• Passenger space is good, if not great
• Bootspace disappointing
• Generally well put together

How much space is there?

Slide yourself into the driver’s seat and you’ll see that most people will have plenty of room, both in terms of height and width.

The door bins up front are tiny, allowing you to fit little more than a bottle in them, while a smaller cubby situated higher up right by the door pull will fit a phone. There are also two storage trays stretching across the dash. The depth of these trays are about the width of a large smartphone, but the shallowness means some phones will slide out in corners.

The glovebox isn’t the deepest, but it’s certainly wider than a Peugeot 208 or Vauxhall Corsa. Under the armrest, you’ll find two cupholders, but once you fold the armrest down, it’ll probably hit the tops of any bottles you place in here.

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In the back, legroom is good for a car of this size. The Yaris will house four six-footers at a push or five if you’re really good friends. A Skoda Fabia absolutely destroys the Yaris for rear space, though.

The rear windows, although awkward to look at from the outside, are at least tall, letting lots of light into the rear of the car. This is good for creating the illusion of more space, and allowing kids to look at the world around them.

Boot space and storage

There’s 286 litres worth of bootspace, which is pretty disappointing. It’s pretty low down in the supermini space race as it’s a touch smaller than the Ford Fiesta’s boot (311 litres) and considerably tinchier than the Renault Clio’s 391-litre boot.

Those in the back gain phone storage pockets on the front seatbacks and there are a raft of other comfort options including the sleep package (two larger headrests and a blanket), retractable sun blinds and child safety locks that can be operated electrically from the driver’s seat.

The boot has a false floor like before but the electric tailgate gains a Tip-To-Close function, meaning a gentle pull will make it close, rather than having to push a button.

Is it easy to park?

It is easy to park. It’s a supermini, so perfectly sized for car parks in the UK and the A Pillars aren’t too thick, so front visibility is good. But rear visibility isn’t great because of the small rear windscreen.

All models come with front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.

Safety

• Toyota claims it’s one of the safest superminis
• LED lights optional
• Plenty of driver assistance software

There are airbags aplenty, with the standard-fit system incorporating an inflatable curtain bag between the front occupants, preventing them from colliding with each other during an impact. They certainly help the Yaris obtain a five star Euro NCAP safety rating, although a Volkswagen Polo is even safer.

LED headlamps and tail lights are available, as is lane-keeping technology, blindspot monitoring, autonomous emergency braking and a head-up display system. There are two Isofix points located on the outer rear seats.

The combined use of a camera and laser scanner on the front windscreen, along with a radar sensor below the front badge (above) all form part of Toyota’s Safety Sense package fitted as standard on all models. The autonomous emergency braking system can detect pedestrians within the speeds of 6-50mph, while cyclists can be detected during daylight only.

Adaptive cruise control is also available with traffic-sign recognition and works from zero up to 112mph, and is able to follow the car in front in standing traffic.

Watch: Toyota Yaris Euro NCAP crash test