Toyota Yaris Cross (2020-2026)

A 40k car that won't start and a Master class in deflection. (Please watch the video) I purchased a 2024 Toyota Yaris Cross in March 2025 for approximately $40,000. During my ownership I experienced recurring dead battery/no-start problems. The vehicle could become unable to start, even the doors won't open. The first time around I took it to… Read more

Nowra Toyota for diagnosis, I was charged for diagnostic testing. I was subsequently told that the Toyota dashcam, which had been installed by the dealership, was causing the problem. At the time, I wasn't convinced that this was the actual cause, so I tried to speak to someone who could answer a few technical questions. I was welcome to wait. So I waited. Naturally, nobody came to speak to me. No apology. No meaningful discussion. Just: here's the explanation, thanks for the money.

A few months later, it happened again. Once again they want $160 for diagnostic. This time, I was given an Toyota Service Bulletin I have never seen before. There is a new explanation, essentially the bulletin says that I do not drive the car enough. The argument was that the vehicle's 12V battery needs regular driving to remain charged, that my driving habits were responsible for the problem. Following that logic, Toyota is blameless.

Let's make sure everyone understands this correctly: A $40000, brand new, hybrid vehicle that repeatedly do not start, is because the customer do not drive it enough. And that is Common Sense.

What in the actual ****? Who, on God's green Earth, can someone string those words into one sentence? Toyota Headquarters sent me a case manager, whose entire job is to take your words apart, and she told me that.

Third time it broke down, it won't start even with a battery pack. I have attached the "Christmas Tree" video below. That was my car's dashboard lighting up and turning itself off.

This is not an isolated case. Which?, an independent UK consumer organisation, reported in August 2026 that its survey found a 19.1% 12V battery fault rate among Toyota Yaris Cross owners aged 0–4 years, compared with 5.6% for full-hybrid vehicles overall. Which? also reported multiple Toyota and Lexus owners being told that their driving habits were responsible for their battery failures.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/toyota-lexus-12v-battery-failures-arkOC4N9honL

After owning the vehicle for about a year, I sold it at a loss for approximately $30,000. Other than the loss of $10000, my roadside assistance, my insurance, and other costs associated with owning the vehicle.

Financial loss is not the only loss. Imagine you had evening plans, or you need to go to work. Imagine you left something in the trunk. That thing is locked without electricity. I don't have a kid, but what if a kid is in the car? Imagine driving a car that can break down and leave you stranded in the wilderness or a bad neighborhood. It happens, once, twice, and three times over. How many times can you apologize before your career suffers? How much patience can your loved ones spare? I had to drag grocery with a trolly back home, 40 minutes walk. I had to arrange tow trucks to bring it to the dealership to sell the thing. The area didn't have an Uber, that's why I got a car. Take it from me, buying a $40000 brick is a miserable experience.

You follow the procedures to the letter: Toyota dealership, Toyota Insurance. Warranties and accessories. Everything has as Toyota logo on it. Logically, if something breaks down, you should have some level of guarantees, right?

Oh, of course you do. 5-star treatment, Toyota style. You get a case manager who tells you that everything is your fault. They have all the diagnostic data, and all the authority to make their claims. "What do you know" they ask, "You are not a Toyota certified mechanic." Take them to court and they'll send a lawyer. They have all the money, time and people because that's where your money went. That's a fight you will never win.

Buying a Toyota is one of the worst decisions you can ever make. Zero Accountability. That's Toyota for you.

Economy is fantastic, build and delivery quality isn't so good and unfortunately has a very long delivery time. My one year old Yaris Cross had to… Read more

be towed to the dealer due to failed brakes as the pedal went completely to the floor.

The car soon after delivery and after letting it settle in I had my mechanic have a good look over the car. I've known the fella since he was an apprentice so I do trust him. He noticed every single clip and mount for every single underbody tray from the firewall back, and there are quite a few, were loose with some over half way out.

What's good, economy. The noisy 3 cylinder engine makes it's presence known but does the job. EV mode is serenely silent with the contrast very noticeable so encourages economy driving. Economy can go as low as 3.2 l / 100 km in normal stop / start city traffic however out on the open road at 110 kph it will use 6 l / 100 km with low to mid 5's if drop back to 100. The small 36 litre tank means country driving range is limited so country Yaris Cross owners can expect to own a Jerry Can.

The lack of supplying a spare tyre should be outlawed. Driving in Oz outside of cities without a spare tyre and only an inflation kit is a recipe for stranded motorists. I've hit the wreckers & bought a spare tyre which takes up a considerable amount of hatch space when needed to be carried.

