27 Feb 07
I can tell you that it's a 1.6-litre model (122bhp, 116lb-ft, with variable-valve timing) in T3 spec (CD player, air con and all the usual creature comforts seem to be present), but it's not exactly the fastest thing I've driven lately, nor the most luxurious.
Obviously, I like the fact that it starts first time in the morning, it goes faster when I press the throttle, it steers the way I want it to go and it stops obediently when I step on the brakes: but then I'd expect that from any new car - or any car, full stop.
I can think of a few things I don't like, though.
The cabin materials look and feel a bit cheap and nasty, for a start, with flimsy plastics and fake-shiny finishes - the sort of thing you'd see on cut-price Far Eastern midi systems (anyone remember those) before the advent of the iPod. The handbrake is particularly poor - it feels as if it could break off in my hand if I pull it up too sharply - and it's sited amidst an entirely unnecessarily large and intrusive centre console.
Toyota has, quite reasonably, positioned the gear lever high up on the dash rather than between the two front seats. Now, that's usually done to free up space between the seats, increasing elbow-room and the general sense of roominess in the cabin. But the interior designers have then filled all that up with a huge swathe of plastic, a hideous protuberance that stretches from the dashboard to the rear and divides off the two front seat areas, making the cabin feel much smaller and more claustrophobic than it should be. It feels far roomier up front in the flat-floored, open-plan Yaris, a much smaller car overall.
