Thread: Buying a new car - Yaris

My advice is to not buy one.

You will be dead if you hit a medium sized dog in a Yaris.

If you think you will save a fortune on fuel costs you are wrong....the physio costs to straighten out your skeleton will be far more than the fuel savings.

Far better idea would be to go to Fowles auctions and pickup a V6 such as a 380 or Ford/commodore, convert it to vapour injection LPG, get the LPG rebate from the government and pay only $24 for a tank that gets you 550 kilometres in comfort and safer than a buzz box.

The Yaris would be my choice if I was looking to buy in that car size bracket. Toyota generally have better build quality , reliablity and better resale value.
Does your price include dealer delivery etc , all on road costs etc ?

Originally Posted by Final Attack

Q: She has the cash to buy up front, however her work also has said that she can salary package the car. How much cheaper would a fleet price be?

A salary package is much more than just buying at fleet prices, basically the cost of the car comes off her pre-tax salary, therefore the tax she will pay for the year is less. It would be best to find out what her employer is offering, as salary packaging often involves leasing of the vehicle.

Id have to totally agree with all advice given.

Toyota would be my brand of choice, however a Yaris or any other such small car is a coffin on wheels.

A low mileage larger car with good crash ratings from the auctions would be my first choice, combined with a after market LPG conversion.

A 1.3 liter is a 1300cc engine, a 1.5 liter engine is a 1500cc engine, the larger the capacity the more horse power and torque delivered to the wheels.

The larger engine may drink a tiny little more fuel but the extra long life due to lower engine revs and less thrashing to get the car to move far outweights the saving in fuel.

Hmmm i think the new Lancer is around 21K on road and a larger car too.

Salary packaging can vary greatly and it may not be such a good deal going that way as it may seem, so my advice would be for her to get all the information about it from her company and discuss the options with her accountant.

As for the car itself, it's one of the best small cars on the market.

What's the difference between 1.3 and 1.5 litre? errr .2l? .... seriously, the 1.5l is simply a bit more powerful, which is what I would be looking for if it was me. The diff of fuel consumption between the two wouldn't be much at all, but the power increase would be noticeable.

Test drive both and compare.

A modern large sedan with a good safety rating is much safe than a small one.
We are not talking large seperate chassis 4WD's which have zero crumple zones.



Some great posts in there about the matter.

Post 28 by Zed is outstanding and spot on.

Originally Posted by nomeat

Your GF should be fine with a Yaris and I would also recommend my daughter one.
Toyotas are well engineered, and mostly reliable cars.
The latest Yaris has 9 airbags and a 5 star safety rating in crash tests!

I am sure I would have a better chance coming out uninjured from a Yaris hitting a concrete wall @50km/h than from my old Pajero. The old bugger is so solid, all the impulse energy would be converted to deform me and not the car.
Pajero and Yaris head-on might be a different story, but GENERALLY it is a myth to claim that modern small cars are more dangerous than big cars.

The 1.5l has 106hp which is certainly more than enough for such a little car on Australian roads.

Oh nomeat....not again....that is awful advice.

have a play with this basic year 11 physics formula.....

F=MA

where Force=mass x acceleration.

acceleration and decelleration the same magnitude, just direction is opposed.


Then tell me the difference in forces on a body with a two metre bonnet length versus a 0.5 metre bonnet length.

60km/h=16.67 metres per second.

To stop from 16.67 to zero in 30 milliseconds...is a huge force....more than escape velocity from the planet earth...

You are in a wheelchair with the slightest prang in a Yaris.



Oh well...as posted in other threads...another "hot swap organ donor"

A Friend of mine bought a ex govt BF Ford at Fowels auctions with abs, airbags and only 48,000 Km on the clock for $7500.

Road worthy needed 2 tyres and the LPG conversion he has booked in will leave him $100 to $200 out of pocket after the govt subsidy.

It is possible to find a cheap and safe car, you just need to know where to look.

Fowles is a great place however i dont like ex-goverment or company cars because i know for a fact when its not yours and its the companies or goveremnts you tend to thrash the hell out of it. Otherwise sure why not.

F=MA in general this applies however with some of the merc's and beemas on the market when there is a front on collision from memory one or two things drop and then engine (correct me if im wrong) drops and there is more of a crumple effect.

At the end of the day, without goign in to physics etc a 4wd hits a yarris front on yarris driver is dead.4wd driver expereinces bad wiplash and probably broken/bruised ribs.

yaris colliding in to the side of a 4wd yarris written off driver probably serverly injured.

4wd colliding in to the side of a yarris, the yarris probably flipping a million times your more than likly dead.

you get the picture, a 4wd with some airbags and abs or a large ford or holden is really the only way to go...

Or if you have the money a small merc or a beema that has those advanced safety options.

Originally Posted by FTO King

Fowles is a great place however i dont like ex-goverment or company cars because i know for a fact when its not yours and its the companies or goveremnts you tend to thrash the hell out of it. .

yep...I thrash all my company cars.

and I own the company...LOL

Originally Posted by FTO King

F=MA in general this applies however with some of the merc's and beemas on the market when there is a front on collision from memory one or two things drop and then engine (correct me if im wrong) drops and there is more of a crumple effect.



Or if you have the money a small merc or a beema that has those advanced safety options.

Correct with the merc's and beemas's with a head on collision the motor automatically drops allowing a crumple effect which helps dissipate the force of the impact in doing so.

But there is also a huge difference in price between one of those and a yarris

The advantage of salary sacrifice from memory is also dependant upon the km travelled and the tax bracket that your GF is in. The following is how it used to work a few years ago. With Novation Leasing The leasing costs of the car come out of your pay pre tax but a fringe benefits tax (FBT) is charged in lieu. Leasing costs include Finance payments, Insurance, fleet management costs, Fuel, maintenance costs, RACV etc. I believe certain commercial vehicles are taxed at one rate irrespective of the km travelled.
The Fleet discount varies depending on which car and brand that is selected, however some manufacturers give similar discounts if you are a member of an affiliated organisation ie Mitsubishi and Victorian Farmers Federation.
The FBT is dependant upon the km travelled and is based upon the purchase price of the vehicle. So if your GF is in a low top tax bracket and she doesn't do many km then it could cost more for ongoing costs. I think 21% is the FBT payable if you are doing less than 25,000km per annum. If you are doing over 40000km a year then the FBT drops to around 7%. FBT year is calculated from the end of March or May and you must do a prorata number of km depenant upon when you start a lease.
The lease can usually be set anywhere from 1 to 4 years with a residual being required to pay out the vehicle at the end. Many people elect to update at the end of the lease. If the trade in price is less than the residual at the end of the lease then your GF will need to make up the difference. If it is more she may get to pocket the difference.
The option to purchase or take full ownership of the vehicle depends on the fleet company employed to operate the lease. Most will allow you to pay the residual and take ownership as they are in the business of leasing cars not owning them - but there is usually a contract signed stipulating that they do not have an obligation to onsell the car to you at the end of the lease.

Please check the currency and accuracy of this.