2002 Toyota Yaris GS from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing.

In March I made a bad mistake by replacing my faithful "F Reg." 1300 Astra Estate with a brand new Yaris Verso.

Mechanically it has been fine and has proved exceptionally economical with up to 45 mpg readily obtainable here in the Chiltern Hills! On motor ways it struggles to hold, (ahem), seventy five with 38 mpg at best, whereas the Astra regularly achieved 42-45.

I've now held a licence for over forty years and in all that time I've never come across such a wilful vehicle! The low speed torque us virtually non existent and we've to slip the clutch to stop it stalling. On the move you can forget economy and race the engine if you want to keep up with the traffic flow.

The map pockets over the sun visors are simply brilliant. Pity the visors themselves are too shallow to be of any use on such a deep windscreen!

The reversing lights illuminate the trees, but not the road behind!

But worst of all is its abysmal ground clearance. I now have to use the Wife's car if I want to exercise the dogs, as there is not a single picnic area within miles I can drive onto without hearing it scrubbing the ground!

In any case whenever I've used it for the dogs I've felt guilty as the ride in the back is atrocious.

I could go on and on about its foibles. But to summarise it's proved a bitter disappointment.

I wasn't aware that reversing lights were supposed to illuminate the rear area, they are for alerting other road users to the fact you are reversing! Plus, do you really care what your dogs think of the ride?

The yaris is a great car and as the other comment said, reversing light are for warning other drivers. The yaris is a very nippy car and I can't see how it would stall starting off, I can often start off in 2nd gear. Road tests and other reviews nearly all rate this car very highly so either the person producing this review has never drive a yaris or got a lemon.

I think we've got the difference between the country and the city here - I've lived in both, and good ground clearance and reversing lights that illuminate where you are going are essential in rural areas; the 2 who have commented clearly have no experience of life beyond the burbs, and manage to sound quite defensive about it. For the record, the only lemon I ever had was a Toyota Camry, bought brand new in 2002, it needed a new engine after 5 weeks, none of the panels fitted properly, the steering was misaligned from new and it was excessively noisy.

And the last time I drove a Yaris platform Toyota across London, it scraped every speedbump.

Rui Nuvo - Toyota Yaris Verso 2002. Drove from Madrid to Atlantic coast Portugal, down Morocco and to Daklar deep down Western Sahara well below the Canary Islands 2nd April to 9th May 6588 miles.

I bought a Toyota for its reliability. I was introduced to the Toyota Camry in Norway. It is a clapped out car when I bought it but despite its many failings it has proved very reliable and the chasis good enough to pass the MOT every time. I have virtually abused the car to carry out every thing from donkey work to touring the country with friends. I have even used it to mow down the summer weeds and grass at the cottage.

The reliability of the Toyota and chassis prompted me to buy a Toyota Yaris Verso 2002 earlier this year.

I needed a car for my eldest son who is in Granada Spain Skiing in the Sierra Nevada. He had to have a car to carry all his ski kit. He has friends visiting me regularly from the UK and so needs a car to collect them anywhere in Andalusia in Spain and passenger them around.

I needed a car for my daughter in London. She has a driving license but has not had the confidence to drive in London. We have a Suzuki 4x4 but she has not built up the confidence to drive it around in London. So I wanted a small car which I could take a risk with. It really did not matter if she pranged it but building her confidence was a top criteria.

The other advantage of a small car in London would mean that she would be able to park it overnight easily at her small Bethnal Green back garden and of course street parking. The small car 1.3 litre would also make it cheaper insurance and fuel consumption. When my son leaves Spain in June he will drive to the UK and my daughter will take possession of the car I expect.

I needed a car for my youngest son too who is at University and has not taken his license. He is not allowed to use the Suzuki so I expect he will want to use the Verso when he finishes University this May/June. I expect he will negotiate with my daughter to use the car here in Hertfordshire. He can drive and appears more competent though without experience. He drives the Toyota Camry off road in Norway with or without a trailer. So I see no problem him driving the Verso.

Now on 2nd April this year 2008, my son in Spain flew to California to ski in the USA. My youngest son had his term holidays from end of May to 10th April. I have time so I decided that he and I would pick the car in Madrid and we would holiday in Portugal together and I would drop him off down south in Faro in Portugal to fly back to the UK while I proceeded to Morocco.

I planned to get some essential running in driving experience with my son dedicated to doing the navigation while keeping a eye on my road conversion of moving from driving a RHD car in a RHD Europe.

