New 2020 Toyota Yaris – Priced to shock, but packed with safety

Sorry Toyota, but there’s no way of sugar-coating this – you’ve pushed the price of the Toyota Yaris way above its pay grade, and given it’s less than $2,000 cheaper than a Corolla, it’s difficult to really grasp.

The Yaris is the tiny entry-level car for the Toyota brand, and many first car buyers see it as a great gateway into new-car ownership. Normally a car this size would have a price tag with a 15, or a 16 in front of it.

Nope, not the 2020 Yaris. Not $17,000. Not $18,000, not $19,000. Heck, I’ll jump straight to it – the Yaris starts at $22,130.

Toyota are positioning this vehicle as ahead of its time. When you look to sell this in seven years – the likely private ownership duration – the features on this car will be common, and standard.

However, this isn’t 2027. It’s 2020.

For $22k you get an all-new car, from the ground up, Toyota have engineered the new Yaris for ride, handling and comfort.

But perhaps most importantly safety.

The new Toyota Yaris has front-centre airbags. These deploy between the front seat occupants, something you just don’t see in many cars at all.

Plus, there’s sensors and smarts to detect pedestrians at an intersection when turning, that’s pretty high end stuff.

Critically, the Yaris is also coming as a Hybrid. Given the huge popularity of the RAV4 Hybrid, this will likely be very popular.

But it does come at a starting price of $29,020 for the Yaris SX Hybrid CVT.

That Hybrid is exceptionally efficient, running at just 3.3 litres per 100km.

In Toyota’s defence, there’s very little they’ve left off here.

Standard Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, LED Daytime running lamps, auto retracting door mirrors with LED indicators, and power windows.

The SX gets Sat Nav, Speed limit display warnings, automatic Air-Con, and Keyless entry.

In the top of the line ZR, you get 16 inch Alloys, rear spoiler, head-up display, sports front seats, blind spot monitoring, parking support and paddle shifters on the petrol model.

It’s hard to imagine how we can compare the Yaris going forward, it’s closest competitors are priced much much lower. Toyota’s challenge will be convincing buyers on Safety.

To do this, they’re also offering young buyers a free defensive driving course for purchases before November.

Time will tell how this new pricing strategy impacts sales, given Toyota’s dominance, it will probably sail through.

2020 TOYOTA YARIS PRICE

• Ascent Sport manual     –     $22,130
• Ascent Sport CVT      –          $23,630
• SX CVT                       –           $27,020
• ZR CVT                       –           $30,100
• SX Hybrid CVT         –            $29,020
• ZR Hybrid CVT          –           $32,100