Owner Review: A decently comfortable hatchback under RM 100k - My 2021 Toyota Yaris in Malaysia

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Basic information

2021 Toyota Yaris

The reason why I bought this car

I'm looking for a reliable all-rounder hatchback for daily usage, mostly traveling in KL city.

Car selection process

• I had a budget of RM 100k
• Models that I have considered include Mazda 2 hatchback, Honda Jazz V, Perodua Myvi 1.5 AV, Toyota Yaris G

Reasons why I chose this car:

Among the 4 cars listed above, Mazda 2 hatchback is the priciest, the moment you entered the car you can immediately feel it is the most premium of them all. From the combination of suede and smooth leather seats to the simple design of the dashboard with leather trimmings. However the cabin space of the Mazda 2 is very small compared to the others, and for the price of MYR 100k, it definitely lacks a lot of features. Coming up to the Honda Jazz, on paper and design I personally felt like it needs a facelift/update, probably there will be a Honda City hatchback replacing it, but for now, in Malaysia, Jazz is the only offering from Honda.

Moving on to the Perodua Myvi, some say it is the little brother of the Toyota Yaris. It has the same 2NR family engine as the Toyota Yaris, however, the Perodua Myvi comes with a traditional 4-speed automatic transmission. The Perodua Myvi also loads with many safety features and at MYR 53k, it is probably the most logical best bang for the buck choice of all. However in the end I choose the Toyota Yaris as it has lifted the driving experience from the Perodua Myvi in terms of comfort, trunk space, noise isolation, and safety.

User Experience

• I have already done 3,600 km
• My average fuel consumption is 13km/L

The 2021 facelifted Toyota Yaris has quite a few delightful changes and add-ons. The body kit is much cleaner than its predecessor, gone the distracting red accents (especially the front's "red mustache") on the body kit and the halogen headlamps. The front body kit has a honeycomb-like design for the grille, it looks great and gives a sporty look but it gives a hard time when washing it and it will accumulate water residue making it the easiest place to have water residue marks.

This honeycomb grille is one of the ways to tell the difference between Yaris and Vios just by looking from the front (Vios have linear lines for the grille). Now for the 2021 model, it comes with LED headlamps, Toyota Safety Sense sensors, and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto support on the head unit. I had an option for the G spec for my Toyota Yaris. To be honest, I felt the E spec to be the best buy as the G spec doesn't seem to be offering a lot of extra important features for an extra MYR 4,428. The G spec has solid disc brakes on the rear, front proximity sensors, leather steering wheels trimmings on the gear knob, digital auto air conditioning, extra 2 speakers and chrome plated door handles.

According to the Toyota salesperson, the E spec has a better pick-up power as it is lighter compared to the G spec. I had also chosen the Platinum White Pearl color that costs an extra RM400. This color looks best to me when I'm at the sales gallery, the paint is a tri-coat paint job, which means that there are 2 basecoats of paint (1 layer white and 1 layer of pearlescent paint on top of it) with 1 clearcoat. The end result is great, instead of the normal solid white, the Platinum White Pearl gives a shimmering effect under direct lighting and gives a better color shade and depth at different angles. However, this special kind of paint job comes with a special kind of hassle, apart from the frequent washes it needed to stay good looking, touching up this paint is somewhat troublesome and pricey too.

Due to the need for frequent washes to keep it look good, I had also sent the car for ceramic coating by a professional detailer, which helps to keep my washes much easier and I don't need to polish it every few months plus it comes with 7 years free recoat service, but I digress. The Yaris interior is simple, the headliner is blackout which is quite unique for a sub 100k B segment hatchback, every button control on the dash console is very straightforward and easily understandable. The AC controls for G spec are in the forms of buttons instead of the traditional analog knobs and it comes with a digital display. I do wish that Toyota could make the controls like what Honda has done with their City, a digital knob, which looks and more user-friendly while driving. With buttons, I need to keep looking at what I am going to press.

AC control panels and display are all covered with piano black finish plastics which attracts a lot of hairline scratches if not well-taken care of, with just a cloth just wipe across it, scratches already appeared on the surface. The piano black plastic doesn't stop at the dashboard, it goes on to the gear shifters panel and also the door handle trims. As mentioned previously there is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support on the G spec infotainment head unit, which is a great add-n. With Apple CarPlay, playing and controlling music on Spotify and navigating via Waze is really convenient (when it works). There are times that the Apple CarPlay app will just hang a while navigating the menu, and when the phone battery charges over 80% there is a faint buzzing sound in the background when playing music. That being said, the 6 speaker setup on the 2021 Yaris G does sounds decent enough for casual listening. With the default Toyota equalizer, most music is played nicely, musical details just come out effortlessly and instruments separation is well presented.

There is a slight bump on the sub-low frequencies and some minor harshness on the very high frequencies. On the range-topping G spec that costs 84k, there are no leather seats and armrest to be found. On the bright side, the fabric seats are really comfy to be in, but cleaning them is a real hassle. On the center console, it comes with the famous unreachable armrest which is covered with a thin fabric without much padding underneath. In my normal seating position, I need to be in a very awkward position to reach the armrest and it makes opening and closing the armrest cover difficult. Also, there is no left leg rest beside the brake pedal. The Optitron info panel consists of an analog RPM dial, analog speedometer and a digital screen for multi-nfo details for the vehicle, the only complaint I have on this is the plastic window screen for the Optitron is tilted in a way that will reflect the steering mount under bright sunlight, which will affect the visibility of the Optitron panel.

