Toyota Yaris Hybrid Car

The Toyota Yaris Hybrid is the first car to foray into the supermini segment with parallel hybrid technology. The Yaris has the potential to be even than its bigger hybrid brother. It is smaller, cleaner, and cheaper than the hybrid norm. It also has the potential to unlock the untapped market of the petrol-electric supermini.

Toyota counts this car as the world’s first full hybrid supermini. This is doubtless one of the very first ‘sub-compact’ hatchbacks that can run on petrol power, battery power, or a combination of both.

A lot of the mechanical and technological assets of this car have been copied from the second-generation ‘XW20’ Prius making it a pragmatic car, At £14,995, this is the cheapest full hybrid on the market and by building the car at the firm’s factory in Valenciennes, France, means that its price should be immune from the yen-related currency fluctuations.

The 1.5-litre Atkinson cycle four-cylinder petrol engine has been engineered to produce less friction. In addition 70 per cent of its components have been redesigned. It now produces slightly less power and torque, but Toyota says its thermal efficiency has improved by six per cent.

The Hybrid Synergy Drive is compromised of a downsized E-CVT and a smaller electric motor than you’ll find in a current Prius or Auris Hybrid. The Yaris’s battery is 20 per cent smaller in volume, and 11kg lighter than that in the Auris. It is located beneath the rear seats and doesn’t really intrude into either passenger space or boot space.

Elsewhere, ice-grey soft-touch pads on the dashboard break up the otherwise monotonous colour scheme. The Yaris also swaps its rev-counter for a back-lit battery dial that shuffles between Charge, Eco and Power. Similarly, there are two buttons adjacent to the handbrake, for selecting Eco and EV modes.

Another advantage the Yaris has is refinement. Toyota has taken a lot of the high-rev mechanical thrash out of its petrol-electric power plant.

Toyota may be able to harp about the Yaris Hybrid’s class-best CO2 emissions (79g/km) and claimed fuel economy, but plenty of its rivals dip under the 100g/km VED-free barrier and those same diesel-powered rivals would deliver better economy over an extended driving range.

To extract value for money from the Yaris at the pump, it must be confined to the urban sprawl or driven with the patience of a saint. However, if nothing can talk you into a diesel-engined compact, the Toyota merits consideration.

For urban motorists who feel that that’s exactly where a supermini should be economical, then this could be a perfect car. However those of us who regularly drive out of town will find better economy elsewhere.