The 2013 Toyota Yaris is an affordable small car that comes in either two door or four door hatchback style. The car offers a roomy cabin with a notable high reliability score in its class but unfortunately the car fails to deliver an impressive and engaging driving experience. The 2013 Toyota Yaris is kept unchanged and only some minor changes are made to the car. The car attracts young buyers because its built in high tech audio and communication system, high reliability score, impressing styling and good resale value because of the brand reputation.
Exterior and Interior Features
The 2013 Toyota Yaris is kept unchanged and so it looks almost same to its previous models. The length of the car stretches to about 3 inches, the car has a short and appealing hood with short front and rear end overhangs and for the first time, the 2013 Toyota Yaris employs a single windshield wiper design that is there to make the car looks like an expansive and luxurious European car. The car comes in three different trim levels, the base L, the LE and sportier and more aggressive SE. The first two trim levels comes with standard 15 inch steel wheels whereas the SE comes with 16 inch alloy wheels.
In the comparison with previous models, the 2013 Toyota Yaris offers more room in the back seats with a respectable cargo space of about 15.6 cubic feet. The interior is neat, clean and advance but the materials are of low quality with lots of black and gray plastic finishing. Other features include three spoke steering wheel, six speaker sound system with CD player, four way adjustable front seats, power door locks, trip computer, fold down rear bench seat, HD radio, air conditioning, Bluetooth Phone connectivity, USB/iPod interface, audio streaming and auxiliary audio jack. The LE trim levels also features power windows, six way adjustable driver seat, cruise control, 60/40 split fold down rear seats, steering wheel mounted audio controls and remote keyless entry.
Additional to these features, the SE sporty trims levels employs four wheel disk brakes, fog lamps, upgraded cloth upholstery and leather trimmed steering wheel.
Under The Hood
The 2013 Toyota Yaris employs 1.5 liter in-line 4-cylinder engine that delivers 106 horsepower and 103 lb ft of torque. The engine is not a favorite one of the segment and its rivals have something more impressive and powerful option for the buyers. The engine is mated with a pleasant standard five speed manual transmission box, a 4 speed automatic transmission is optional however, the reviewers recommended the manual transmission over the automatic one.
The EPA estimated fuel economy of the 2013 Toyota Yaris is 30 mpg city and 37 mpg highway with manual and 30 mpg city and 36mpg highway with an automatic transmission. The car accelerates from 0-60 mph in 9.3 seconds. The fuel economy is good but not outstanding and the car lacks some important and sophisticated features that make its rivals a good choice to consider for an engaging driving experience.
Safety Features
The 2013 Toyota Yaris is equipped with some top notch standard safety features including antilock brakes, front seat side, driver’s knee and rear seat side full length curtain airbags, traction and stability control. The SE trim level employs four wheel disc brakes in addition to these safety features. In government crash tests, the 2013 Toyota Yaris scored 4 stars out of 5 stars.
Driving Impression
In accordance with its reliability score and brand recognition, buyers usually expect an engaging and composed ride but unfortunately in the comparison with its rivals, the 2013 Toyota Yaris doesn’t offer an impressive and engaging ride that allow its rivals to use the paint as a competitive advantage. The four speed automatic is just “OK” however, the five speed manual transmission is a plesent thing to operate the car.
Pricing and Availability
The 2013 Toyota Yaris comes in a range of price from $14,370 to $16,480. The car is available for sale in the market.
Competitors
The key competitors of the 2013 Toyota Yaris are Chevrolet Sonic, Fiat 500, Mazda 2 and Kia Rio.
Pros
- Better fuel efficiency
- Agreeable handling
- Spacious, simple yet stylish interior
Cons
- Less cargo area as compared to rivals
- No telescoping steering wheel
The verdict
The 2013 Toyota Yaris is a good car to consider if you are searching for a small and affordable car however, the competition is increasing day by day and Yaris needs to get some quality and advance improvemnets to stand out in the segment.