2007 Toyota Yaris review from North America

Nothing.

It's pretty clear Toyota designers spent most of the money on the engine, handling, and suspension. Whatever was left, which wasn't much, was spent on the interior materials. But for a $13,000 car, that is OK. Handling on this car is very capable and fairly fun. The steering feel is very natural. Even a Lexus IS350 doesn't feel this good. The ride is good and quiet for this class. Highway cruising is simply serene. From the inside, the Yaris doesn't feel small like a Honda Fit. The instruments are located in the center of the dash, ala Scion. You get used to it very quickly. Toyota probably did this to make right hand to left hand drive conversions easier. The materials are cheap. Make no bones about it. The shift nob looks like it came from Auto Zone next to the Christmas tree air freshener. What is good is the huge number of storage spaces thanks to the center mounted instrument cluster. A big gripe is base models do not have seat height adjustment. Oh well. A $5.00 cushion from Walmart solves that. It shines from 40 mph where it's most important for safe highway merging with insane, cell phone attached soccer moms in Chevy Suburbans going way over the posted speed limit. Increase the throttle, VVTi takes a couple of milliseconds to figure out what you're doing, then Zoom, off you go. The acceleration is brisk enough to put a slight smile on your face.