Baby got buck
The inescapable question remains: is anyone really ready for the $35,000 Japanese light car?
ON THE FACE of it, it seemed Gen Y had ample ‘issues’ to keep them busy sooking and moaning. There’s the financially impenetrable housing market; the rising cost of smashed avo on toast; the discomfort of skinny jeans. But now Toyota has just added another nasty thorn to that list of woes: the bold introduction of the not-so-affordable small car.
Cars from this B-segment – like the Mazda 2, Suzuki Swift or previous-generation Yaris – have been go-to choices for 20-something drivers for years; a chance to get that new-car smell without the lingering stench of endless high monthly repayments. With their sub-$20,000 driveway price, a typical light car from a Japanese or Korean brand was pretty much all these buyers really needed, and included at least most of what they wanted.
But in case you’ve missed it, the debut of the all-new fourth-generation Yaris brings pioneering powertrain tech and safety to the segment, but also saddles Toyota’s baby with the biggest percentage price hike in any automotive segment that anyone around here can ever recall. So while every new Yaris now includes centre airbags between the front seats (a class first), active cruise, AEB,
