Forget SUVs, my tiny Toyota Yaris does it all

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At the age of 17, I bought my first car – a brand-new, fire-engine red, three-door Toyota Yaris for under $20,000. I never looked back.
Owner: Isobel

In the last month, I’ve had two unsolicited offers to buy my car. One from someone in the Bunnings car park who was taking pictures of the roof racks, and my local mechanic (which is a pretty good endorsement for a car I think). But alas, I will not sell.

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At 17 I bought my first car, a fire-engine red, 2009 three-door Toyota Yaris Edge, brand new with the extra safety package, for under $20K. Fifteen years and 176,000km on it is still going strong. The only change I’ve made was adding roof racks with bike racks, which has turned a little city runabout car into a car that has done everything I have ever needed it to do (except overtake while going uphill).

I grew up in Nutfield, Victoria, so my first few 100km were on country roads. Then I moved to Brunswick and realised how handy it was to have a tiny car with a brilliantly tight turning circle that could park almost anywhere. With impressive fuel economy, it’s a great city car, but most recently I’ve been living and working across Melbourne and Mallacoota. Being able to drive the 530km from Melbourne to Mallacoota on a single tank of petrol is deeply satisfying – for me and my wallet.

I’ve driven it to Mount Kosciuszko through the snow with chains on. I’ve driven it on dirt tracks all over the state, from Mallacoota to Casterton. Some of these are likely 4WD only but lack the signage saying so. And because of the aforementioned turning circle, I just whip around and turn back if it gets too hairy, or squeeze around the pothole that takes up two-thirds of the road.

I am truly impressed by the versatility of this little car. It has also allowed me to car camp, sleeping in the back alongside my old dog Anna, a rather large greyhound, and now it’s the car that takes my current kelpie-cross Rosie wherever we wish to go.

Recently, I asked my mechanic if I needed to begin thinking about getting a new car, and if it would get more expensive to repair than it was worth. He shook his head in disbelief and assured me that Toyotas like mine have plenty of life, suggesting another 75,000km wouldn’t be difficult for my car! He then made me promise my next car would be a Toyota if ever I decide to upgrade, and that if I sell he’d like the first phone call, so he could buy it from me.

My other great love for this car comes from the sheer amount of stuff you can fit in it. With three storage compartments I’m never short on space, and I’ve used this car to move house more than eight times (including that move to Mallacoota). I’ve had double bed frames in the back, outdoor chairs and a dog kennel on the roof racks, plus more boxes and suitcases than should reasonably fit. Unpacking it is like the hatchback version of Mary Poppins’s bottomless bag.

I recommend this car to anyone who’ll listen, and I’ll hang onto this little wonder for as long as I can.

Owner: Isobel