It's easy to see why Toyota chose Holland as the location for the launch of the all-new Yaris Hybrid. Even though they'll be sorry for the weather.
No, Holland is best-in-class when it comes to rules about gas-mileage, CO2-emissions and the tax regulation to go with that.
In that perspective, this car will play the starring role.
Because of its Hybrid drivetrain, this Yaris is clean and economical enough to fit into the strics tax rules. Even in coming years!
Every kilometre it emits 79 grams of CO2, so where other cars will drop out of the tax benefits over the coming years because of the tightening tax regulations...
Will this car be free of motoring taxes untill the end of 2013, is has no added value tax untill the end 2015 and when you use it as a company car, you will pay taxes over just 14% percent of the new value untill 2016.
It's easy to see when you encounter a Hybrid Yaris. It has a much bigger front bumper, different headlights and blue Toyota-logo's.
The nose is also two centimetres longer because it houses the extra Hybrid components next to the combustion engine.
Basically this car uses the same drivetrain as a Prius, though the engine is a 1.5 and not a 1.8 litre.
Naturally there is an electric motor up front, we have a CVT-transmission and a big battery package in the back.
It does not use lithium-ion batteries like the Prius Wagon, here we have the less advanced nickel-metalhydrid version.
Those are relatively big, but Toyota got them to fit under the back seat. Let me show you.
Look. They've done a good job. Here you have a nice boot with double floor, and when you fold the seats this still is a very useable little car. Well done!
Thanks to the Hybrid technology this car should only need 3,5 litre per 100 km. That's an average of 1:28,6.
Not that long ago, those values belonged to diesel cars! Let me put it into perspective:
The Smart Fortwo needs 4,2 liter over the same distance. That just shows you how far ahead this Yaris is.
You might think: a Hybrid, so it's slow as a dying turtle. Well... it's not bad! Although this CVT makes quite a noise while accelerating. It's less than in earlier hybrids, but it still feels a bit unnatural.
On the other hand, it's not a slow car. Toyota claims a 0-100 time of around 11,6 seconds, so thats pretty good.
One aspect I don't like so much, and that's the way this car brakes.
Here we go. I push the pedal in a normal way, it decelerates gently, but then it gives all of its braking force!
This behavior must be related to the Hybrid system, but I don't like it at all!
Compared to a normal Yaris 1.3 this weighs around 115 kilo's more. What do you notice? Well, it seems to be a bit more jumpy than the standard car.
The dampers are pretty firm, and that doesn't really improve the ride comfort.
The driving character isn't the best we've seen in years, but it still is a pretty nice car to drive in.
Talking about the 1.3. What is the added value of this Hybrid when you compare them? The 1.3 has 99 ps, this one 100 combined.
But this Hybrid costs about 4.000 euro's more. The big advantage is when you use it for business. The taxes are significantly lower.
But when you're a private buyer, 18.000 euro is a lot of money.
And one more thing: of course there will be more options with low business taxes. There are cheaper diesel options and - for example - the Peugeot 208 is also available with 14%.
Then still: Toyota is ahead of its time with this new Yaris. It's the most fuel-efficient gasoline powered car of its class, and it deserves credit for that.
It's a handy car for daily use so I think this Yaris will find lots of owners. Especcially when used as a company car.
I predict that 2013, 2014 and 2015 will be good years for this car on the Dutch market.
+ Affordable as a company car + Smooth, efficient drivetrain - Not cheap to buy for private owners - Suspension a bit too firm