Too Sensible For Its Own Good

I seem to have become Car Throttle’s official Hybrid Supermini Correspondent. Maybe it’s a coincidence, or maybe it’s because I’m the most junior member of the editorial team, so I get sent the sensible stuff while my esteemed colleagues whizz about in V12 Lamborghinis and convertible Maseratis. Probably the second one, actually. Nevertheless, it’s given me quite a good sense of what the updated Toyota Yaris Hybrid is up against.

This class is defined by two distinct groups. There are value propositions, like the MG3 and Suzuki Swift, and cars you pay a bit more for, but get more style and a sweeter drive in return, like the Peugeot 208 and Renault Clio.

Where does that leave the Yaris, then? Its starting price of £22,460 lands it smack in between the Renault and Peugeot, and the GR Sport spec we drove it in comes in at a wince-inducing £29,115. So does it major on cheeky fun and stylishness like the French cars? Erm, no, not really.

The first big disappointment comes when you get inside. It’s just gloomy, a sea of grey, scratchy plastic and cheap-looking switchgear. Everything feels well screwed together, and there’s a refreshing simplicity to the layout, but it’s not exactly the chic, welcoming surroundings you get in the French cars. In fact, even the MG3, which starts at almost £4,000 less, feels like a more premium, fun product inside.

The GR Sport trim, a sort of Audi S-Line-style makeover, gives things a bit of visual sportification in an effort to tie it to Toyota’s full-fat GR performance cars. On the Yaris Hybrid, this involves fitting some chunky bucket seats up front, covered in Alcantara-esque fabric and topped off with red stitching.

Frankly, they feel a bit out of place in a sensible hybrid supermini which shares about six parts with the rabid GR Yaris, but they are at least comfy, and even a tall driver will have plenty of space in all directions, at the expense of rear legroom. Headroom back there, though, is better than on some rivals, especially the swoopy Pug. Less generous is storage space, with oddly-shaped doorbins and awkwardly-placed cupholders – things that should really be nailed on a sensible-shoes car like this.

So it can’t match the cars it’s priced against on its interior – what about the drive? The Yaris Hybrid’s powertrain is anchored around a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder with 90bhp. As of the latest round of updates, the GR Sport version gets a gruntier electric motor to take overall output to 129bhp – lesser Yarii make do with 114bhp.

Like all this new breed of hybrid supermini, the Yaris is remarkably quick when you get your foot down and the petrol engine and electric motor collaborate. Even with all the electric gubbins on board, it’s not a heavy car, at just 1190kg. 0-62mph takes a quoted 9.2 seconds, and top speed is 109mph – respectable figures for a car like this.

You can exit a village and very quickly be at the national speed limit, albeit making a lot of noise because Toyota insists on fitting a CVT gearbox rather than a proper auto. This has the same issue as pretty much every other example of these ’boxes, the engine making a racket as you accelerate that doesn’t really have any relation to how fast you’re going. It’s not a particularly pleasant engine either – not compared to the little turbo motors used by some rivals. The Yaris does a good job of prioritising electric drive when you’re nipping around town, though.

Frankly, the red-and-black Gazoo Racing badges that adorn the GR Sport are akin to stitching Adidas stripes onto a pair of grey slacks – they’re not fooling anyone. If there’s any DNA of the actual GR Yaris in here, it’s buried beneath many layers of sensibleness. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the way it corners, turning in quickly and gripping well, but there’s none of the effervescent joy that its French rivals possess, and body roll is pronounced.

None of this will particularly matter to the people who buy this car. They’ll be much more interested in its soft, pliant ride (although the crashier 18-inch wheels are one of several reasons the GR Sport is best avoided), its exceptional efficiency – MPG well into the 60s is eminently doable – and the fact that it’s a Toyota, so it will almost certainly never break.

This may be a website that tends to celebrate the smokey, noisy, skiddy end of the automotive spectrum, but that doesn’t mean we automatically dislike sensible cars like this. The 208 and Clio hybrids charmed me with the way they offered carefree, approachable driving fun and chic interiors, and the MG3 impressed me with how complete a product it feels for its price.

The Yaris doesn’t really tick any of these boxes. It’s not inherently bad, and there’s a reason you see so many of them around. Lots of people will buy it because it’s a Toyota, and they assume it’ll be a very well-made product that won’t let them down – and that’s very much the case.

Ignore the badge, though, and you have something that’s not as nice to be around as the cars it’s priced to compete with, and a chunk more expensive than cars that do things just as well. If it’s to keep its crown as the sensible hybrid supermini of choice, it’ll have to work harder.