Wordless Outtake: 2011 Fiat Panda And 2003 Toyota Yaris – Cuddly Runabouts
– Updated on January 24, 2019
-
-
-
American Brands: GM 
American Brands: Ford 
American Brands: Chrysler 
American Brands: AMC, Jeep and All Others 
Automotive Histories and Misc. 
Asian Brands 
UK Brands 
Australian Brands 
European Brands 
Cars Of A Lifetime & Auto-Biography 
Buses 
Trucks, Pickups and Vans 
Design 
Trains, Planes & Ships 
Motorcycles, Trikes, Bicycles 
Engines, Transmissions and other Tech 
Tractors, Lawn Mowers, Off-Road Equipment 
RVs, Motorhomes, Trailers, Campers
I found the Yaris is built in France (too bad not Paris; it would rhyme nicely). Perhaps this is due to greater demand in Europe than in N. America.
We had a bunch of these (Mark 3 HB) in the rental fleet. Only Toyota we’ve come across where parts were hard to get. The only Toyota I’ve driven where I came away thinking “no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Cramped, noisy, underpowered, decent (but not stellar) fuel economy.” Four-speed Automatic didn’t do much to help the impressions either.
Oops, looks like I’m talking about a different model, thanks to Toyota’s name shell-game across markets. Anyway, I don’t see the Yaris or its equivalents often in the States; the Corolla heavily outsells it, no surprise since here, there’s little reason to buy a slightly cheaper but not much more economical model. If one wants economy, one considers the Yaris-based Prius C.
The older Echo is likewise a rare bird.
The gen 2 was a much bigger seller; US-market examples came from Japan and it coincided with the 2007 rise and spring 2008 spike in gas prices. I bought my ’08 new, over the recommended (but unobtainium) Honda Fit and the cheaper (but far worse) Chevy Aveo.
The front compartment is quite roomy (and feels spectacularly huge) the back seat decent, cargo space with the back seat up is tiny. I get the impression that Toyota really prioritized a roomy front seat – as much for Japanese home-market buyers who’d need that to draw them up from a keicar as for Americans.
The 5-speed manual works great once underway but is easy to stall between throttle lag and the lack of a tach. I have a high tolerance for road noise post-’92 Geo Metro, but can live with it on my one longish road trip a year.
I suspect the bottoming-out of sales have as much to do with Honda being able to supply enough Fits to sell from stock rather than a waiting list, as with cheap gas.
Funny, the associations that can pop into the mind when looking at a pair of cars.
Neil:
Not sure where you are at…but in the U. S. (and I guess Canada?) we didn’t get the Yaris hatchbacks of this generation, instead, we got a mechanically similar abomination called Echo. Echoes were available as 2 and 4 door sedans with trunks, and they always looked like a stereotypical “clown car”.
I actually liked the looks of this generation of Yaris and the one that followed it. Well, all except that center mounted instrument cluster.
Look:
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtake-toyota-echo-go-ahead-and-bring-on-the-hate/
It looks like a stereotypical clown car indeed! Just like all other sub-compact sedans, by the way.
Misunderstanding noted above.
The first gen was sold in canada as the echo hatch, I recall one on a tv show filmed in canada I used to watch, which I forgot the name of.
The dowdy Echo would have done much better here as a hatchback… My mother refers to the sedan and coupe we got here as a “babie’s shoe.”
Always felt FIAT would have done better with the Panda than the 500L in North America. I saw a few of the Panda’s on a recent trip to Germany and was impressed!
Fiat’s experience in Australia would suggest that anything other than the 500 sells in miniscule numbers. This wasn’t helped by the Panda having been overpriced for a time; the price was cut by about $4k from memory after a change of management, perhaps before the 500 debuted.
I took my license on a 2007 Yaris 1.4 D-4D, manual, diesel, 90 hp. It had more than 460.000 miles on it, and the first engine did 300.000 (with 18 year olds on the wheel) These cars take a lot of beatings for such econoboxes!