Under the hood, it comes with a 2NR-E engine which is not the most powerful car in its price range competitor. There are 3 driving modes in the Yaris. The Eco mode does a very good job of keeping the engine RPM low during cruising (1500RPM at 60km/h), however in city drives especially during low speed, when I lift off the gas pedal, it does have a bit of braking feel even if I did not step on the brake pedal. It also lacks pickup power when I needed it during overtaking and switching lanes on the highway and it really doesn't feel like going faster than 120km/h in Eco mode. Sport mode on the other hand will give you the best throttle response and it will keep the ratio longer before "upshift" it does really brings out a lot of fun even for an entry-level Toyota. The normal mode as expected feels in between Eco and Sport mode, it does give you sufficient power when you floor it and it will keep the engine RPM low when you relax the gas pedal, there is a minor throttle response lag compare to Sport mode, but for day to day drive, it is good enough while keeping the fuel tank happy.

The driveability of this car is almost perfect for Malaysian city road driving, the soft suspension is really well-tuned for road imperfections. Whenever there is some rough patch, this car suspension just soaks it up and moves on. However, when it comes to speed bumps, I will need to slow down as much as possible to roll over the bumps, or else there will be a loud "Thump" or worse, the bump might hit the bottom of the car. Cruising on the highway at 120km/h is fine, but faster than that the car might have a floaty feel, some might even describe it as if one is on a "sampan". The noise isolation is really well done on a B segment car, the door is well isolated from outside noise, from the window area however, the outside noise can be still heard. Toyota had done some dampening under the plastic panels in the car but there is still some minor rattling on the dashboard and driver side door panel while driving on uneven roads. The 2021 Yaris comes with a lot of great safety features except for the blind spot monitor (BSM) on the side mirrors. The accuracy of the blind spot monitor is not quite reliable. There are many times that even when there is no vehicle around me it will still light up and when a vehicle passed by it will take quite some time to realize the vehicle is passed. Luckily enough, the BSM on 2021 Yaris doesn't make any alert sound whenever the BSM noticed there is a car passing by. The Panoramic View Monitor (PVM) on the 2021 Yaris is awesome, it wasn't the clearest PVM I have ever seen but it does a great job of allowing me to check if I had parked in the parking box properly. However, to enable the PVM, I will need to wait for the 360 view rotation animation to see the surroundings properly which at times can be a bit frustrating.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Quiet interior
• Comfortable ride
• Decent audio with Apple CarPlay and Andriod Auto
• Panoramic View Monitor
• Toyota Safety Sense
• Clean exterior and interior design
• 7 airbags

Cons

• Bad fitting on a headlamp and rear light rubber weather strip
• Hard plastic panels everywhere
• No leather seats
• Unpractical placement of armrest
• Rattling on plastic panels
• Slightly underpowered compared to competitors
• Below average paint job
• No cruise control
• Unreliable Blind Spot Monitoring

Ratings:

Total Score: 4
Performance: 3
Quality & Features: 4
Space: 4
Ride Comfort: 3
Fuel Economy: 3
Price & Cost: 4

Summary:

Overall the 2021 Toyota Yaris is a decent comfortable and relaxed hatchback to have under MYR100,000. As of now, there is no actual updated Japanese brand competition for the Toyota Yaris as both the Honda Jazz and Mazda 2 are already well due for a refresh. However, if Honda brings in the City hatchback, the fate of Yaris might be different compared to now.  On my first wash after retrieving the car, I noticed that the left headlamp housing seems to be not well aligned with the car body. Checked with the service center (SC), all I get from the advisor is that it is a design issue, somehow the bracket for the left headlamp is causing the alignment issue. I also noticed the rubber weather shield on the rear left tail lamp seems to be not well installed causing a fold on the rubber. 2 SC tried to readjust the rubber but the fold is still visible and told me they can't do much about it as it is a part of the rear windshield.

The pre-installed tint by EcoTint quality is rather disappointing, there are some small air bubbles on the passenger side windows and front windscreen and the front windscreen tint has very obvious wavy lines. When I highlighted the issues to Toyota SC, they helped me to make an appointment with EcoTint for a warranty, EcoTint branch changed the front windscreen tint but for the passenger side window, they just try to squeeze the bubble out with a heat gun and a spudger.

Some of the owners of the car may notice the bumper colour is somewhat slightly dull compared to the body colour. The Yaris Platinum Pearl White however is another level of color mismatch. There is a yellow tint on the bumper that can be very obvious under certain lightning. Many said that this is a very common issue with all cars, which I somewhat agree but the other day I saw a Honda City with Platinum Pearl White parked in the same indoor parking as mine the yellow tint on the bumper seems to be less obvious compared to my Yaris. 

On the other note, my Yaris has a rock chip on the paint at the left rear fender upon car collection. Fortunately for me, the sales advisor is kind enough to provide me a repaint job for free. Unfortunately for me, the outcome wasn't perfect, there is a very slight dull-yellowish tint on the repainted panel, it's not as bad as the bumper, but still can be visible at certain lighting and angle. With all these issues, in my opinion, the additional RM400 for Platinum Pearl White (yes, RM400 extra while Honda only charges RM109.9) is quite a hefty charge. Oh, did I mentioned it is very tedious to touch up this paint as well because it is a tri-coat paint? 

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