Yaris vs Corolla XLi

People living in the west try to buy cars that would make them individual on the road where as down here they just buy the one every one is buying. You may assume Bangladeshi people do not thinking much before they buy a car, they just follow the crowd.

Well, Navana ltd has done something that would probably put this theory to test. They have introduced Toyota Yaris in Bangladesh. With the flashy new look Yaris appears much smaller than the Corolla but the people at Navana claim it to be more spacious inside than the Corolla. So it would probably be easier to visit the relative you have living in the Goran or Old Dhaka area. And while you are driving there, there is a good chance you would not see another Yaris anywhere on the road.

So what actually do you get when buy this Tk17,50,000 car off the shelf. You get power steering, wireless door lock, child safety lock, automatic gearbox, ABS, dual airbags, catalytic converter, and a three-year warranty.

The surprising thing is Toyota already has a Corolla very similar to these specifications. The Corolla XLi. This car has a similar engine and there is hardly anything in it in terms of performance. The Yaris is a touch low in ground clearance while the Corolla seems to be bit larger in appearance. The 1.3 litre engines the cars have extract roughly the same amount of BHP's too. But the Corolla comes with a five-speed manual gearbox which could be a headache if you are not used to driving on Dhaka streets with a manual gearbox. Then again why would you spend extra money for an automatic when your driver is the only one driving it. Some motorist think the automatic kills the driving pleasure but lets just say that is there personal opinion.

Costing Tk 50,000 less than Yaris it can be said the Corolla XLi would probably give the Yaris a run for the money. Hamidur Rahman, Navana's manager of sales and marketing, said the Yaris comes with technologies that are very current while the Corolla will have a new model soon.

So what would you do? Buy the touch expensive Yaris and be different at the red lights? Buy the Corolla and be not so different at the red lights, yet get a bigger car. Or wait for the new Corolla to arrive. Your choice.