Jazz / Crosstar v Toyota Yaris

[Gas Jazz]

Just wondering did any of you try out / consider the Yaris as an alternative to the Jazz?

- Quite a few reviews seem to favour the Yaris in terms of dynamic performance, styling and the superior warranty.

- Having looked at both, but not driven a Yaris, it appears to me be inferior due to:

1. Seems lower quality - particularly the interior
2. Much less versatile
3. Seems expensive for what you get compared to the Jazz

Seems the reviews seem more interested in a sporty drive than anything else.

What are your views?

[Steve P]

 I test drove the Yaris before getting my EX.

  Have to say, I think it's a really nice car, it feels faster than the Jazz, certainly is more nimble through the corners, has all the features the Jazz has and has some great extras you can spec for it including a glass roof and head up display.

 Against that, the Jazz interior feels far more premium, the Yaris  just felt cheap inside, also the infotainment and drivers display are leagues ahead in the Honda.

The Jazz is vastly bigger inside, both in the front and back, the rear of the Yaris is tiny.

I much prefer the way the Jazz drives too ,  the Yaris has a 6? speed auto, and while smooth , it just feels like any auto car of the last decade, whereas the Jazz feels like you're driving an electric.

So all in all, if the Jazz wasn't about , i'd have happily got a Yaris, but i'm glad I didn't .


 

[PaulC]

Yes, we tried both the Toyota Yaris Hatch hybrid and the Toyota Yaris Cross (a mini-SUV version) hybrid when searching for a new car.
Our opinion of the Yaris Hatch was that the interior felt cramped, there was lots of road noise and very little useful
boot size (even with the rear seats folded down). It also is wider than we expected.
The Yaris Cross also had a cramped interior and lots of road noice, but the boot size was lots better. However its longer length would make it difficult to fit in our small garage.
My wife has a bad back and found the driver's seat in both versions to be uncomfortable.
We took an hour for each test drive and went back to our house to assess the ease of fitting the cars into our small
garage.
 With the Cross we found the starting up process quite confusing and had to get the sales person out when
we couldn't remember how to start the car.

In contrast the Jazz (hybrid top version) had a more spacious feel inside, less road noise, great frontal vision, excellent boot size with the Magic Seats, and the drivers seat was comfortable for my wife. The l/100km (=mpg) is quite similar for the Yaris and the Jazz hybrids.
(in New Zealand the lower version Jazz and the CrossStar are still 100% petrol driven. We wanted a hybrid so did not trial these)

PS there is a sporty version of the Yaris Hatch named the GR and this gets reviewers all excited. The only parts it shares with the standard Yaris Hatch are the rear view mirror and radio aerial; it's really a different car.

[Jazzik]

I test drove the Yaris before getting my EX.

I much prefer the way the Jazz drives too ,  the Yaris has a 6? speed auto, and while smooth , it just feels like any auto car of the last decade, whereas the Jazz feels like you're driving an electric.

I wonder which Yaris you test drove... Every Toyota Hybrid has a planetary gear set. It gives linear acceleration, smooth without anything like switching gears (because it HAS NO gears) and for sure nothing like a 3,4, 5, 6, 7 or even 8 speed auto...

[Kremmen]

The magazine reviews all mention the Yaris unrefined 3 cylinder engine.

The Honda 4 cylinder engine is reported as being smoother and quieter.

Yes the Yaris has an auto interior dipping mirror and a few other options and a long warranty but from reading the reports that engine would annoy me.

[Steve P]

I test drove the Yaris before getting my EX.

I much prefer the way the Jazz drives too ,  the Yaris has a 6? speed auto, and while smooth , it just feels like any auto car of the last decade, whereas the Jazz feels like you're driving an electric.

I wonder which Yaris you test drove... Every Toyota Hybrid has a planetary gear set. It gives linear acceleration, smooth without anything like switching gears (because it HAS NO gears) and for sure nothing like a 3,4, 5, 6, 7 or even 8 speed auto...

 Well my mistake and thank you for the correction,  I must be getting it mixed up with something else as I test drove a number of cars before deciding on the Jazz.

 My main points stand though, the Yaris is a decent car, well specced and I'm sure i'd be happy if I owned own. For me, the Jazz is just a bit better.

[E27006]

The Toyota hybrid drive has a bonus of a superb range of gearing,  take vehicle speed per 1000 rpm in top gear as an  indicator of refinement of a car  powertrain,  most cars, 20 to 30 mph / 1000 rpm, luxury cars, (Rolls-Royce) 40 mph / 1000 rpm, the Prius can operate at 60 mph / 1000 rpm in theright conditions

[Kremmen]

I looked at the Corolla but it's slightly bigger than my 9G Civic and I want to downsize.

All excluding mirrors:

Corolla 4370 x 1790
Jazz 4044 x 1694

9G Civic 4300 x 1770

[peteo48]

For me, it's the interior size of the Jazz, of any vintage, that gives it the edge over the Yaris but both are excellent small cars.

[Saycol]

My interest in the Jazz was generated by a comparative test I read about 6 months ago in What Car? magazine. It was Jazz v Yaris v Polo. At the time my car was a VW Golf and was thinking of changing to something new but didn’t want a major reduction on interior space or lose any of the “toys” such as adaptive cruise control, reversing camera etc. The Jazz had very interesting technology with the hybrid drive and met my other requirements in terms of space and equipment. The Polo was a non starter as it wasn’t hybrid and I’d had enough of the dire local VW dealership. The Yaris was simply too small inside.

The Yaris will gain the “halo” effect of the GR hot hatch. And maybe its styling appeals more to younger people. Although early days I am very happy with my purchase of a Crosstar.