Forgive me for getting a little conceptual here, but I drove a Mini One recently and despite its boggo-basic spec, the chic European attitude got me thinking about ‘euro-centric’ and ‘eastern-centric’ cars and whether cultural traits are prevalent, or divisive, in them. Here it goes, cars from the East versus West versus one from the rest of the world.
The overwhelming automotive trend these days is towards downsizing. Downsized engine capacity, downsized consumption and downsized cost, but with an added a caveat. A few more millimetres of legroom here, more luggage space there, because heck, more is just better now isn’t it? This trend has been set into motion by the emerging markets of the quickly mobilising Far East: small, cheap, economical, but big on the inside. It’s a solid premise on which to build a car, but I don’t need to tell you what reducing power output and increasing weight is going to do to the performance of a car, even if it’s a little B-segment hatchback.
Take the Suzuki Swift for instance, one of the most dominant cars on sale in India. The first generation Swift was small, agile and when it came to South Africa it was so popular that a Swift car club popped up. Now the much bigger, second generation Swift performs about as sportily as your uncle with his pants button undone after Sunday lunch. The Kia Rio, despite the styling, suffers from a similar lack of urgency.
It therefore stands to reason there are two ways of making a B-segment hatchback: the pervading, glutinous, eastern, more-of-everything way; and the old school, western, small-makes-them-better way. This is where the new, R183 000, Toyota Yaris 1.3Xs 5dr will meet the R197 999, Mini One. We’ll also throw in the brand new R178 730, Chevrolet Sonic 1.3D LS as well. A car General Motors says will sell in 54 countries, making it an east meets west ‘world car.’
The boring stuff:
It stands to reason that high efficiency and low CO2 tax contributions are some of the pleasant benefactors of small car motoring. The 73 kW and 125 Nm, 1.3-litre engine in the Yaris consumes 5.6 l/100 km and emits 131 g/km CO2. The 1.3-litre turbo-diesel in the Sonic makes 70 kW and 210 Nm, consuming just 4.6 l/100 km and emitting 119 g/km CO2. The Mini One, with its 1.6-litre power plant produces 72 kW and 153 Nm at the expense of 5.4 L/100 km and 127 g/km CO2. That puts the Chevrolet Sonic into the lead with the Toyota Yaris left lagging behind, if you like comparing cars on paper.
The toys:
An area where small cars have made leaps and bounds in recent times is specification and the Mini One is decidedly off the pace here, true to its old school moniker: no trip computer, no USB, no alloy wheels as standard. Mini obviously decided they didn’t want too much helpful technology creeping beneath the Mini Cooper’s R200 000-plus price point, so it’s utterly baron in the One, except for electric windows, air conditioning and an MP3/CD-player. By contrast, the Toyota Yaris in Xs spec gets a welcome dose of kit with a USB, trip computer and steering wheel audio controls. Only to be trumped by the Chevrolet Sonic that gets all that the Yaris has to offer and adds cruise control and Bluetooth connectivity into the mix. The specification level is bordering on the absurd for what is the cheapest car in this shoot out. Round two to the Sonic as well.
The drive:
Modestly powered small cars don’t have to be boring to drive just because of a lack of bite under the bonnet. Quite the contrary in fact, one of my favourite motoring journalists has said, “I like driving fast cars, but I like driving slow cars fast even more.” He is spot on because smaller cars generally have less driver aids, less interference and more driver involvement. All three cars get to 100 km/h between 10 and 11 seconds, so they aren’t what you’d classify as fast, but that just means they must deliver honed handling and feelsome responses.
In this respect the Mini One is in a league of its own. The steering in the One is inch perfect. Not even the lack of alloy wheels makes a difference to the grip levels. The One is very light, has independent rear suspension, all its rubber at the four furthest points of the car and the handling is superb. Sure the power and torque, especially, is lacking, but that just encourages you to carry more corner speed, which the One does unwittingly. The gearbox, clutch pedal and brakes also love a workout. I can’t believe competitors don’t take Frank Stephenson’s Mini designs apart and build carbon copies.
The best part of the driving experience in the diesel Sonic is the new engine. The two petrol derivatives have more flat spots than the Dead Sea, but with extra torque the diesel Sonic is much improved. Even if it does feel a bit flat under 1 000 r/min and runs a bit dry over 4 000 r/min. The Sonic is less responsive in the steering department and less feelsome through the brakes and gearbox interface, but it’s not bad. However, where it does surprise is ride quality and quietness. You get the sense that the ‘world car’ was built pretty tough as it soaks up any kind of road surface you throw at it and hides its diesel judder competently.
The Toyota Yaris is responsive, but the underpowered engine is the main contributor to a lack of driving enjoyment. The steering has a habit of going glassy in your hands and feeling too eager to self-centre at low speeds. Along the same roads, the Yaris felt less connected to the road surface and more willing to transmit bumps into the cabin and back to the driver. That and the lack of power, makes for the most joyless of drives in the Yaris.
The verdict:
The new Toyota Yaris must take the wooden spoon I’m afraid, it’s not a bad car, but against focused opposition it’s too expensive and too big to be powered by such a modest engine. It’s far less quantifiable because one can’t assign a figure to how well a car ‘drives’, but my favourite car out of the three is the Mini One. Is it the best overall though? Probably not, I’ll admit. Mini has insisted on keeping it expensive, poorly specified and almost elitist, which is annoying when you see how much value for money something like the Chevrolet Sonic offers. With its new diesel engine offering it even more USP’s on the economy front, it seems GM’s diesel ‘world car’ has done enough to capture the fun of a western hatchback and the practicality of an eastern one.
