Volkswagen Golf vs Toyota Yaris

What's the difference?

The Volkswagen Golf GTI is still a standard-setter when it comes to the “do it all” style of sporty hatch.

I wish the media screen was simpler, and that it wasn’t so loud inside on rougher road surfaces that are so common around Australia, and I wish it was cheaper, too. 

But if you can justify the cost, and you want a five-door hatch with plenty of power and presence, then the Golf GTI could well be the go. But I’d also personally be checking out the Cupra Leon, which I think looks better and has a bit more individual appeal.

The Yaris ZR hybrid is a very impressive little hatch. Small, agile, fuel efficient, nice-to-drive and safe, it's certainly set the bar to beat in the small car segment. The trouble is, all of this costs money, placing this particular version outside the budgets of many would-be small car buyers.

You can tell it’s a GTI at a glance, and that means it’s off to a good start. There’s the telltale red grille strip, sitting proud above a very aggressive lower bumper with chequered-flag style daytime running lights. 

In profile there’s a GTI badge on the front fender, and I think the 19s on this particular car sit a lot nicer than the ‘Richmond’ 18-inch rims on the standard car. There are red calipers, too, and tinted rear glass.

At the rear there is a minimalist approach to the badging - just the three important letters ‘GTI’ below the VW emblem, which doubles as the boot opening handle. The lower bumper features a pair of round exhaust tips, which poke out a bit more than you might expect.

The inside has the iconic - but not identical between generations - tartan seat trim, and I love it. Got a few really nice compliments on the design, which is called ‘Scale Paper’, in this gen and spec.

Otherwise, it’s a pared back affair, and you could be sitting in any other high-grade Golf.

It's instantly identifiable as a Yaris, despite getting a significant design overhaul with the last generation. Toyotas don't have a unifying design language, but they do have key elements which tie them together, allowing each model to stand apart, but be recognisable as part of the greater Toyota portfolio, regardless.

This Yaris is much better looking than the generation which came before it, with lots of little detail points which make it an attractive small car to look at.

From the outside this includes curvy panel work which works its way from the button-nose and Toyota logo, all the way down the side of the car and to the boot lid in the rear.

There's big attention to detail in even the plastic fill panels, which carry a patterned texture to stop them from looking boring up-close, and our ZR is finished with a healthy serve of contrast black across its roof, in its alloy wheels, and on the integrated spoiler it wears on its tailgate.

It's a cool little car, a little bit cute, and a little bit sporty. It certainly needs to be at the asking price.

Inside sports Toyota's typical approach to interior design with some interesting touches. The Yaris gets some common themes, like the little cut-outs in the dash, the multimedia screen perched atop, and thankfully physical controls for the climate functions.

The seats follow the bucket-like theme of other ZRs, although, in this case they are finished in a light-patterned premium cloth trim, as opposed to the suede and leather ones in its larger Corolla sibling.

The three-spoke steering wheel is cool, as are the funky dot-matrix style dash elements, but the strange felt-like door trim, which also lacks padding for your elbow, is a bit odd. Still, it's an upgrade on the rough scratchy material used in lesser variants.

In typical Toyota fashion, there are quite a few hard plastic materials mixed in with the inclusion of a soft dash-topper, but the Yaris is a supposedly affordable small car after all.

You’ll fit more in the Golf hatch than you might expect. I took myself, my daughter and both my parents for a few-hour drive in it, and there were no complaints about comfort or space.

The 374-litre (VDA) boot space was large enough to fit the pram, a few shopping bags and a baby backpack, though for families with a baby or toddler, longer trips with more baggage might prove a squeeze. If you need more space and don’t have a child-seat in the back, you’ll get 1230L (VDA) with the back seat folded down. And there’s a space-saver spare under the floor.

The back seat is easily roomy enough for smaller adults and kids, and I could even slot in behind my own driving position (I’m 182cm/6’0” tall) with enough room. Three across will be a squishy, but it is possible.

There are dual ISOFIX and three top-tether points for kid seats, plus there’s a fold-down armrest with cup holders, big door pockets for a bottle or loose items, and a few pockets on the front seat-backs, too. There are USB-C ports (x2), and directional air-vents.

Up front you’ll find similar storage - cup holders between the seats, a pair of big cubbies in the doors, and additional holsters for a phone (with wireless charging) and 2x USB-C ports, a centre console bin, and reasonable glovebox.

The usability of the media system is not terrific. There are menus upon menus, and nothing as intuitive as it could be because so much of it is touchscreen-based. There are only a few hard buttons below, and then you still need to use the screen to get where you need.

I also think the much-criticised lack of knobs and buttons for volume and temperature control is an issue. There are controls below the screen, but they aren’t illuminated, and they aren’t always the most receptive. 

