It was pouring with rain, I mean buckets. Not the ideal setting for testing out a car's limits of adhesion, unless trying to get real-world
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It was pouring with rain throughout the entire day, I mean buckets. Not the ideal setting for testing out a car's limits of adhesion. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)
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results. I say this in jest, of course, because half the time I'm running the same types of courses somewhere in Southern California, enjoying the heat on my back but hardly experiencing road conditions anywhere near typical of what regular Canadians endure day in and day out. This made any attempts of dodging raindrops, while my jacket soaked through entirely and in so doing drenched the two shirts underneath, almost worth it, the waterlogged effect being the result of switching between various trim levels in order to get a full understanding of how the car drives at the
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| While I liked the performance of the five-speed manual more, the four-speed automatic is still fairly peppy off the line due to the car's light curb weight. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
limit. What were my deductions?
Well, as expected the sport-tuned RS is better than the more basic models, thanks to aluminum wheels and slightly wider tires. This was especially true when fitted with the five-speed manual transmission. It comes with a four-speed automatic too, which, because of the car's light curb weight, is still fairly peppy off the line. But the autobox can't launch the Yaris with as much energy as the manual, making the latter more enticing to the enthusiast driver. An enthusiast buying a subcompact? Yes, no joke. The Yaris, like the new
Accent or
Rio, will bring smiles to anyone who drives it hard.
