2012 Toyota Yaris US Spec

Posted February 21, 2012 by ramandeep in Machines

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The Yaris became the smallest car in Toyota’s line-up in the middle of the last decade when it replaced the Echo. That time the subcompact segment was not properly inhabited. The price of gas was low, sports utility vehicles ruled and Chrysler and General Motors had healthy sales and balance sheets.

So, the B-segment was not a priority for automobile manufacturers then. But since its launch, the Yaris hasn’t enjoyed success as much as Toyota would have liked and according to reports, Toyota didn’t have enough money to redesign the Yaris so the 2012 Toyota Yaris — which is the third largest selling Toyota model after the Corolla and the Camry — has just been freshened up.

2012 Toyota Yaris Features

Exterior

The bulbous face, which became a hate target for male automobile aficionados, is gone. In its places comes a mature looking front which will be far more appreciated than being talked about negatively. The change in the design was necessitated to attract more male buyers and hence push the sales higher.

The headlamps and tail-lamps have been reshaped while the steel wheels on the base model are now 15” instead of an inch less. The Yaris in the SE trim, which is top of the range, has a more pronounced front and rear fascias, wire-mesh grille and a brightly-colored exhaust tip — all in favour of lending a sporty character to the exteriors.

Photo Credit: Autoconceptcar.com/2012-toyota-yaris-u-s.html

The wheelbase of the 2012 Toyota Yaris has increased from 96.9” to 98.8” and this has been done to not only boost the internal volume but also the car’s highway stability. But that hasn’t made much difference to stability because the car still rides softly at speeds of 55mph and more. The lengthened wheelbase has increased the legroom, shoulder room and hip room. The height though drops by around 0.6 inches to 59.4” and this affects the headroom slightly.

The bodies of both the 3-door and 5-door Yaris see an increase in lemgth from 150.6” to 153.5” and 154.7” on the SE model and this helps in the creation of larger holds for cargo. The 3-door Yaris has 64% more space for cargo when the rear seats are folded (15.3cu/ft), while the 5-door model has 15.6cu/ft, which is a 68% gain.

Photo Credit: Blog.car24h.org/toyota-yaris-2012-us-version-price-of-14-115-a1.html

The Yaris sedan has become a rare sight on the roads because 70 per cent of all Yaris sales are made up of hatchbacks. In the first year of its introduction the sales were split 50/50 between the sedan and the hatchback.

Interior

The outgoing car’s interior was panned for having the instrument cluster in the middle of the dashboard but that has become a thing of the past. For the 2012 model, the speedometer, fuel gauge, tachometer and the information display are placed in front of the driver. This necessitated that the center of the dashboard be redesigned. So, what we get now is something similar to what is present in the Scion tC. The three-spoke steering is now more thicker than before and the USB and the auxiliary port are standard.

Photo Credit: Newcarshops.com/2012-toyota-yaris-new-yaris-with-europe-design-is-like-mazda2/02-2012-toyota-yaris-new/

The soft touch trim on the interiors in the LE and SE compliment the nicely-grained plastics very well. The seats at the front are slightly better than those on the outgoing car. Then there are interesting details like the integration of the nozzle for the windshield washer now finding a place on the base of the wiper blade. And then there is the Advanced Whiplash Injury-Preventing design for the head restraints.

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Powerplant & Transmission

On the driving front, nothing much has changed. The 1500cc inline 4-cylinder engine is carried forward and it produces 106hp and 103lb/ft of torque while the power is transmitted to the front wheels through the standard 5-speed manual and 4-speed automatic transmissions, which are also carried forward from the old model, though Toyota claims that the automatic is more compact and lighter than before.

Photo Credit: Evautoz.com/2012-toyota-yaris-hatchback/1007/2012-toyota-yaris-engine

While both transmissions are suitable for simple driving chores, but against what is on offer from its competitors, Toyota has to seriously consider coming up with a proper redesign soon.

Mileage

Fuel economy is estimated to be around 30mpg in the city for the Yaris equipped with the automatic, which is 1mpg better than the 2011 model, and 38mpg on the highway, 2mpg better than the last model. With the manual transmission, the Yaris delivers an estimated 30mpg in the city, which is 1mpg better than the previous model and 35mpg on the highway, the same as the 2011 model.

Driveability, Ride & Handling

In the city, the Yaris is easy to motor around, going over minor imperfections without much protest. The electric-assist power steering is responsible for making the car 2 per cent more fuel efficient than if it had a hydraulic power assist. The SE has the better steering set up, which renders more feedback, but this makes the turning circle at 36.6 feet larger than the 30.7 feeton the base L and LE, which is the best selling version.

Apart from the more direct steering set up, the SE also gets 16” alloy wheels shod with low profile tires and 20% stiffer springs at the front, bigger rotors for the front brakes and disc brakes at the rear replacing drums.

Photo Credit: Djapanesecars.com/toyota/further-specs-2012-toyota-yaris.html

The biggest thing which will go against the 2012 Toyota Yaris will be the price, which starts from $14,875 and is many thousand dollars over the amount buyers paid when the first Yaris made its debut. This makes the 2012 Toyota Yaris more expensive by $1000 and hence it loses its cheap car USP.

Some people will say that there haven’t been enough changes to justify this price increase. Toyota is looking forward to entice more of the youth generation through the all new and first of its kind all-digital marketing for the Yaris.

Toyota is targeting monthly sales of around 2000 units, which are nothing when compared to how many Corollas and Camrys are pushed out each month. Now it remains to be seen if the more ‘masculine’ looking 2012 Toyota Yaris is able to attract the boys on the look out for a small car.