Body build quality is variable. The fit and finish of the steel work is good although there was wind flutter and seal squeak from the top of the rear doors which the dealer rectified. The mechanic told me it "takes strength" to fix the issue. I presume he meant he's bent the top of the doors in a bit which also stopped the rubbing noise from the door seals. Be better if it was made correctly in the first place and I do wonder what effect it's had on the paint. External plastic fitment is poor with especially large gaps around the rear tail lights. While hidden under the convenient electrically lifted back hatch the plastic surrounds of the rear lights has large gaps which collect any leaves that make it through the panel gap between the hatch and the body. The windscreen wiper pivot points are similar at attracting and holding leaves. Moral: try not to park under gum trees etc. Other external plastic parts creak & move to the lightest touch but aren't heard inside the car.

Driving is pleasant and easy with the Hybrid system doing it's thing very well. Steering effort is light and, for me, well weighted. The brakes aren't in tune with the rest of the car and don't inspire confidence as they don't haul the car to a stop when needed. Like a previous car I had there's a pause before the brakes engage but with this car it doesn't feel like the car is doing maximum braking almost like it's tip toeing but not ever getting there. There's also the bad final change over from regeneration braking to hydraulic braking. When light braking to roll up to, say, red traffic lights I presume it's only using battery regeneration braking. At somewhere around 10 to 15 kph it automatically swaps to hydraulic braking, there can be a loud clunk sound and the brakes engage way too much. Not good for any traffic behind my car.

Interior wise it's fab if there's only two people. The front is roomy for a small S.U.V. and quite pleasant. The back isn't roomy as expected but the rear doors don't open wide enough which adds to the cramped feeling in the back. Headroom in the back is good for a small vehicle. The hatch opens wide and electric operation makes using it a doddle while the hatch area is good for a small vehicle. At the bottom of the hatch a cover sits over foam that holds the tyre repair kit with what looks like a computer module sitting smack bang in the middle of the area. Don't even think about putting any kind of space saver spare in there as that module blocks using the space for much of anything.

Oddly the car only comes with an electrically adjustable seat for the driver, the passenger misses out. Both seats have heating function which my partner she says should be standard fitment on all cars. There's no split zone venting, only single zone which is odd missing from a top of the range model. The A/c itself is strong and cools quite well but rear seat passengers have no direct vents so I can't comment on whether it's good or bad back there.

Also odd is there's no variable intermittent wiper function. There's single speed intermittent wiper function but not variable. Again in a top of the range car it's a glaring omission that's noticeably missing with the misting drizzle that generally happens where I live.

I've also had the 12 V battery go flat after being away for 3.5 weeks. Not just couldn't start flat but zero volt on a Voltmeter completely dead flat. A brand new super smart battery charger refused to charge the battery so I had to dig out a 20+ year old charger that I had to initially charge the 12 V battery. I've since bought a dash mountable solar panel that plugs into the OBD2 port to keep the 12 V battery charged if I go away again for more than a couple of weeks.

The auto headlight function is nice and convenient to have that can't be turned off but it's also quite d#mb. I've tried adjusting the sensitivity but even on the least sensitive setting it's still too sensitive. Pass through an under pass that's even mildly more than a single lane road in width and on come the lights even on a bright sunny day. Following traffic behind get a rude awakening from the apparent braking with brake lights turning on. The L plater that was behind me one day hit the brakes which must've been close for a nose-tail collision with all the cars behind them.

Implementation of Android Auto is okay but when it doesn't want to co-operate then it really doesn't want to work much at all. It really is pull over, stop the car and spend a couple of minutes sorting it out after which it'll happily run the App I want but it won't let me choose that App through the car's screen only through my mobile.

Ah TSS. TSS is Toyota Smart Sense or as I prefer call it Toyota St^pid Sense. If you're an active driver who drives for smoothness and efficiency then TSS will constantly interfere trying to do some really odd d#mb stuff. I've had it try to drive me straight into a parked car while the driver was getting out of the car. Try to avoid potholes and manhole covers? Nope, it'll override trying drive right through them. It'll also complain about long repair patches in the road and try to follow them. Generally it interferes badly with smooth driving and there's no way to turn it off.

TSS also runs the Traffic Alert system after parking the car. It requires a short then long push of the Okay button on the steering wheel to turn it off almost every time after parking the car as it resets back on every time after turning off the car. Unless I turn it off it'll fire off in my driveway every time. Coming home late at night in my super quiet, almost always in EV mode, car only to have the Traffic Alert system activate and loudly beep 5 or more times in my driveway isn't conducive to neighbourly relations.

TSS also runs the rear seat alert for passengers not having their seat belt on. Excellent idea with one slight problem, putting groceries on the back seat instead of in the hatch. Groceries can be heavy enough to set of a warning which will continuously beep after about 30 kph all the way home warning of back seat occupancy without seat belts on. When putting groceries in the back seat it's worth remembering to clip all the seat belts in place first before loading any groceries into the back seat.

Delivery times are huge. For my car from order in January 2023 to delivery on 29th November 2024 was nearly 2 years.

Honestly it's a great little car that has fabulous fuel economy which like all cars it has its foibles.