Toyota Yaris review

A hybrid Yaris looks pretty good value in comparison to some of the steep sticker prices you get on electric vehicles these days. Although despite the marketing, we must remember that this is still a petrol car that uses petrol and does emissions.

The Icon-spec car starts at £22,630 and the range rises up to the £28,925 Premiere Edition car. Icon, Design and Excel are the first three trims and they come with the lesser powered 114bhp hybrid powertrain. The GR Sport and Premiere Edition cars offer a perkier 129bhp to whizz off the line with.

What are the trims like? 

The Icon car nets you a reasonable spec, with 16in alloys, wireless smartphone integration, reversing camera, auto headlights and wipers, front electric windows (!) and auto aircon as standard.

Design adds LED front and rear lights, tinted rear windows and some extra safety kit, while GR Sport trim gets you the more powerful powertrain, 18in alloys, 10.5in infotainment, keyless go and dual-zone aircon. 

Excel spec builds on the Design trim to offer you 17in alloys, keyless go, the 10.5in infotainment, wireless phone charging, folding mirrors and parking sensors front and rear.

Top-spec Premiere Edition gets you the fancier powertrain, an eight-speaker JBL sound system, head-up display and a sleek two-tone paintjob. A baffling omission across the whole model range is heated seats – you’d have to go for the Yaris Cross SUV if you wanted those.

Which spec should I go for? 

The upper trims don’t really offer enough to tempt us to splurge out the extra cash: we’d probably go for the Design model and buy ourselves something pretty. The ride is better on the 16in wheels and the fuel economy that smidge better on the entry level powertrain.

In terms of other value, all new Yarises come with Toyota’s five-year/100,000-mile warranty and if previous generations are anything to go by it should be supremely reliable, and safe too.