My first post about the Aveo drew a comparison to the Yaris from a commenter, so naturally, I needed to follow up. Unlike the Aveo, I think this car has a lot of personality. Can a bug have a personality?
To design a car that looks like a bug and still expect people to drive it, you can't mess anything up. You start with a good stance. Check. You couldn't shove those wheels any further out if you tried. Make it sporty. Check. The car has a serious forward rake, which is accentuated by the angle of the rear lift gate, and the wheels are a good stock size. All the movement lines curve towards the front of the car helping the car move while it's standing still. Check out the lines that move down the hood and wrap the grill, and the sill line that dives forward below the level of the hood. The wheel wells have a respectable amount of flare too. My favorite little detail here is the Toyota badge on the front grill. Below the oval T, there is a cutout in the lower part of the grill that matches the curve of the badge as if it's opening its mouth. This car is nothing short of goofy looking. Seriously. It looks like it was designed at Disney. The proportions are very cartoon like.
Now that I think about it, I think the Toyota Yaris should star in a movie opposite Johnny Depp (there's that pirate reference that you all have been waiting for.) Maybe it would make a random beeps that only Johnny Depp could understand. You know, like R2D2? Oh, just imagine the trouble those two could get themselves into.
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3 comments:
I do NOT like the present US 3 dr version. I really wanted to like it. Then I sat in it.
1. No rear seat access.
Seriously. I drive a 1990 Civic, so I don't have Buick-lounger or minivan expectations of accessibility. The Yaris appears to be a 4 door chassis with the back two doors welded shut. At least that is how inaccessible the back seats are. The B pillar is a good few inches in front of the seat fold hinge. Forget about a teenager getting back there.
Forget about kid seats. Just forget that it has back seats entirely.
If it weren't a Toyota then the entire automotive world would be laughing.
2. Another trend I do not enjoy is the lack of accessibility of under-hood stuff. If I have to accept a difficult reach under the hood, I want a payoff...minivan-like cargo space, for example. This snubby-nosed vehicle doesn't even have the courtesy of providing a back seat!
3. Why do companies think people like large C-pillars all of a sudden? No thanks. I'll take glass back there. It, you know, has a purpose.
4. This is an Echo replacement. The Echo was a miserable ride. It was the opposite of an exclamation mark. I have not driven a Yaris (only looked at/sat in them), but my expectations are for a similarly-bland experience.
Overall: What is a pirate to with his mini-buccaneers? The lack of rear seat access ruins the vehicle's utility. Just get a 2-seater!
I think this 5-dr version of the Yaris may be worth a look. It hits the US market sometime soon (2009?).
I agree with Neil: it doesn't seem like this car would really work for a pirate. Even if the pirate decided to go solo and ditch his mates, where would he put all his plunder n' gold?
Is it a Yaris or a Fit or is it a Saturn. Not the Fit, it has 5 doors. Could be a Saturn, look at where the speed-o-meter is. Lame if you ask me but nobody did. Hopefully the Ralph Nader groups are really watching these windups because they are marketed to the youth which has little experience in defensive driving. Whoa, that was me 40 years ago in my '61 VW Beetle. They just keep making them, don't they.
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