Phantom has a few days in the shop for repairs so I have a Toyota Yaris sedan rental car. Some first impressions:
Steering wheel/column:
Wheel is not as grippy-soft as the Fiesta and has no 10 and 2 bumps to guide hand placement. Tilt but no telescope function.
Seating:
Seats are not too bad but don't have solid side bolster support that Fiesta does. Drivers seat has the 6-way adjustment ... BUT all the way down feels like 2 notches short of all up in Fiesta.
The seat vertical alignment of all down and the full up tilt have my knees nearly touching the bottom of the steering wheel when seat is adjusted to proper pedal reach.
Dash controls:
Headlight controls are all imbedded on the turn signal stalk. Heat/fan/temp controls are within easy reach and set in a triangular pattern for easy usage. They are all the same size and with center push buttons for rear defrost and A/C.
Radio controls are not as easily accessible as on Fiesta and you really need to look as you scan for stations, etc.
Gauges, warning lights:
This one is a mite disconcerting. Imagine the center Fiesta message display stretched horizontally to about 3 times its width. In this area are the following:
Wipers:
This is really strange. Pull the stalk for wash and the wipers operate like Fiesta - 3 full swipes, a pause and a last swipe. BUT ... for delay or low/high speed of the wipers, push the stalk down. Yeah, down. <shakes head>
Miscellaneous:
Drink holders are in the doors, as well as push to unlatch/latch holders for both driver and front passenger at the outside ends of the dash. Not a bad idea as the trapdoor for these is high enough to keep a small-to-medium cup from flipping into your lap under moderate acceleration.
Center console/armrest exists, however it is somewhat short and does not support even half of the forearm. There is a console under the lid, quite deep but positioning makes it somewhat difficult to reach if you are in the seat and buckled in.
Transmission - automatic - is the gated automatic with the trick slot for the shift. Using gears 1, 2 and 3 as a stick is pretty smooth operation and setting to D position only take a slight tap to the right when in 3rd gear position.
Comparing these with Fiesta:
Steering wheel - FIESTA +1 (telescoping)
Seating - Fiesta wins as Yaris cannot go lower to prevent a long-legged person from clipping the steering wheel. FIESTA +1
Dash controls - YARIS +1 (heat/fan/temp controls and placement)
Radio controls - FIESTA +1
Gauges/lights - FIESTA +1.5; YARIS +.5 (temp gauge)
Wipers - anything but Yaris = +1
Misc - drink holders - FIESTA +1 for quantity; YARIS +1 for the dash-mounted
Misc - console - YARIS +1 - it has one. period
Misc - transmission (automatic) - YARIS +1 - 1st and 2nd gears available as separate settings
Fiesta - 6.5
Yaris - 4.5
Driving - acceleration in Yaris is smooth and it's easy to hit 70 MPH. But it feels "heavy" compared to the Fiesta. Yaris is almost as quiet as Fiesta when all windows are up ... almost.
One thing I did leave off is radio antenna placement. It's vertically in the center of the rear window. While this takes the antenna and housing off the outside of the car and makes for somewhat smoother lines, it also puts a heavy vertical line in your inside rearview because of its placement.
More to come as I drive this thing some more miles. This is based on a 15 mile run through city and country roads to get to work.
Steering wheel/column:
Wheel is not as grippy-soft as the Fiesta and has no 10 and 2 bumps to guide hand placement. Tilt but no telescope function.
Seating:
Seats are not too bad but don't have solid side bolster support that Fiesta does. Drivers seat has the 6-way adjustment ... BUT all the way down feels like 2 notches short of all up in Fiesta.
The seat vertical alignment of all down and the full up tilt have my knees nearly touching the bottom of the steering wheel when seat is adjusted to proper pedal reach.
Dash controls:
Headlight controls are all imbedded on the turn signal stalk. Heat/fan/temp controls are within easy reach and set in a triangular pattern for easy usage. They are all the same size and with center push buttons for rear defrost and A/C.
Radio controls are not as easily accessible as on Fiesta and you really need to look as you scan for stations, etc.
Gauges, warning lights:
This one is a mite disconcerting. Imagine the center Fiesta message display stretched horizontally to about 3 times its width. In this area are the following:
Analog tach
Analog speedo
Temperature gauge
Warning lights
1x2 LCD display for fuel, odometer, tripmeter, clock.
Tranny gear position (P, R, N, D/3, 2, 1)
Yeah - all the stuff is packed into the center of the dash! Takes some getting used to. Tripmeter reset is a 1/2" tab-like button below the cluster - press & hold type. FYI: This is for ease of parts placement for either left or right-hand steering. Good idea, engineering-wise and a coworker tells me Saturn Ion (at least) was like this.Analog speedo
Temperature gauge
Warning lights
1x2 LCD display for fuel, odometer, tripmeter, clock.
Tranny gear position (P, R, N, D/3, 2, 1)
Wipers:
This is really strange. Pull the stalk for wash and the wipers operate like Fiesta - 3 full swipes, a pause and a last swipe. BUT ... for delay or low/high speed of the wipers, push the stalk down. Yeah, down. <shakes head>
Miscellaneous:
Drink holders are in the doors, as well as push to unlatch/latch holders for both driver and front passenger at the outside ends of the dash. Not a bad idea as the trapdoor for these is high enough to keep a small-to-medium cup from flipping into your lap under moderate acceleration.
Center console/armrest exists, however it is somewhat short and does not support even half of the forearm. There is a console under the lid, quite deep but positioning makes it somewhat difficult to reach if you are in the seat and buckled in.
Transmission - automatic - is the gated automatic with the trick slot for the shift. Using gears 1, 2 and 3 as a stick is pretty smooth operation and setting to D position only take a slight tap to the right when in 3rd gear position.
Comparing these with Fiesta:
Steering wheel - FIESTA +1 (telescoping)
Seating - Fiesta wins as Yaris cannot go lower to prevent a long-legged person from clipping the steering wheel. FIESTA +1
Dash controls - YARIS +1 (heat/fan/temp controls and placement)
Radio controls - FIESTA +1
Gauges/lights - FIESTA +1.5; YARIS +.5 (temp gauge)
Wipers - anything but Yaris = +1
Misc - drink holders - FIESTA +1 for quantity; YARIS +1 for the dash-mounted
Misc - console - YARIS +1 - it has one. period
Misc - transmission (automatic) - YARIS +1 - 1st and 2nd gears available as separate settings
Fiesta - 6.5
Yaris - 4.5
Driving - acceleration in Yaris is smooth and it's easy to hit 70 MPH. But it feels "heavy" compared to the Fiesta. Yaris is almost as quiet as Fiesta when all windows are up ... almost.
One thing I did leave off is radio antenna placement. It's vertically in the center of the rear window. While this takes the antenna and housing off the outside of the car and makes for somewhat smoother lines, it also puts a heavy vertical line in your inside rearview because of its placement.
More to come as I drive this thing some more miles. This is based on a 15 mile run through city and country roads to get to work.