Toyota Yaris 2012 Problems

Toyota Yaris is the smallest car in the Japanese giant's range that's sold in Australia. It replaced the popular Toyota Echo in November 2005, in turn Echo had superseded the not particularly popular Toyota Starlet in 1999.Yaris is a significantly larger car than Echo and can seat four adults in more comfort than you might expect. It can be used as a family car if the children are in their pre-teen year and even, with some compromises, can carry four adults.The boot is on the small side in the three and five-door hatchbacks, but their rear seat slides forwards, as well as folds flat so you can juggle the amount of luggage/people room you need. A four-door sedan arrived in March 2006 and has a lot more boot space than the hatches.Rough sealed roads can challenge the suspension and the ride is fairly bumpy on occasions. Tyre noise on some coarse chip surfaces is loud enough to be unpleasant. The handling is nicely balanced for a small Japanese car, though you wouldn't mistake it for a European machine. Yaris has understeer if you push really hard, but there's no sign of it at sensible speeds.Noise and vibration are well damped and on good roads and motorways it offers the sort of refinement you would expect from a car that's a full size larger. Power comes from four-cylinder engines of 1.3- or 1.5-litre capacity. Both use variable valve timing to give reasonable torque across the rev range. The engine isn't all that happy to rev to the top of the tacho, but Yaris isn't that type of car so that's hardly a problem.The manual gearbox is a five-speed unit, the automatic transmission has only four forward gears. A good home mechanic will be able to do a lot of the work that doesn't affect the safety of the car. Underbonnet room is understandably tight so expect some frustration and the occasional dribbles of blood.There are Toyota dealers all over Australia, indeed due to the popularity of the marque in country areas Toyota is probably represented in more out of the way places than any other maker. On the other hand, remote outback dealers may not have parts in stock for the Yaris, meaning you may have to wait for unusual bits to be freighted up from the city.Insurance costs are generally good and there doesn't seem to be a great variation from company to company. Nevertheless it's still smart to shop around, always being sure to compare apples with apples in the way of cover and/or extras.WHAT TO LOOK FOR Rust is not likely unless the car has been badly repaired after a crash. So if you do find rust be very suspicious.Trim, seats, dash top and carpets should all be in close to new condition with no tears or other damage. Look out for the interior of a car has been mistreated by bored children. And check the boot in case someone has crammed stuff into there to the extent of damaging the opening.Make sure the engine starts promptly, idles smoothly, accelerates without hesitation and doesn't blow smoke when worked hard.Manual gearboxes should be smooth and quiet in operation and not clash gears on fast downchanges from third to second.Automatics should be smooth and there shouldn't be any delay in it going into gear from Neutral or Park.The brakes shouldn't pull the car to one side no matter how hard they are applied. Make sure the ABS operates correctly – feel for a pulsing through the pedal when you hit it hard indicating the ABS is in action. Don't forget to check the rear view mirror first!If there's the slightest doubt about anything in the Toyota Yaris, have a professional do the final inspection and get a quote for all defects, even apparently minor ones.CAR BUYING TIPSmall cars used in city areas wear more quickly than big cars in the country. So don't let low kilometre readings cloud your judgement.

Ewan Kennedy road tests and review the 2005, 2006, 2011, 2014 and 2015 Toyota Yaris as a used buy. The Toyota Yaris is a smaller brother to the big selling Toyota Corolla but is still a reasonable size and may well be all you need if you only ever need to carry one or two people. Indeed, a Yaris can be used as a

The market for littlies is one of the toughest in the business, no more so than in 2011 when Toyota's incoming new Yaris had to face up to more than 30 rivals.NEWA carmaker not only has to deliver a car at a super low price in the class, it also has to have lots of gear, the very recipe that the Koreans have turned into an art form.It's little wonder the Korean carmakers have been the little car rulers for some time now. They really rewrote the rules for cars at the entry level of the market some time ago, hitting the Japanese where it hurts the most.It was only to be expected that a carmaker like Toyota that takes great pride in leading every market segment in which it competes hit back.The new Yaris in 2011 was the company's little car response to the Korean push.Buyers had four models to choose from; there were four models in 3-door and five-door hatch body styles, with a choice of 1.3 and 1.5-litre petrol engines.The range opened with the price competitive YR, then stepped up to the YRS, and on to the sporty ZR before topping out with the feature-packed YRX.An extra 100 mm in length garnered a larger boot and more legroom for the rear seat passengers.Inside there was enough space to feel right at home, the seats were comfortable and all the controls were well laid-out and attractively displayed.Toyota offered Yaris buyers the choice of two four-cylinder engines, a 67 kW 1.3-litre blighter and a larger 80 kW 1.5-litre unit.Both were quite economical after a tune-up by Toyota's engineers, although the four-speed auto seemed a touch out of date.Buyers could opt for the auto or a five-speed manual, but you would normally expect them to go for the self-changer simply for convenience.There was a lot to like about the Yaris, and it didn't disappoint on the road either. It looked good and thanks to local tuning of the suspension handles our roads well too.NOWIt's getting boring to talk about Toyota's renowned build quality and reliability, but the company has set the benchmark that has had others striving to match.Car buyers wanting to buy a no-fuss car have come to rely on the Toyota qualities and that has kept resale values tootling along nicely.While Toyotas are not completely free of troubles, they are generally sound from engineering and build perspectives, something backed up by the relatively few complaints received at Carsguide HQ.The Yaris appears to be standing up well under the stresses of everyday life on the roads, although to be fair the 2011 model is only three years into its life and that means the earliest of the model has only done 60,000 km or so.With so few kays under its wheels it shouldn't be a surprise that there are few complaints about it from owners.At this point it's mainly a check of how well the current owner has maintained the car you're thinking of buying. If it comes with a service record that stands up to scrutiny, great, if not walk away.Fresh oil is the lifeblood of all engines, but it's even more critical today with the tight tolerances carmakers are using.Opt to ignore oil change recommendations and you run the real risk of losing an engine because it's gunked up with sludge.Toyota recently announced a recall of the previous model Yaris for a faulty seat track, but the recall doesn't affect the latest model.SMITHY SAYSLike all Toyotas the Yaris ticks the right boxes in the little car class.Toyota Yaris 2011-2013Price new: $14,990 to $21,390Engine: 1.3-litre, 4-cylinder, 67 kW/121 Nm; 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder, 80 kW/141 NmTransmission: 5-speed manual, 4-speed automatic, FWDEconomy: 5.7 L/100 km (1.3), 5.8 L/100 km (1.5)Body: 3-door hatch, 5-door hatchVariants: YR, YRS, ZR, YRXSafety: 5-star ANCAP