Toyota Yaris: More Thrifty Than the Prius?
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Over the course of the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to spend a total of three weeks with two Toyota Yaris and one Prius. After spending seven days with a 2009 Yaris five-door last month, I’ve come to the conclusion that when it comes down to pure dollars and cents, Y > P.
I’ve been witness to the remarkable fuel economy delivered not just by the Prius, but by the Yaris, as well. If one looks at an automobile purely from the standpoint of transportation, the costs involved with hybridization have a rather lengthy payoff period when compared to a fuel-efficient sub-compact conventional car.
When driven with a light foot, little Yari can deliver results that rival those of their far more expensive and technologically kin. Is it technology for technology’s sake when the base price of one car is roughly half the price of a modestly equipped version of the other?
Toyota’s diminutive entry-level model is quite fun (as well as thrifty) to drive, once you’ve become accustomed to its unique attributes. While it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, if you’re stretching a budget it just might be the most cost-effective way to go…
Reference: Toyota Yaris Sedan Review, Toyota Yaris Five-Door Review
5 Comments
Martin Kruse
June 9th, 2009
at 2:58pm
Sorry, but an econobox is an econobox is an econobox. I have no interest in owning an econobox from both a safety standpoint and an excitement standpoint.
Enjoy your yaris, once you have kids or a real job, get a real car.
Jeff Schwarz
June 16th, 2009
at 6:05am
For those who commute 30+ miles each way per day, an “Econobox is the only way to go. I’ve been driving an ‘06 Scion XB (a real box) for 3 years and 82000 miles and it’s one of the most reliable cars I’ve owned. At 75 mph with the air on I can get 34-35 mpg. I’m sure that if I drove at the speed limit (and became a rolling road block on the interstate) I could do better. My wife likes it so much, she had me find her one to replace her 17 mpg SUV, so now we have 2.
Bob Dog
June 22nd, 2009
at 1:19am
I am the delighted owner or a Yaris hatchback which I bought new and have owned for 2 years. I get about 37 mpg. Once you get used to driving a quick, nimble car it would be something approaching torture to try driving a SUV . I fell far safer with the Yaris’s precise handling and good acceleration than I ever could trying to control the automotive equivalent of a concrete block.
I have also done the mathon the hybrid versus the Yaris, with a little help from the fuel cost calculators available on line: to pay off the difference in price by means of fuel savings between a Yaris and a Prius, or an Insight ,would take over 25 years, longer than the reasonable projected life of either vehicle.
JerryW
June 25th, 2009
at 2:43am
I have a Prius and a Yaris as second car. They are completely different cars, designed to do different things.
Here in the UK incidentally the Yaris is not an entry level car, the Aygo is - try google images to see one of those, if you think the Yaris is small!
AG
July 14th, 2009
at 9:00am
My wife drives an 06 Yaris and even with her lead foot it gets about 30 miles to the gallon.