One of my “first world problems” is the irritation that I find at the general poor quality of car reviews published in glossy magazines. When I was reviewing other people’s opinions about the Yaris (and our Zafira) I found two examples that really narked me. The Yaris example was one fairly popular magazine “marking down” the Yaris for the “ludicrous sporty pretentions of a flat bottomed steering wheel” – perfectly countered by a far more scientific journal noting how “the flat bottomed steering wheel made a huge difference for access when the car was driven by someone with long legs”. The Zafira example was even more basic – the car was scored 2 out of 5 when new with particular comment on the gutlessness of the 1.6 petrol engine, but when used the car was scored 5 out of 5 with the reviewer recommending the 1.6 petrol due to “its balance between performance and economy”.

I now view all car reviews from journalists with huge suspicion. They are useful for certain observations (ie the Audi A4 with offset peddles) but when people ignore huge deficits because they have a predisposition (same offset peddles) to the brand then it leaves the reader poorer for reading any conclusion. I think user reviews far more valuable but also leaning towards being fairly black or white, love it or loathe it.

So I thought it time to finally put my thoughts down on my 2012 (62) plate 1.4 D4D – TR Nav bought in September 2013 with just over 12,000 miles on the clock. It has now reached 22,369 and via the excellent little app FuelLog I know that I have filled up 25 times at an average cost of £1.37 per litre and achieved an MPG of 63.10.

This mileage consists of 90% my commute of 18 miles to work on 45% single carriageway 60 MPH limit (doing about 50 on average), 40% dual carriageway (between 60 and 65 on average), 5% A14 (about 25 MPH on average), 5% town roads (about 20 on average) and 5% a small country road that is a blast to drive (more later).

The car has plenty of space in the front with good seats that are comfy for a stretch of a few hours at a time. I am 6”3 with long legs so that flat bottomed steering wheel is very useful. All controls fall easily to reach and are logically laid out – except perhaps the electric mirrors switch. The air conditioning is good as is the manual heater (no climate control) but the car gets stuffy with two or more people on board and the fan has to be turned up (or window opened) to get sufficient fresh air in. At night the dashboard shows no reflections into the drivers windscreen – a real pet peeve of mine. If I could take a feature from the past I want the night panel from my old Saab for all future cars please. Space in the back is just OK but miserly when I sit in the front – this car lacks the sliding rear bench of the previous model. Boot space is OK – I guess it depends on what you need and all I need is an umbrella and occasional shopping bags.

The car has the Touch and Go navigation unit with Bluetooth and Sat Nav. The Sat Nav is decent and can tether to my mobile phone to get an internet connection and then offer live traffic updates and re-routing. It accepts full UK postcodes and last night contained an address someone told me most sat navs miss due to the house being built so recently. The glove box has USB, 3.5 mm jack and iPod connections – bit of a funny place for the connections but being a small car I guess it makes sense. My A3 was in the same place. The phone hands free works well and the stereo can play music or streamed radio from my phone using Bluetooth as well. The stereo sounds very good – far better than I expected it to on such a small car, but I guess if they are aiming for a younger market then that is high on the criteria list.

The performance is acceptable with 0-62 coming up in about 10.5 seconds (although all the reviews quote different figures). In gear acceleration is good with the usual 3rd gear whoosh of a turbo diesel. 6th is hopeless below 65 MPH and I rarely find myself using it due to the nature of the roads I am driving. The car cruises very well on the motorway and is really quiet except for whistling wing mirrors over about 60. It is OK at lower speeds with the diesel engine never being intrusive. Due to the small capacity you do need to stir the gears if you need to make progress rather than rely on a chunk of torque to waft you along. Stability is fine up to about 80 but beyond that it doesn’t feel as planted as previous (much bigger) cars I have owned. Brakes are good, traction fine, tyres are very sensible prices (I can have three premium fitted for the price one would cost me on the RAV4). Performance tails off noticeably as the car fills with passengers and luggage – again the relative lack of torque of the smaller engine.

One part of my journey to work is a tight single carriageway country road with straights, lazy meanders, a tight 90 degree left hander followed almost immediately by a right hander then 1/3 a mile of straight before another 90 degree left hander. People say Toyotas are not fast or dynamic to drive yet I would argue that most people driving rear wheel driven cars famed for their driving dynamistic are wasting their time if they chose them for that reason. The number of occasions I have German badged cars right up my backside as I observe the 30 MPH speed limit in the village (particularly important where the kids gather for the school bus) then find they are so far behind they are not even in my rear view mirror after my country blast only catching up a few minutes later as they hurtle (inappropriately) along the busy dual carriageway at 90 in a nice straight line. The Yaris isn’t fast or dynamic to drive – it is safe and easy to drive while you can feel when its limits arrive. These limits (as I think with almost all cars on UK roads today) are pretty difficult to reach if you are observing the speed limits and adds to my frustration at many of the journalistic review comments – the guy who will buy the BMW because you say it is such a great drive will never touch the capabilities and might have done as well with a British built Avensis (and saved a few quid as well). That said I have put a BMW M3 420 round a track and it is a truly brilliant car – only the Subaru Legacy I owned came close to the driver feedback and involvement.

The gear change on the Yaris is fine except on occasions when I am booting it I get a sticky change from 3rd to 4th. It’s no problem normally, just if I am getting a move on.

The interior looks OK – a Jetta owning friend said it looked much nicer than his, but the colour insets are a bit odd. These insets would stop me buying some of the car colours (bright white inside the car was nasty) but as mine are a dark grey it works OK. The interior marks REALLY easily however. Is it cheap nasty plastic? Not really – it just seems that the brushed effect they have gone for shows any and every scratch. My drivers door is quite marked – it also has an irritating rattle on poor roads and I can’t find the screw location to tighten it up – fixed with a bit of card between the armrest and door handle! Very un-Toyota like in my experience of their cars.

I would sum up by saying the car is very close to the “premium” Audi A1, not as dynamic to drive as the Fiesta but a much nicer place to be and with a warranty two years longer than both a sounder longer term proposition. An 8 out of 10 with the right engine and specification choice in a category where I don’t think there are many 9/10 cars.