Toyota Yaris and blokes?

faceman

wow, i havent been online since i put this post up yesterday but couldnt believe it when i read all this today!

just to give some more background on my question. Im a biker for 10 years and I love bikes. Ive never been into cars and the only reason im getting one now is its getting closer to that time in life when kiddies are on the agenda! (and for doing the shopping etc)

I wont be using the car for day to day activities as my 'steed' looks after all those duties.

I drove the yaris recently and found it comfortable and fit for purpose. I will at some stage get a larger car but as i have no previous years on an insurance policy for a car (you cant carry your no claims from a bike over to a car obviously) so i dont see the point of paying €2k for insurance when the car in dublin is just gonna sit in traffic. Plus i have set myself a budget for the purchase.

i have also considered the polo but its more costly for the basic model afaik. I drove a corsa in the past and never liked them.

from what i gather here the yaris fits my needs PLus the extras seem better value than the polo. so thanks for the replies!

But you'll never beat being a biker. As one of my fellow posters in the motorbike forum says.. if u wanna know why dogs stick their heads out the window of a car, drive a bike!

IrishRover

I agree with everything Dr Seuss said. I would feel embarrassed driving a small girly car like a Yaris. If that means I'm not emotionally secure enough then that's just the way I am. I think I'd like to be someone who didn't care about what others thought about me, but I do care. I also think that there a lot of people who pretend that they don't care about what others think of them, when really they do.

mkennedy wrote:

does anyone think e.g the megane falls into this category.

Yes definitely. The Renault 19 however wasn't. I don't know why. It is an emotional consideration. It's got nothing to do with the utilitarian considerations of getting from A to B. For car enthusiasts, getting from A to B is not the bottom line. That's transport enthusiasts.

batman_oh

get the yaris man, who gives a crap
ive been on bikes for the past 6 years, and have a gsxr1000 and 600 and have just recently decided id get a car to do some of the task a bike is no use for. for fun the 0-150mph in 10 seconds bike is pretty hard to match, i am not willing to spend ass loads on tax, insurance and petrol to get somethin that will still feel dog slow anyway, so currently insured on the ma's corsa and it does the job fine
who cares what any1 thinks

philstar

buy the car that best suits yr needs and budget and bollocks to the rest of them

anyway i think its sissyish just to worry about it...show some backbone man:mad:

now where did i leave the keys to my pink micra....

Darwin

To the OP definitely get the Yaris, my wife has the new one and it really punches above its weight in terms of feeling like a bigger car. Although it has just a 1L engine, it is probably the most powerful engine in its class. It is very quiet at motorway speeds, is extremely economical and being a Toyota will never go wrong. Oh and ignore all the trolls above of course

astrofool

If you're buying new, or 1 year, you could also look at the Fiesta/Fusion, the Fiesta coming in at a similar price to the Yaris (or was when I was looking).

Quint

All small cars are girlie, but I'd go for the Yaris if I had to have one, purely because it's a step above the rest of the competition.
We should have a girls car thread. Top of the list is the VW Beetle, Mini and the MX5

unkel

colm_mcm wrote:

Yaris uses 185/60R15

Wow, that's a pretty big wheel for a small supermini segment car! 10 years ago, the typical entry level car in the large family saloon (D-segment) class would have had a 14" rim as standard!

unkel

Quint wrote:

We should have a girls car thread

Gowan then. Start your girls car thread right there!

colm_mcm

astrofool wrote:

If you're buying new, or 1 year, you could also look at the Fiesta/Fusion, the Fiesta coming in at a similar price to the Yaris (or was when I was looking).

How would buying a Fusion make sense?

Wossack

suzuki swift? quite like the look of them...

bazz26

unkel wrote:

Wow, that's a pretty big wheel for a small supermini segment car! 10 years ago, the typical entry level car in the large family saloon (D-segment) class would have had a 14" rim as standard!

The supermini in general has grown in size and weight with each new generation of model. This has created a new market segment for smaller cheaper city cars like the Ka, Aygo, Fox, C1 and 107, etc to emerge.

Another example being that the current Polo is actually bigger than the MKI Golf.

Stark

Yeah I remember mistaking a 06/07 Fiesta for a Focus when they first came out. The new Punto is huge as well (the "Grande Punto"). Given that it's about the same/size weight as a Focus, I'd prefer to get a Focus for the bigger engine. The older Fiestas (circa 2000) were like rockets though with the 1.25L Zetec and lightweight body.

The Yaris is still a nice size/weight imo. If I was to buy a 06/07 car for mainly city driving today, I'd buy the Yaris.

stovelid

OP, my mate drives a Yaris and he's in his 30's. Dr Seuss is talking through his hole (I thought he was solely confined to After Hours, worse luck).

The A and E departments all around the country are full of young people that want a little "fun" and "poke" in their driving.

People want cars for different reasons, it can be a functional thing as well as a source of pleasure. If it's the car for you, who cares what people think?

G Luxel

Anyone can drive a yaris or a vitz or even the Yaris Verso/Fun cargo. There is also the Platz, its a Yaris with a boot. There is also a Vitz Clavia which has what looks like a Lexus LS400 grille in place of the tiny grille. Nuns drive a Yaris and so too do the Gardai as they have a few Panda cars on the beat.

colm_mcm

G Luxel wrote:

Anyone can drive a yaris or a vitz or even the Yaris Verso/Fun cargo. There is also the Platz, its a Yaris with a boot. There is also a Vitz Clavia which has what looks like a Lexus LS400 grille in place of the tiny grille. Nuns drive a Yaris and so too do the Gardai as they have a few Panda cars on the beat.

Doesn't make it any cooler because nuns or guards drive them!

