This is not the first time that we have had a Toyota Yaris in the Top Speed test fleet. The last time we got to drive the Japanese automaker’s compact city car it was wearing a sporty red paint job as well as a few aggressive body pieces, like a rear wing and big mouth front bumper. Just like before, it was nice to enjoy some of the simpler things in life. Like a 1.5 Liter VVT-i four cylinder that makes 106 HP and 103 lb-ft of torque, this may not sound like a lot, but the satisfaction of driving an ultra low emissions vehicle should be enough to make up for it.

Like before, our Pacific Blue Metallic Yaris was of the 5 door variety. Despite the Yaris’s diminutive appearance from the outside, it is quite spacious on the inside thanks to the hatchback layout. The only part of the Yaris that kept with the compact theme was the trunk; don’t think about bringing along more than one set of golf clubs. It was hard enough to get one bag to fit between the car’s rear suspension towers.

The Yaris is definitely a good car for the money, especially when you factor in the outstanding Toyota reliability. Our car came with a few nice touches like the upgraded 14 inch rims as opposed to a set of hubcaps and there was a CD player in the center stack. The base Yaris starts at around $13,000, not bad for a new car. The power package that our Yaris came equipped with added about $2,000 worth of window motors and remote locks to the city car. The power locks are actually a big deal for a four door, this way you will never be sitting in a restaurant thinking: “Did I lock that back door?” Whereas with our Yaris, you could just hit the locking button the key to make sure.

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