Toyota Corolla versus Yaris

[basil]

Fiance is thinking about buying a new car to replace his 1995 Nissan Sentra that breaks down quarterly.

We want an extremely reliable small car with good gas mileage for city driving mainly. But we want to keep it for ~10 years so it has to be a safe family car as well. We''ll probably buy new since the price difference doesn''t seem that big (?) and we plan to keep it a long time.

We were originally thinking Corolla, since a few of our friends have them and they seem to be good cars. But fiance did some research on Yaris. It seems a little smaller, but less expensive. It didn''t get as good crash test ratings for the rear seats, but we''re not sure if we''ll really have a lot of opportunity for people to be riding back there or not. Unless we keep it until we have kids, and we''re not really sure if that''ll be in that 10 year timespan or not.

Anyone have personal experience with these cars - owned them or test driven them?

[disclaimer - I think we should get a Corolla but fiance likes that the Yaris is cheaper. Maybe if I don''t buy a wedding band, I can convince him that it''s a better decision

]

 

[Sparkalicious]

Date: 12/2/2007 10:07:34 PM
Author:basil
Anyone have personal experience with these cars - owned them or test driven them?

[disclaimer - I think we should get a Corolla but fiance likes that the Yaris is cheaper. Maybe if I don''t buy a wedding band, I can convince him that it''s a better decision

]

Corolla all the way! It just feels to be much better quality than the Yaris.

Last Christmas, my car was getting some repairs done and the autobody shop gave me a courtesy Yaris. It was horrible. It felt like a tin can on wheels and sounded like one when I drove.

Granted, this could just be the fact that it was a courtesy car and the poor thing may have been abused and in less than stellar condition, however, it left a bad impression on me.

Every time I have either driven in or driven a Corolla, it has been a decent ride.

By the way, if it comes down to the Corolla or the Yaris over your wedding band, get your wedding band and go with the Yaris ... If it gets you from point a to point b, then it serves it''s purpose and you can stare at your ring and wedding band at red lights to take your mind off of it if you don''t like the car, right?

 

[oobiecoo]

FI and i test drive a few different cars, including the Yaris. It was very nice on the inside, a little small but drove really well. The main thing that I didn''t like was that it seemed my passenger seat sat very low. I think I would have always been car sick if we had gone with the Yaris!! FI also tried the honda civic, a VW and I think a Corolla also but liked the Yaris over all of those. We ended up with a Nissan Sentra though and love it! Not sure of where you are, geographically or in life, but one major selling point on the Sentra was that they give VERY low interest rates to individuals who have graduated from a college in the past 2 years or will in the next 6 months.

 

[staci76]

Definitely the Corolla. I had a 1991 Corolla that I drove until late 2004. When it broke down then (180,000 miles on it), we decided to go ahead and buy a new 2005 Corolla. I commute about 60 miles each way to work and it has been very reliable and gets good gas mileage. I think it''s a great car.

 

[misysu2]

My FI had a Toyota Camry that lasted 200k miles. He replaced it with a 2007 corolla. He swears by them! Smooth ride all the way and EXTREMELY well-built. Worth the extra money in spades, IMO.

 

[Delster]

Is it a Corolla saloon you're looking at? Or the hatchback?

The Corolla saloon really isn't comparable at all to the Yaris. MUCH roomier. It's seen as a large car over here. The Corolla hatchback (it's called the Auris over here actually) I think is a better long term bet. I can't stand the interior on the new Yaris - the plastics feel so cheap! The old Yaris (pre 2006) felt much more up market...

I guess overall I'd go Corolla all the way if the extra money is no object! How much difference in price are you looking at?

 

[zoebartlett]

I can''t speak about the Yaris but I have a Corolla. I bought it new a few years ago and I love it. I''m small so the size fits me perfectly. My FI has a Prius and he likes his car and mine, but my car is a bit small for him. The only thing I don''t like about my car is that there''s not a lot of leg room in the back seat. I never sit back there so it''s not a huge issue but I don''t want guests to feel smushed. If the Yaris is smaller than the Corolla, I''d pass on it, personally. I don''t know if you''re looking at other cars, but the Camry is a great car as well (very roomy, bigger but not too big, but more expensive).

Have you looked into the Toyota Matrix? A friend of mine has one and she really likes it.

Since you''ve looked at the Toyotas, have you considered Hondas? I compared the Civic to the Corolla but I chose the Corolla because the interior was nicer for the model I was looking at.

I don''t know anyone who has a Yaris but I''m interested to hear more about them. Hopefully someone else can give you their opinion on them.

 

[Delster]

Date: 12/3/2007 10:59:11 AM
Author: Delster
Is it a Corolla saloon you''re looking at? Or the hatchback?


The Corolla saloon really isn''t comparable at all to the Yaris. MUCH roomier. It''s seen as a large car over here. The Corolla hatchback (it''s called the Auris over here actually) I think is a better long term bet. I can''t stand the interior on the new Yaris - the plastics feel so cheap! The old Yaris (pre 2006) felt much more up market...


I guess overall I''d go Corolla all the way if the extra money is no object! How much difference in price are you looking at?

Ooops didn''t make it back in time to edit this - what I meant to say was that the Corolla hatchback is a better long term bet than the Yaris. I wouldn''t compare the Corolla saloon and the Yaris AT ALL. Those are two totally different animals IMHO. The Corolla saloon is just sooo much bigger than the Yaris. As well as the size factor that would have huuuuge running costs implications over here (insurance, road tax, servicing etc - you could be looking at €1,000 more per year all told), but I don''t know if it''s the same Stateside.