Toyota releases upgraded Yaris

Toyota's facelifted Yaris is now available in Australia, bringing fresh exterior and interior styling, new safety technologies and no price changes at base level.

That means pricing continues to start at $15,290 plus on-road costs for the entry-level Ascent and rises to an unchanged $17,330 plus ORCs for the mid-range SX (plus $1530 in automatic form), while the auto-only ZR flagship now costs $22,470 plus ORCs.

The latter is $650 more than before to account for a range of new safety features including autonomous emergency braking, lane departure alert and automatic high-beam.

The same safety features are also available – for $650 extra – for the base Ascent and mid-range SX.

The changes only apply to the five-door hatchback, following the discontinuation of the Yaris sedan last year and the Yaris three-door in 2014.

There are no mechanical changes, meaning Europe's more efficient new 82kW/136Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine won't be available here.

Instead, Australia's Yaris will remain powered by carryover 63kW/121Nm 1.3-litre (Ascent) and 80kW/141Nm 1.5-litre engines (SX and ZR), matched to five-speed manual and four-speed automatic transmissions.

Toyota's new 1.5-litre four is also expected to power a new 155kW-plus Yaris hot hatch, which has also been ruled out for Australia.

Upgrades for our 2017 Yaris revolve mainly around new cosmetics designed at Toyota's new ED2 design studio in the south of France.

These include a new "three-dimensional" and "catamaran" shaped front bumper flanking a wider trapezoidal grille, plus new headlights and redesigned fog lights for the SX and ZR (the latter scoring bi-LED headlights).

At the rear, there's a new tailgate with redesigned light clusters that extend from the wings onto the tailgate, with the ZR gaining LED stop and tail lights.

Rounding out the exterior updates are new lower door mouldings and fresh wheel designs -- 15-inch steel with silver covers for the Ascent and SX, and 16-inch silver-metallic alloys for the ZR.

Azure Blue replaces the lighter Aura blue exterior paint colour within a palette of 10 hues.

Inside, Toyota aimed to deliver a fresh ambience by replacing silver finishes with gloss black inserts on the steering wheel and audio unit and gearshift surround.

Range-wide standard equipment continues to include cruise control, display audio with steering wheel controls, multi-information display, air-conditioning, electric power steering, power windows/mirrors and a 12-volt accessory socket.

In addition to the bigger engine, SX models add front fog lights, rear/side privacy glass and a premium steering wheel and gear-shifter.

ZR models move further upstream with automatic climate-control, satellite-navigation, Toyota Link connectivity, rear spoiler, auto-levelling headlights, and the new safety features.

All Yaris variants offer seven airbags, stability and traction control, anti-skid brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist, and emergency brake signal.

The Yaris is covered by Toyota Service Advantage capped-price servicing at a maximum of $140 per service.

Toyota has sold almost 220,000 Yaris vehicles in Australia since the nameplate replaced the Echo here in October 2005.

The Yaris was Australia's top-selling light-car but was outsold by Hyundai's Accent and the Mazda2 last year and so far this year.

The 2017 model will face competition from a facelifted Mazda2 coming next month, plus a new Suzuki Swift in August and a new Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo by 2018.

2017 Toyota Yaris pricing (plus ORCs):
Ascent - $15,290
SX -- $17,330
ZR – $22,470

Options:
Premium paint -- $450
Automatic transmission -- $1530
New safety features (Ascent, SX) -- $650