Faults:

Squealing brakes at low temperatures.

Door panel rattle.

Poor idle quality.

Poor heating / AC.

Poor transmission - shifting / hunting for gears.

Horrible fuel economy.

General Comments:

General looks of the car are aggressive and sporty.

Lots of cabin room in the front.

Engine is peppy, and has great pickup when the transmission decides to function as it should.

Transmission hunts for gears at exactly the same speeds as limits (50 kph and and 70kph).

Kickdown won't happen at part throttle, occurs at 2/3 or more throttle with too much torque steer.

Fuel consumption is horrible. Averages 13+ litres per 100 km (or slightly over 18 mpg) at best. Typically has ranged from 13 to 17 l/100km. We owned a Cadillac STS with a V8, which typically averaged 13 litres per 100km (18 mpg) in the city for comparison sake.

The brakes began to produce a high pitched squeal at 8000km. The dealer noted the rotors were worn enough to cause a groove at the leading edge, which created the squeal. The rotors were turned down, but the squeal still persists periodically.

Door panels are plastic and rattle when cold. More so when music is played.

Overall the car looks good inside and out, but quality is the usual low buck like everything else these days.

We traded "up" from a Yaris hatch for a vehicle with more "quality" and space for a growing family with three children under 7 years old. The rear seats will not fit rear facing child seats behind the driver or passenger. Two booster seats and a central rear facing seat creates problems and frustration with the seatbelt location and fastening.

The trunk is large, but the opening not so much.

When the transmission decides to shift, the car has great pep and will pickup speed great. Don't try to pull out into fast traffic from a standstill - occasionally the car falls flat on its face from a standing start, and you cannot keep up with traffic. Very scary at times.

RPM sweet spot seems to be around 3000 rpm.

Regret selling the Yaris, as the rear seats probably have similar amounts of room, and with the 5 speed, 35 - 40 mpg was normal.

Being the last year of this model, things may have changed for 2011.

For $27000 fully loaded, it hasn't lived up to expectations.

Faults:

ABS brake sensor system.

Electronic ignition system.

Fuel cap inlet.

Air conditioning.

Various noises.

Clutch.

General Comments:

I bought this car because of its performance, comfort and general list of features. It has turned out to be the most unreliable car I've ever owned, and I'll soon be trading it in to cut my losses.

The tone wheel (which I believe senses the wheel speed) faulted at only 4000 ks, and this made the brakes sound like they were made of broken granite. It also limits you to 4th gear and makes the instrument panel 'forget' everything. This was fixed under warranty. The ignition system regularly dies temporarily. This means, you get in the car and start it as usual only to find it's dead. It eventually rights itself, but this is not acceptable in a modern car.

I often find the fuel inlet will not allow me to fill the tank and blows fuel back out at me - dangerous and messy.

The air conditioning is a joke. It struggles to make any noticeable cooling, even after 20 minutes on at fully cold and recirculating. In a car of this price, this is well below standard.

I frequently hear grinding noises, clunking and clicking and rattles from all corners of the vehicle. This doesn't inspire confidence.

The clutch is utterly impossible to release smoothly. I've driven plenty of manual cars, and this clutch is like a dog clutch. I regularly stall it, much to the amusement/anger of other drivers. Coupled with the ignition system's habit of dying, it's quite dangerous too.