Our cars Winter of our discontent
Dropping temperatures have highlighted some disappointing omissions from our Yaris’s standard equipment list.
Toyota Yaris Premiere Edition 129bhp
P11D £28,715 Price as tested £28,715 Official consumption 67.2mpg Test consumption 62.4mpg Mileage 4,346
not especially cold – around 7C – yet it still took several minutes for the windscreen to be demisted, with it seeming to take a very long time for hot air to begin emerging from the vents. I don’t know if this is a quirk of the hybrid powertrain, but from now on, I’m thinking I’ll need to allow a few minutes extra on my morning schedule to ensure the car is ready to go.
Sean Keywood
One of the advantages of running a test car for several months is the ability to see how it gets on with a range of weather conditions. After all, it’s unlikely you’d reach many conclusions about how a vehicle gets on with an early morning start on a cold day if you only ran it during July. Unfortunately, the changing seasons have highlighted some disappointing aspects of our Yaris’s spec. I’ve previously written about how, at nearly £29,000, our range-topping Premium Edition Yaris looks very expensive for a small car. Surely, therefore, it must have heated seats as part of an impressive standard equipment list? Sadly not – something I hadn’t quite appreciated until recently. And of course, with no heated seats you can forget any chance of a heated steering wheel.
I realise that a few years ago, computer chip shortages meant some issues with heated seat procurement, but surely in 2024, there can be no such excuse. A quick check around rivals reveals that both the MG3 Hybrid+ and Renault Clio feature both heated seats and a heated steering wheel with their top-spec equipment grades – and both of those models are cheaper to buy than the Yaris. That’s not the end of our Yaris’s cold weather disappointment either. The morning I’m referring to was
As well as colder weather, recent weeks have also brought the new Labour Government’s first Budget. There’s been a lot of talk about the effects of this for plug-in hybrid company car drivers, who will see BIK tax rates rise significantly from 2028. But what about the small car market, in which there are no plug- in hybrids? Well, our Yaris, with its conventional hybrid powertrain and 96g/km official CO2 emissions figure, currently incurs a 24% BIK rate, and this is only set to rise to 26% by 2028 – the latter figure only 8% more than plug-in hybrids at that time. The Yaris is better on this front than any pure petrol supermini on the market, and level-pegging with the aforementioned Clio, while being one band lower than the MG3. However, the Yaris’s higher P11D value will still mean drivers' payments are higher overall. Still – with the exception of pure EVs, which are by far the lowest-rated BIK options on the market – it looks like when it comes to superminis, the Yaris’s conventional hybrid technology will be the most tax- friendly option for the years ahead. Also, it should be noted that drivers opting for a lower-spec option than our Premiere Edition test car, with a slightly less powerful hybrid option, will drop a further BIK band.
Why we’re running it
To see if a conventional hybrid powertrain is the right answer for fleets’ small car needs.
www.businesscar.co.uk | November/December 2024 | 55
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