2007 Toyota Yaris S 1.5 from North America
Summary:
If I could go back in time, I'd still buy this car
Faults:
Nothing really besides doing the regular maintenance and getting the recalls done. I've kept up with oil changes, brakes, and changed the transmission fluid. I make sure the fluids in the car are at the right level. I haven't had to change any big parts like the water pump, or radiator, or anything like that. The alternator was changed, the starter was changed, and the belt was changed "not the timing belt because it isn't a belt, it's a chain".
General Comments:
I've owned this car since new and have driven it quite hard. My brother and sister both learned how to drive in this car. I've used it to commute to school, which was over 100 miles a day, and have used it for delivering pizzas, which had me driving the car sometimes around 150 miles a day. That job also had me driving it rough, starting it over and over again, stopping and going constantly, but the car never had any real problems during 4 years of doing that. Honestly, I would buy another one in a heartbeat.
The car is peppy, it's fun around corners, and it's tiny. It's great for the city as well as commuting. In snow, as long as you have all seasons or better, it does quite well. It has a lot of room for carrying things, and if you throw a roof rack on it like myself, then you can carry a couple kayaks or bikes or whatever you want.
All in all, I do recommend this car.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 25th March, 2019
27th Mar 2019, 01:01
Lots of manufacturers do this. VW for example where I live in the UK , named the Jetta in the 80s but then changed to Vento, Bora, and back to Jetta again! It's crazy I know, but I think it has something to do with marketing certain names for different parts of the world that might like a name better than another one. Still weird how the same cars change names in the same countries over long periods of time though.
27th Mar 2019, 12:18
The Yaris replaced the ECHO, not the Tercel. The Starlet (at least the RWD version) has not been sold in the US since the mid-80s.
30th Jan 2023, 07:00
Canada and the US got the Starlet in 1981-84. It came only as a carbureted 1.3-litre 4-cylinder with a 4-speed manual transmission. It's too bad we didn't get the next generation, with the entertaining Turbo S variation. What few sold here have mostly rusted away, and you'd be very hard pressed to find tires for the 13" wheels now. The same is true of the Corolla Tercel of the day. The Echo had a hatchback variation in Canada that makes more sense as a direct predecessor to the Yaris. Used values on these are crazy high, and look to stay that way, perhaps forever. I've seen people selling 2007s with 280,000km for $7000 or even $9000.
26th Mar 2019, 15:46
Toyota built a great car with the Yaris, replacing the beloved Toyota Starlet and Tercel with that car. But what was confusing to me is that Toyota sold that car under a lot of different names all over the world like the Toyota Platz... Belta... Echo... Vela... Vitz... Vios... Just so many different names based on the same car.