The car made for young drivers?

Toyota claims that they have made the perfect car for young drivers. The reason young drivers struggle with affording to keep a car on the road isn’t so much the price of the car the bulk of the money comes from the insurance. Insurance is kept down for young drivers by a variety of things such as the cars safety features or its engine size. The more safety features such as thatch alarms or immobilizers decrease the costs and the lower the engine size also decreases the cost, as a young driver if you tend to go for a car that is above 1.4L its often impossible to get insured on it or the price is extortionate.

The car company Toyota have a few small cars including the Yaris. The Yaris is a 1.3L car with a variety of safety features also appealing to young drivers with its stylish new interior. They claim the 1.3L engine shouldn’t deter young drivers as it’s a “smooth and extremely quiet ride as well as being notably fuel efficient”. The question arises what’s the difference from all the other small cars already on the road? They say it’s made to save money making youths be able to afford it, however despite its fuel efficiency it is still priced with a £14,570 price tag, which get this is the basic model! The automatic version costs a handsome £1,000 more.

Statistics don’t lie and in the UK it’s stated that the average age of a person that purchases a Yaris is 60, This is far from the age that Toyota were said to be aiming for. Despite this maybe it can be overlooked due to its small engine and “slick interior”, but in my opinion the Yaris has barely changed since its release in 1999 in both looks and interior it is almost identical with every single model. Toyota, is this really the car made for young drivers? Seems like there a good 40+ years off the mark.