Toyota Yaris sedan review: cheap, honest, and worth upgrading past the base trim
3.4/5motorssouq Editorial Team
Buy the Yaris if the purchase price is the deciding factor and you want a Toyota badge over a Nissan Sunny or Hyundai Accent at a similar price — but skip the base grade. The mid-range trim adds a rear camera, alloy wheels and central locking for a modest premium that is worth every fils. As a second or commuter car for short, flat Bahrain journeys, its running costs are close to unbeatable.
Pros
- Among the lowest purchase price, insurance and fuel bills of any new sedan in Bahrain
- Simple mechanicals age well and are cheap for independent workshops to service
- Compact size makes it easy to park in Manama's older commercial districts
- Mid-range G trim adds meaningful equipment for a modest premium
Cons
- Base trim is genuinely stripped out — manual windows, no rear camera
- Older platform means noticeable body lean in faster corners and roundabouts
- Rear-seat space and highway refinement trail the Corolla
- Only two airbags on lower grades, well behind segment norms elsewhere
What Toyota calls the Yaris in the Gulf is not the hatchback European buyers know — it is a sedan built on the same underpinnings as the previous-generation Vios, kept in production specifically because it is cheap to build and cheaper to buy. That lineage shows the moment you get in: this is an honest, unpretentious small car, not a technological showcase.
The base trim is not the bargain it looks like
Toyota Bahrain's entry Yaris still ships with manual windows, manual air conditioning and steel wheels with hubcaps, and it skips the rear-view camera entirely. On paper it is the cheapest new sedan in the market; in practice, the mid-range G trim adds power windows, a touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, alloy wheels and a reversing camera for a price gap that is easy to justify once you have driven both back to back.
On the road
The 1.5-litre four and CVT combination is unremarkable and that is fine — this is not a car anyone buys to enjoy the drive. It is light, easy to park in Manama's tight commercial-district spaces, and returns genuinely low fuel bills in city use. The ride on the smaller wheels of lower grades is soft over bumps but the car leans noticeably in faster roundabouts, a reminder of the compromises in an older platform kept alive for its low cost.
Running costs and reliability
This is where the Yaris earns its keep: insurance premiums are among the lowest for any new car sold in Bahrain, servicing at Toyota's own schedule is inexpensive, and the mechanical simplicity — no turbo, no complex electronics — means independent workshops handle it without difficulty once the warranty period ends.
Who it suits
Buy it as a first car, a company pool car, or a dedicated commuter for someone who values low running costs over everything else. Anyone cross-shopping for rear-seat space or highway comfort should look at a Corolla instead — the price gap between a well-specified Yaris and an entry Corolla is often smaller than it first appears.