So when buying the Verso, my need was to have a car that would be low on fuel consumption, cheaper on tax, reliable, foldable seats to allow me to sleep in the back and use whenever I came back from Norway to go on tour alone.

On 2nd April we picked the car from my eldest son in Madrid and my youngest son and I drove for Portugal heading directly across Spain and Portugal to Oporto.

In handing over the car my son complained that the car clearance was very low. It scrapped getting over the supermarket car park barriers. He felt that as I was planning to go to Morocco from Portugal that that could be a problem that I would have to be mindful of. He also complained that the car was unstable and moved across the road in high winds in the Sierra Nevada. Next he was very unhappy about the pulling power of the car up steep climbs. The speed just fell away he complained. I did not think that powering up a hill mattered too much to me at my age. He did not think that it would be possible to sleep in the back of the car and the only facility I could use was the reclining front seats. However, when buying the car I had asked for the back seats to be folded to check how easy they could be done. I was satisfied that it was roughly OK. A closer look convinced me that I would somehow manage to camp in the back of the car. But I was not absolutely sure.

My youngest son and I started our trip meter for Portugal. The fuel consumption was great 38mpg or more I think. It seemed like the car was not using any fuel at all or burning oil or using up water. We pushed the car hard and we got to the Portuguese border sooner then we expected. In Portugal we encountered our first steep slopes. Indeed the car did slow down considerably taking slopes and overtaking was a real problem up inclines. But with good gear changing and some experience of the way the car handled I soon found that it was not a real problem. I could get up to a respectable speed even on steep inclines. I think around 75kph. Parking the car was a cinch given what it is on the Camry. The easy parking and the good fuel consumption was a real bonus. The petrol seemed to last forever. And even little niches was enough room to squeeze the car into. And I had now got used to driving on the right without thinking too much about it. The car handling was no problem. There was plenty of room to dump our stuff in the back with the seats folded down into the floor well. The only problem was that everything in the car was visible to prying eyes from the windows.

We covered the whole of the Portuguese coast line from north oporto down to the south end and round to Faro. The car behaved perfectly. It was comfortable easy to drive. The seating was comfortable and the forward view very clear to judge. Reversing was a bit of a problem. It was not easy to judge distances behind when reversing. The turning circle was not all that good but a vast improvement on the Camery. A three point turn was almost always essential. A quick U turn and get away would be a highly dangerous manouever. The car required to be reved up a bit I discovered for the first gear or the car would stall. But one got used to that. The oil and water appeared to be unused despite pushing the car all the way in Portugal which was nice. It meant the engine was not burning oil or not overheating even when taking steep hills.

We did have one mishap after we left south of Lisbon. The exhaust pipe came off the back of the exhaust box. It appeared that the exhaust was OK but the pipe leading into it had come off or broken loose. We managed a join enough to stem the noise using some handy wire loops with locking up hooks to the exhaust box. However, a real problem was getting under the car to fix it. My son being much slimmer was able to just get under to inspect the problem. The ground clearance was too low for me to get under. Anyway a mile away in the middle of nowhere a garage appeared. It was getting to twilight. Fortunately, the mechanic was free to take a good look under the car over a pit. He identified the problem and rebuilt the join with a bit of skill and a bit of welding magic. That was it. I never had a problem with the exhaust for the rest of my journey. We toured up to Faro and my son left for the UK. I was now on my own and I was a little concerned about my idea to undertake Morocco on my own.

Well, there was no turning back. I now had to navigate and drive for the Spanish crossing Algecias for Morocco. I got to Algercias and tanked up at near by Gibraltar with cheap petrol. I then went into Algercias and gave the ticket touts a miss and bought a promotion price ticket for Tangiers. The crossing was at 6am next morning. With touts and chaos in Algercias, I decided that I had to sleep in the car if I was going to make the crossing at 6am. I used the reclining seat option. It was a bad night sleeping in the car but I managed to get some sleep and be up at 6am for the crossing for Morocco.

I decided not to stay in Tangiers and headed down south and found a hotel 40km from Tangiers in the Atlas mountains. It was not that expensive and the views was spectacular so I used the hotel.

I had not inquired to much about travel in Morocco but one of my sons friends had said they were good. I also had the AA guide to Morocco. I decided to take it as I felt best. I headed inland into high ground instead of the easy coastal route. The AA spiral books for Portugual and Morocco turned out to be perfect for my needs.