I also didn’t love the haptic touch buttons on the steering wheel. I kept bumping buttons inadvertently when driving enthusiastically.  

The Yaris is small on the outside and small on the inside, too.

This means two things: Firstly this car is a breeze to park and it fits in lots of places, making it ideal to drive around the confines of a city.

On the other hand, there's been a clear design choice here to make the Yaris far from as boxy as it could be, focusing on the curvy looks at the cost of interior volume.

The Kia Rio, for example, does a great job of hitting both tight exterior dimensions with big interior ones, making it perhaps a better choice for those with families, although the Rio is set for the great scrapyard in the sky before long.

The inside of the Yaris adds up to a space which is clearly primarily constructed for the space and comfort of front occupants.

Adjustability is good, with telescopic and height adjust for the steering, relatively large comfortable seats, and a set of two surprisingly decent bottle holders in the doors with two more running down the centre console.

There's no armrest box, as it would impede the function of the centre airbag, so there's nowhere to rest your elbow, and the rare inclusion of a manual handbrake lever precludes the addition of further storage between the seats.

The dial-based climate control panel is welcome, and there's a small bay underneath for the storage of your phone, although, like every other storage nook in the cabin, the base is not rubberised, so objects will simply slide around when you're cornering.

The back seat feels very closed-in, especially in the ZR grade, which makes things worse with its dark headlining and heavy window tint, and while I still like the seat trim and large bottle holders in the doors, it's not hard to feel forgotten.

My knees have just a tiny amount of room from the driver's seat set to my own driving position (I'm 182cm tall), and even the so-so door trim is instead replaced by a plain plastic panel. There is also no centre drop-down armrest, nor is there a power outlet.

A caution for those with kids: The rear door doesn't even open very far, so it strikes me as being difficult to work with for the placement of child seats.

The boot also offers a tiny 270 litres, just big enough for our largest CarsGuide demo case but not the other two in the set, which is actually only 124 litres once you include the thickness of the case itself and the wheels.

The ZR Hybrid version we're reviewing here is the ultimate version of the standard Yaris range - excluding the unhinged, rally-bred GR Yaris which only shares a handful of body panels with this car, anyway.

Costing from a frankly wild $33,100, before on-road costs, it's a far cry from the once sub-$20K car the Yaris used to be. It wasn't even that long ago (2020) you could pick up the previous-generation Yaris SX in automatic guise for just $19,610, before on-roads.

This new Yaris is truly 'new' though, built entirely from the ground up to suit Toyota's TNGA platform philosophy, and it's also the first time you can buy a hybrid one.

The result is one of the most recently engineered small cars you can buy in Australia, a far cry from the ancient MG3 or ageing Mazda2.

Is this worth a lot of extra money? To many buyers in this small car segment the answer is probably not, judging by the fact the MG3 is now outselling the Yaris at an insane ratio of 8:1. But standard equipment is impressive regardless, especially at this ZR grade.

Included are 16-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a 7.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, built-in sat-nav, a 4.2-inch multifunction display and dot-matrix-style dash cluster elements, a head-up display, a leather-accented steering wheel, sports seats with cloth upholstery, single-zone climate control, alongside one of the most comprehensive safety suites in the small car segment.

The unique selling point is the hybrid system, though. It makes the Yaris one of the most fuel efficient cars without a plug in Australia - but perhaps by far the biggest issue facing this car is an equivalent ZR Hybrid Corolla costs just $5020 more.

You know the VW Golf GTI formula. Punchy engine, front-wheel drive.

In this iteration, the engine is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol with 180kW of power (from 5000-6200rpm) and 370Nm of torque (from 1600-4300rpm).

This generation doesn’t come with the option of a six-speed manual transmission like GTI models before it - instead, you get a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission as standard.

The 0-100km/h claim is 6.4 seconds. But in some situations it feels faster than that.

The Yaris ZR hybrid pairs a 1.5-litre three-cylinder Atkinson-cycle petrol engine with an electric motor set-p on the front axle.

The engine on its own produces 67kW/120Nm, but is assisted by an additional 59kW/141Nm from the motor.

Combined, they are capable of producing a peak 85kW. It's about right for the segment the Yaris plays in, and of course there are advantages of the electrified set-up when it comes to acceleration, smoothness and fuel consumption.

The forces of both drive the front wheels via a silky smooth continuously variable transmission, which makes the switch between the two power sources seamless to the driver.

The official combined cycle fuel consumption figure is 7.0 litres per 100 kilometres. That’s what you should be able to achieve across a mix of driving.

During my time in the Golf GTI, I did a few hundred kilometres of mixed driving, and saw a real-world return of 8.1L/100km. Respectable, I think. Undoubtedly it would be higher if all you do is drive hard - but this test was about how usable the car is in normal life.

It has a 50-litre fuel tank that needs to be filled with 95RON premium unleaded at a minimum.

