some might think that the "floating roof" concept is a bit over-used these days. Looking from the side, it is not as aggressive nor does it communicate "fun" as, say, the Mazda 2, but it does looks mature with a bit of flair especially with the Citrus Mica Metallic (read : bright green) color option.

In the rear the design looks a bit more sophisticated. In stock form it has but a small short spoiler. Directly underneath the rear windscreen is a piano black horizontal bar with the Toyota badge in the center, flanked by a pair of curved triangular taillamps which are LED in the E and G trims. it is not rice like the front end nor overdesigned like the CH-R, just enough details to make it look interesting. I won't be surprised if someone told me the front and rear end of this car is designed by two different persons.

All in all, I feel it would be better if they could reign in the front end a bit, then it would be perfect. But as it is, I think it looks fine as long as I avoid finding myself in front of the car.

Interior

Naturally, the interior is also almost entirely carried over from it's sedan sibling. On the driver's side, the instrument gauges are large and easy to read. The G trim comes with a nice color TFT multi-info display on the lower right corner of the instrument cluster, whereas the E trim makes do with a normal monochrome display but J trim owners will get no digital display at all. 

On the top of the center stack of the G and E trim is a 6.8" touchscreen headunit, replete with the usual USB, AUX and bluetooth (With phone mirroring) connectivity, plus voice dial capability. The J trim comes with the CD player with aux, USB and Bluetooth connectivity. further down the center dash, only the G trim gets the auto AC with digital button control whereby the E and J trim comes with good old physical knobs. Between the two front seats is a slim armrest, small but useful. There are no leather seats offered in any trims.

In addition to the overhead cabin lights, there are also footwell lights under the front dashboard, as well as illuminated scuff plates that are standard across the range, which I feel is a nice touch.

During the brief duration I spent in the car, the seats felt no different from the Vios and the ones that came before it - typical Japanese small economy car with just enough thigh support for your behinds and little lateral support. Nonetheless they are comfortable enough for most and Toyota does know well what not to fix if it ain't broken.

There are plenty of rear legroom, enough to give the Jazz a run for it's money, and an abundant of headroom for the average Asian. Fun fact : Despite their similarities, the Yaris actually have a lot more rear headroom compared to the Vios.

That said, the cabin is still a relatively nice place to be in. Quality-wise, it is no Mazda 2 to be sure, but it is no worse than the rest of the competition and way more spacious than the Mazda. The fake leather stitches does give it an air of luxury until you touch the panel and recoil in horror by the touch of hard plastic. There is nothing overtly flashy about the design, everything is where it should be and easy to find.

Comfort

Toyota cars are known for comfort even in it's cheapest range of product. The Yaris is no different - it handles potholes with aplomb and coarse road surfaces with nary a hint of vibration transmitted into the cabin.

Soundproofing on the go is adequate when puttering about town, but once you put your foot down, the engine roar fills the cabin and, to be honest, it is not a pleasant note. This point is a bit of a let down as even local cars are catching up on the soundproofing game. Still, it is ahead of the Jazz in this department.

the seats will carry 5 persons with no issues, although the unlucky one who got the rear middle seat might have a word or two, but that's not to be unexpected for this segment of cars.

Drivetrain

Toyota 2NR-FE. image credit : Toyota

 

Powering the Yaris is the same drivetrain that motivates the Vios - the 105hp 1.5l 4-cylinder 2NRFE mated to a CVT with stepped 7 speed manual mode (In Toyota's words "CVT with 7-speed Sport Sequential Shiftmatic Mode". Please excuse the saliva.). Many has poke fun of the puny 105hp mill that also makes a measly 140Nm, especially compared to the Jazz's relatively beastly 120hp iVTEC. This wasn't helped by my unpleasant experience with the previous generation Vios's CVT that felt sluggish and unresponsive.

But on the go, the Yaris promptly defied my expectations. At no point during the test drive, on a route that includes a rather steep uphill, that the car felt underpower. Just the same, there were no issues performing overtaking manuevers on the highway. The car actually felt light on it's feet and perfectly on par with other 1.5l NA drivetrains on the market.

I credit the CVT and/or it's new tuning; It felt responsive and easy to predict. What surprised me the most though, is how responsive the manual mode was. I can click the gears away without having to account for any lag like I would on the Mazda and the VW Polo 6AT. Usually I would ridicule the manual mode on CVT boxes - I still do - but this one actually felt fun to use.

Handling

The test drive route involves a short stretch of urban road with traffic lights, a highway ramp followed by a long high speed left hand sweeper, then a U-turn back the same route I came from. As usual, I refrain from pushing too hard on a car I'm not familiar with, but initial impressions already surpassed my past experiences with the Vios line of cars. 

It is easy to predict the chassis movement and the front end responds promptly to steering input. I can make lane changes in the midst of a high speed corner without upsetting the balance much. the suspension is pliant on rough roads which translates to less mid-corner hops. 

The only major issue for me is that the steering weight is way too light on high speed. This is a tuning issue which I believe is easily rectifiable, I hope Toyota will look into it.

Overall the car is very well-mannered. It is not "fun" like my little Fiesta, but it is definitely very capable with lots of potential with aftermarket suspension tunings.

Safety

The Yaris comes with 7 airbags, ESC+TC, ABS and Hill Start Assist across the entire range. E and G trims also gets the Blind Spot Monitor, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and the Panoramic View Monitor. ISOFIX anchors are standard across all trims.

Also worth noting is that the G trim comes with rear disc brakes.

Verdict

So, back to my question of "is it any good?" 

If you know me personally, for years I have been critical of UMWT's offering especially in the hotly contested B segment market. They have been riding on the market's goodwill and gave us poorly equipped cars with outdated specs. For their complacency, they were robbed of their top sales position by Honda since 2014 and mocked by an increasingly savvy automotive market.

While I won't say with certain they are completely sincere in turn their fortune around - after all they just launched the new Camry with the ancient 2ARFE powerplant whereas Thailand already got the new Dynamic Force engine - Nonetheless the 2019 Vios and Yaris proves that they have their ears on the ground and more importantly, the will to change their way in order to claw their way back to the top. 

So yes, the Yaris is an excellent addition to UMWT's stable. Honda Malaysia better up their game with their lineup especially in the B-segment domain where not so long ago Toyota was the reigning king of the hill. If the Yaris is a sign of things to come from UMWT, and Honda Malaysia is geared up to meet them head on, the next few years will be very interesting to say the least.

The 2019 Toyota Yaris starts from RM70,888 to RM83,888.