Toyota Yaris review

Although six-footers won't exactly feel cramped in the front of the Toyota Yaris, many rivals – including the Honda Jazz, Seat Ibiza and Volkswagen Polo – offer more head and leg room. 

Storage space is also average in the Yaris; there's a cubby in front of the gearlever that can easily swallow a mobile phone, wallet and keys, plus a small tray above the glovebox for pens and other loose items. Every Yaris also has a useful cubby underneath its standard front centre armrest, however, the door bins are quite small. 

How much space is enough? That’s the question you ought to be asking yourself here, because our research tells us that only one in three small car buyers consider interior space a top priority. 

So, the Yaris might suit you just fine. It comes with five doors as standard and a couple of six-footers will fit in the back; they just won’t be very comfortable, because there isn’t a great deal of head or leg room. The rising windowline doesn’t let much light into the rear seat area, either, making it feel even more cramped than it really is.

If you're looking for a small car that can comfortable carry taller adults in the back, you'd be much better off with a Jazz or Polo.

Every version of the Yaris comes with 60/40 split folding rear seats, but that’s your lot. The seatbacks themselves are easy enough to fold down, but there are no other clever versatility boosting touches, such as the cinema-style flip-up seat bases you get in the Jazz.

Front passengers are treated to height adjustment for their chair as standard on Dynamic trim and above.

Boot space is not a Yaris forte. Overall capacity is slightly worse than in the Ford Fiesta, and significantly down on the comparatively cavernous Jazz, Renault Clio, Seat Ibiza and Polo.

We managed to fit four carry-on-sized suitcases below the parcel shelf. All of the aforementioned rivals can swallow at least five cases. And unlike some rivals, including the Polo, there's no option to have a height-adjustable boot floor, meaning there's a big (160mm) drop down onto the floor of the boot from the entrance.