The roads get up to 2100m or more. The temperatures range from 12C to 38C and in Western Sahara up to 43C. The roads are narrow but good. The drivers have fair road sense in some ways but not always. The pedestrians have no road sense at all. Pedestrians will walk or hold a conference on main road with their backs turned to on coming traffic. The traffic cops, scooters and cars and traffic signs and rules take getting used to. Some police have to be seen as a problem many are good and helpful. The road signs are very poor in some towns and vanishing when you most need direction. A cheap mounted Maplin compass on the dash board was a great help.

The car was fine at low speeds. The locking of the car even from a distance was very convenient and impressive. A problem that I feared was the car locking down automatically of its own. This meant if it locked with my keys in the car, I would have a problem. I took the precaution of putting my spare key in the petrol filling housing to avoid breaking a window to get at the spare key in the event of losing my car keys or being locked out by an unexpected trigger in the locking system.

It was not possible to find a convenient hotel or camping place always in Morocco. I was traveling with no firm plans. I had a vague idea that I would do the difficult highlands before the lowlands not knowing exactly what to expect.

And then it happened one night I arrived so late in town that I was forced to sleep in the car. I had a sleeping bag and a tent but setting up the tent was going to be no easy task. The ground was bone dry. Fortunately, at my first hotel stop a tout persuaded me to buy a Moroccon hand woven blanket. The nights are cold in the Atlas mountains 12C-15C. I bought 2 blankets on a hunch that I would need them.

The day I was forced to sleep in the car I was glad that my son and I had folded the back seats. I managed to move the other stuff around and managed to just lie full length diagonally with the front passenger seat taken far forward. The floor was flat but not quite flat. I managed only just for the first time to sleep in the back. I used the sleeping bag. I used the blankets to insulate the cold floor. Not having a level floor and the restrictions of a sleeping bag made it a tiny bit unsatisfactory but OK. I bought two thick woolen Moroccan rugs which just fitted the car width wise and length wise with a additional bit to spare in the length. The additional bit turned inward just enough to level out the floor. That was perfect. I converted the sleeping bag into a open duvet. That freed me up my movement and gave me the extra comfort I needed when asleep. I now used one of the blankets over more warmth by putting it over the duvet and I converted the other blanket into a pillow.

I was able to lie diagonally full length across the back of the car in some comfort with little room to spare. The woolen rugs killed the cold and leveled the floor. The duvet and the additional blanket made it perfectly warm. It meant for the first time I could park anywhere in any remote area and not worry about accommodation. In fact it was more comfortable then any hotel I had been. I used camp sites only to get water or charge my phone. Camp sites in Morocco cost only £2.50-£5.00. The adjustable luggage cover in the back of the car turned out to be helpful keeping light out going to sleep. The lighting inside the car was perfect for reading and working in. The internal locking was great.

Had the front seat moved a shade further forward that would have helped a lot. Had the floor been dead level that would have been handy. Better still if the front passenger seat could fold away that would allow anyone of any height to lie comfortably straight down along the length of the car. Had the side and back window had curtains that would have provided a great deal of privacy. A cigarette lighter 12V jack to a kettle jug would have been handy. A cigarette lighter power jack to trickle charge the computer and mobile phone would also have been very useful. A spare box under the car to hold a minimum tool kit, small shovel, and wind cooled water bottle would be nice. A foldable shaving mirror at the back outside would be asking maybe a bit too much. However, the main problem with the Verso, is the drop of power on inclines, poor ground clearance (much larger wheels. A great help would be in providing comfortable sleeping room for one at least. A little better turning circle would also be a great help.

Having said all that I have to say that I successfully took the Verso from Madrid to Portugal, then on to Tangiers in Morocco then south into Western Sahara down to Daklar well past the Canary Islands and back across most of Morocco Atlas mountains and gorges and mountain roads.

The car was trouble free. You filled the tank once a day and drove almost the whole day without a top up. It used no water or oil. It provided reasonable sleeping accommodation with good lighting, space and security.

I think my choice of the Verso for the family and my own requirements appears to have been a good decision. Any improvements in the areas I thought were its down side would enormously help raise the functionality of the car. The car was inconspicuous as a camping van or multifunctional as a cheap to insure and run around family car.

I only returned last night from Granada leaving the car with my son. I hope this long winded description of my trip puts in context the virtue of the Toyota Yaris Verso. The trip meter showed I had covered 6588km in a month without a problem in wholly unknown and difficult territory. I have asked my son to have the car fully serviced as soon as possible. The car deserves a full service to continue rendering a good service from a small ugly duckling.

I am contactable on 01438 214631 in the unlikely event that you need any information regarding my experience with the Verso.