MaxFlower

Aren't all cars 'girlie' now. They look better in almost every car with the exception of commercial jeeps and possibly estate cars.

MaxFlower

Oh Yeah - and bikes. The girlies definately look better on the pillion.

RoundyMooney

I'd have no problem at all with a Yaris, an excellent little motor.

I draw the line at the (old model) Yaris Verso though, that thing looks like a hearse for one of the seven dwarves.

Practical, but horrible design.

astraboy

I wish to make one point. Small cars are not necessarily "girly". Big cars can be girly too, though not usually. Look at small cars like the clio 172/182 or the new 197. The pug 205 gti, a legend in its time, and the 106 gti. The saxo VTR, even the corsa GSI or new OPC. Yes these may be classed as "boy racer" cars by the uninformed but theay are certainly not girly. Small cars with big power= the need for big balls on a backroad!:D

Stark

The trend for cars over the past 10 years seems to be ever more sleek and curvacious with each revision. It's hard to find a modern car that won't have at least one person attach the "hairdresser's car" or "girly" car comment to. Some people won't consider a car to be a man's car unless it's a hummer or a pick up truck or something

colm_mcm

If they had sold the Yaris Verso van version over here people might have been more accepting of it!


Incidentally, there's a Corolla Verso van version available in mainland Europe

what_car

Dr. Seuss wrote:

The vibe from this thread so far seems to be (despite the fact that it looks like a Granny's car), "it's safe, economical, dependable, low depreciation, etc" - since when did everyone here turn gay?
I want a car that's fast, handles well, is responsive, overtakes fast, high spec, leather, loud stereo, lots of grip, lots of BHP, and looks like it's not a girl's car.
Maybe I'm missing something, but do people here just hate cars or something, or should we move this topic to the "sensible" forum? Because nobody who appreciates a good car would recommend a Yaris to anyone under 60!

loud stereo? just picked meself up off the floor after falling over laughing...
:rolleyes: i suppose a big exhaust and other tacky ****e are on the list too?

makes me laugh at the number of idiots with those stupid exhausts that make the hairdryers that their on sound louder......coupled with stereos that you can hear from half a mile away,,,,,,

those exhausts should be banned..........

Heroditas

Wow, found this thread via Google.
I've only been driving for a year but have an 02 1L Yaris. It only had 11500 miles on it when I got it and even after a year it still barely has 18000 miles on the clock. It's ideal for city traffic and nice and nippy. The annoying things about it are:
1. Tiny/non-existent boot
2. Lack of power trying to overtake anything
3. not ideal for long distance journeys
4. changing down from 3rd to 2nd can be a pain


I love the fact it only costs me (currently) €45 to fill the tank and I'll get 400 miles worth of city driving off that one tank. Also, tax and insurance are cheap as chips.

However, I'm now on the road quite a bit with work so need to start looking at something a bit bigger and more sturdy.


It really is an ideal car for beginners and those who just need to potter around making short journeys. :cool:

K!LL!@N

My wife's car is a Yaris, I think it's a 1.5l.
It's the sedan version though(I don't think they sell it in Europe) so it actually has a boot.
I really like the speedometer etc. being in the center of the dashboard.
I find it weird driving a car with the display behind the steering wheel.

She's given it some severe punishment in the last year or so, mileage wise.
I believe she's done over 40k miles in it(work related driving).
Never had any trouble with it(we keep it serviced).

I don't drive very much as I work from home but I've no problem driving it.
MPG-wise it's one of the best outside of hybrids.

Henry Ford III

fitzdragon wrote: »

...funny enough the aygo has the same engine in it but it goes like a rocket compared to the yaris.....

No it doesn't. Aygo has a 3 cylinder unit. Yaris is a 4 cylinder.

dr.bollocko

The oul Yaris is not something I would buy, but I have racked up some 2225km on a yaris in a week driving around the back arse of Australia. That was 8 hours a day driving, cities and motorways.
In the city, it was a delight to have a small car, certainly made the 6 lane highways I am not used to a lot easier to transition to.
On the motorway, I got it up to 140 kph without so much as a rattle. I cant remember the litreage, but being australian it wouldnt have been a 1.0.
I wouldn't buy a 1.0 because the lack of power would make me go insane if I wanted to pass someone doing 50mph in a 60 zone.
But it's different strokes for different folks man. I think, as a biker, you will possibly see the car as utilitarian anyway, a shackle, an impediment to doing the kind of driving that you want to do.
I wouldn't give a flying **** if my mates thought my car was gay or a girl car or a granny car. If it had what I wanted under the bonnet and drove well or it was the right car for whatever my requirements are at the time that is the one I would go for.

So to sum it up, if I had your budget, I would definitely be getting some of the other cars listed. If I had your list of priorities, shopping, kids etc. I would still be looking at a slightly bigger car with maybe a few years on it. If I was a biker, I would probably think that any car is about the same in terms of driveability. But if you have no experience driving cars, maybe you should be looking at what would be termed "drivers cars."
You know, they have been listed off here and will insulate your manhood.

But for me, if I was you, and I still wanted to feel the road it would have to be cars that are small but have a bit of power. A nice steady clutch that doesnt soak your foot up like a sponge (like a corolla does) and a bit of action in the low revs. I think small cars give you that feeling of sticking to the road and really giving it to a corner. They let you know better than some bigger model car ranges where your limits are, in terms of grip, cornering, speed, revs, etc. If you want some of the feeling of what its like to be on a bike, a smaller car with a bit of power will be something you could fall in love. A big oul Corolla or Avensis will make you cry out with boredom.
But as I said, if it has to be a Yaris for whatever reason, you will not hate them and they are very comfortable to sit in non stop for 8 hours a day in 40 degree heat.