Fuel consumption sits at 3.3L/100km for the ADR combined cycle, which is one of the best fuel consumption figures for any car without a plug.

This figure will depend a bit on how you drive it, though, with my consumption for the week hitting a more reasonable 3.8L/100km in largely urban testing, which are ideal conditions for this configuration.

I am curious to know what conditions make the 3.3L/100km achievable (it certainly seems achievable), but the figure I scored is immensely impressive regardless.

You can even fill the Yaris with entry-level 91RON unleaded, and the 36-litre fuel tank makes for over 1000km of range if you can score closer to the official fuel consumption.

This was an urban test first and foremost, and the Golf GTI still is one of the most liveable sporty hatchbacks on the market.

There are things you will need to contend with - the amount of coarse-chip road road that intrudes into the cabin is downright nasty at times, and even in the most comfortable drive mode it’s quite firm over Sydney’s pockmarked city roads - but otherwise, this thing is great.

The steering has heaps of weight to it, and is super direct. The heftiness of it might take some getting used to, especially when negotiating tight parking spaces, but there’s always the auto-parking function if you’re nervous. 

Now, the adaptive chassis control dampers will be stiffer or softer depending on the drive mode you choose. There are Eco, Comfort, Sport and the configurable Individual setting, and when my family was on board I had the car in Comfort mode. Again, no complaints about ride comfort.

In Sport mode, it is sharper and lumpier, but never lacking in control or refinement. Yes, you do feel sharp edges, and it might be too edgy for full-time use, but it really does help the car feel more confident and planted.

The engine is terrific. It has more than enough grunt to make easy work of daily duties, and you needn’t fear about whether you’ll have enough squirt to make it for overtaking moves. It has an abundance of torque and the linear way in which it builds power from low in the rev range is superb.

I also had no complaints about the dual-clutch auto transmission. The action of it can take some getting used to at lower speeds, where it can feel like it’s slurring a bit, but it really is a super gearbox, with snappy shifts at speed and smooth changes when you want them.

The Yaris shines when you hop behind the wheel. This car is not just great to drive, it is benchmark setting for the whole segment.

Toyota's TNGA chassis philosophy is on full show, with the components here combining for a nice ride, gentle but meaningful steering feel, and smooth, quiet acceleration.

It feels like a car with the ride and feedback characteristics of something much more expensive, which speaks to its new-from-the-ground-up formula.

Older cars in the segment can't hold a torch, while even the better-to-drive examples like the Suzuki Swift and Kia Rio lack the poise or polish of the Yaris, not to mention the hybrid system.

The system itself makes the fuel sipping tech addictive to use, with the drive indicator dial in the dash cluster making it obvious where the engine will turn on.

This helps you tailor your driving style to maximise your time using the electric motor only, boosting fuel efficiency.

Even the execution of this system is at its best here in the Yaris, which is light enough that significant amounts of acceleration time can be spent in pure EV mode.

It's not rapid, however. Yes, there's sufficient go from the combined 85kW to get the Yaris moving off the lights, but this drivetrain isn't engaging, making it tough to match the great handling characteristics on offer here.

The Yaris eats up corners in its stride, but really misses the turbo surge or engaging gear shifts of some of its rivals.

Like all hybrid Toyotas, this particular combination is a little unpleasant to drive more aggressively, as the little three-cylinder Atkinson-cycle unit gruffly revs its heart out, breaking the EV-veneer and eating into the otherwise impressive cabin ambiance.

If you're looking for a safe small car, the Yaris, particularly in ZR spec, is about as good as it gets.

While it also accounts for the high cost-of-entry for this model, you could argue the inclusion of comparatively high-end features like freeway-speed auto emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, and even eight airbags, including a centre airbag, is worth it.

The Yaris range (excluding the GR version) scored a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2020, a particular achievement, as it is to a much more difficult rating criteria compared to the Swift and Rio which were both rated five stars in 2017.

Buying a VW? You’ll score a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. That’s good, but not as good as Skoda, MG, GWM Haval or Kia. But none of those brands have a real hot-hatch like this.

Servicing is every 12 months/15,000km. There’s a capped-price plan or “Care Plan” prepay packs for three years/45,000km ($1600) or five years/75,000km ($2800). Choose the latter and you’re saving heaps over pay-as-you-go ($786, to be precise).

You get a year of roadside assistance included, but that renews each time you service your car with VW.

Like all Toyotas you can expect a five year, unlimited kilometre warranty with the Yaris, which is extendable to seven years if you stick to the official service schedule.

We recommend you do, not just because you keep your warranty, but because it's so affordable, you might as well.

The first five years of servicing for the Yaris hybrid is capped to just $245 a year. It needs to see the workshop once every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.

Combine this with the low fuel consumption, and the total cost of ownership here is impressive.