The things I do for you. I have spent most of the day wading through 53 closely typed pages of the Toyota Yaris press pack trying to find out what they had to say about the bit that I thought was the most impressive. The bit I wanted to share with you. I found it evetually on page 50.
Meanwhile I learned on the way that '...every stage of Yaris's gestation has placed the customer at its focus.' I was told that it will '...delight its customers on every count.' And if it doesn't, I was given to understand you may expect to encounter the product of Toyota's '...huge investment in customer handling skills.' Not that they will need to practice them on me. The Yaris is apparently for 'Progressive Extroverts' who, according to the company are '...intelligent, individual and thoughtful people...who operate within accepted social boundaries - standing out from, rather than challenging, society.'So awkward buggers like me need not apply. Which is a shame because I rather like the Yaris. (Sorry, we are not supposed to use the definite article so it is simply 'Yaris' as if the car was a person. 'Hello everybody peeps, my name is Stavros and I'd like for you to meet my cousin...Yaris.')
Back to page 50. A couple of hundred words on what anyone who knows anything at all about driving will immediately recognise as (the) Yaris's principal qualities - ride, handling and roadholding. Forget the eco-warrior, Friends of the Earth, bean-counting philosophical stuff - on the road (the) Yaris reigns supreme in its class, and is a lot better than some bigger and more illustrious metal.
In ride-quality terms, its nearest competitor is probably the otherwise lacklustre Ford Ka. The secret lies in the relatively long wheelbase of (the) Yaris. Instead of the hop, skip and jump of some other superminis, the ride is smooth and flowing and largely defies the Pikey Roadstone, patchwork-quilt school of highway maintenance that seems to prevail in the back lanes of Surrey. The suspension dials out the sound as well as the fury and the result is a ride quality that would not disgrace a C- or D-segment family saloon. Part of the trick is in mounting the front suspension and steering gear on a sub-frame. An old idea that is currently finding new favour. It has the added benefit of improving tactile feedback which, if you can read the signs, provides an effective early warning system when you start to approach adhesion limits.
Yet despite the compliant nature of the ride, it is not at the expense of handling and roadholding. The slightly sit-up-and-beg stance and driving position of (the) Yaris might suggest rock and roll progress if pushed hard through winding lanes. Far from it, A noticeable absence of roll encourages committed driving which is rewarded with a level of roadholding that is as good as some sports cars, due in part to a small measure of passive rear-wheel steering which partly mitigates any tendency to understeer, a natural but predictable component of front-wheel drive.
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