Toyota Yaris

2009 Toyota Yaris 5-Door Liftback shown in Carmine Red Metallic with available 15-in. alloy wheels (photo courtesy of Toyota)

"Is that a hybrid?"

"What kind of car is that?"

Those are the types of questions you may hear if you drive a Toyota Yaris.

In reality, it's not a hybrid, but it looks cute and futuristic enough that the Yaris can turn heads and get people wondering.

The irony is that while social-climbers might spend big money trying to get noticed, you can zip in under their radar and steal the spotlight in a Yaris for as little as $12,205 MSRP (for the 3-door hatchback version).

The Environmental Protection Agency''s Fuel Economy Guide lists the Toyota Yaris as the miles per gallon (mpg) leader for the subcompact category with a projected 29 mpg in city traffic and 35-36 mpg in highway traffic. (The slightly higher number applies to the manual transmission version of the Yaris.)

For comparison's sake, the EPA helpfully provides a list of 2009 Fuel Economy Leaders for the 2009 model year. The manual and automatic versions of the Yaris occupy positions #9 and #10 on that list, respectively.

Of the cars that occupy higher places on the EPA Fuel Economy Leaders list, all cost thousands of dollars more except for the least expensive version of the Smart ForTwo, which only has two seats and is thus much less practical for families or groups of friends than the Yaris.

In terms of emissions, the Yaris is rate as a ULEV II (Ultra Low Emission Vehicle).

Want more proof that the Toyota Yaris has impeccable eco-friendly credentials? How about the fact that the Environmental Transport Association, a sustainable travel lobby group based in the UK, named the Yaris the 2008 Green Car of the Year based on the car's power, fuel efficiency, emissions and even the amount of noise produced.

Thanks to Toyota, I recently had the chance to test drive a fully-equipped, high-end S version of the 5-door liftback style Yaris. I took the Yaris on a long weekend trip from New York City to the Philadelphia suburbs and back.

I came back from the trip mightily impressed with the way the Yaris handled the usual heavy traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike and the disaster areas - a.k.a. 'uneven pavement' - on stretches of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and pretty much the entire BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway).

Acceleration seemed like sort of a mixed bag. You'll either love or hate the throaty growl the Yaris' engine gives as the car leaps away from stop lights. Merging or passing on a highway can require a bit of advance planning, but you'll be fine as long as you remember you're driving a 1.5 liter, 4-cylinder engine, not a supercar.

At high speeds, the Yaris performed like a champ. In fact, I found the car did better zooming along at 70 mph than at low speeds. Puttering around the suburbs, I found the engine a bit noisy and the brakes a little soft. But cruising down the highway, the engine noise blended into the background and the car floated along with little effort. I've been in plenty of cars that shake, rattle and hum at high speeds, but the Yaris just purred.

As for comfort, I did have to contort my body a little to slide my 6-foot frame behind the wheel. I loved the supportiveness of the seat, but have to admit that my left leg felt a little cramped in terms of leg space. I don't need many creature comforts, but the lack of an armrest got kind of annoying after an hour or two on the road.

The Yaris looks great from an interior design standpoint, particularly for such a low cost car. Moving the instrument panel to the center gives the driver a wide, uninterrupted view of the road. On the other hand, I did find it a little awkward at times to glance to the right to check my speed or figure out if I was in the right gear. (Part of this problem could be solved by tweaking the design of the gear shift so that it's easier to tell what gear the car is in without looking at the electronic dashboard display.)

No complaints on the AM/FM CD player with MP3/WMA playback capability, auxiliary audio jack, satellite radio capability and even an iPod® interface.

You probably wouldn't want to transport a sumo wrestling team in the Yaris, but the car can theoretically handle five people with reasonable comfort. There's certainly no reason that mom, dad and three kids couldn't pile into the Yaris for a day's worth of motoring around town...as long as the family didn't buy too many souvenirs along the way.

That's because the Yaris gives you passenger capacity or luggage capacity, but not both. I loved the ease with which I could fold down the rear seats to create a capacious cargo zone into which I slid two suitcases, a bag of laundry, a bookbag, a large portfolio and a few other odds and ends with plenty of room to spare.

On the other hand, when I chauffered my parents around town with the back seats locked into an upright position, the cargo zone shrank to a size suited only for a few grocery bags worth of stuff.

Toyota's engineers did a great job at making the Yaris practical and versatile, but you can't fit a minivan's carrying capacity into a subcompact car. The fact is that you can pick your visiting relatives up at the airport in the Yaris, but you better tell them to pack light or count on carrying their suitcases in their laps.

Other odds and ends -

• Beautifully compact turning radius (just 30.8 feet on the 5-door hatchback) makes the Yaris supremely manueverable, especially in garages and parking lots. Of course, urban drivers will also love the ease with which they can parallel park the 66.7-inch long car.

• Nice list of standard features, at least on the S-version hatchback, includes powerful halogen headlamps, integrate front fog lamps, intermittent wipers, CFC-free air conditioning and dual passenger side glove compartments.

• Comforting safety features including anti-lock brakes, an electronic emergency tire pressure monitoring system and multiple airbags.

• My father (72 yrs old) commented how comfortably and easily he was able to enter and exit the car without worrying about bumping his head. Judging from the styling and pricing, Toyota is probably aiming the Yaris at the youth market, but the car could be a great vehicle for older drivers too.

• The car's  'cute factor' can be a conversation-starter, but it can also help in real-world driving conditions. On several occasions, I felt that tough urban drivers let me squeeze into traffic with a smile based on the car's diminutive and charming appearance. (Of course, this friendliness could have been due to my charming appearance, but since I haven't experienced such courtesy while driving other cars, I'm inclined to give credit here to the Yaris.

Bottom line -

As long as you don't regularly need to carry passengers and a lot of cargo, the Yaris could be an excellent car for you. Its price, fuel efficiency and small size (requiring fewer raw materials) make it one of the best eco-friendly options among non-hybrid vehicles.

Where to buy -

Contact your local Toyota dealer to check on availability, pricing and options.