For the 2019 model year, the Toyota Yaris sold in the United States was not a Toyota-designed car. It was a rebadged Mazda2, part of an agreement under which Mazda built the car for Toyota. The Yaris line had two bodies in 2019: a sedan, renamed from the Yaris iA, and a hatchback that Toyota added for that year. The Toyota-engineered liftback of earlier years had been retired.
What the 2019 U.S. Yaris Actually Was
The 2019 Yaris sedan was the car that had been sold first as the Scion iA, then as the Toyota Yaris iA, and finally — for 2019 — renamed simply the Yaris sedan. It was built by Mazda and based on the fourth-generation Mazda2, a small car that Mazda itself no longer sold in the United States.
The 2019 Yaris hatchback, meanwhile, was a Mazda2-based five-door that replaced the earlier Toyota-designed Yaris liftback. Toyota sold these Mazda-derived Yaris models in North America from the 2019 through 2020 model years before dropping the car.
This matters because the Yaris name is used for two very different cars around the world. In Europe, Japan and most other markets, the Yaris of this era was Toyota’s own design on the XP150 platform. The North American car described here is a separate, Mazda-built machine that happens to wear the same badge.
Engines and Transmissions
Both the 2019 Yaris sedan and hatchback used Mazda’s 1.5-liter Skyactiv-G four-cylinder engine, a naturally aspirated unit that produced 106 hp. It drove the front wheels through either a six-speed manual or a six-speed torque-converter automatic transmission.
| Version | Engine | Output | Transmission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yaris sedan / hatchback | 1.5 L Skyactiv-G inline-4 | 106 hp | 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic |
The six-speed automatic was notable because many rivals of the time used a continuously variable transmission. The Yaris’s conventional automatic gave it a more predictable feel, though it did little for outright acceleration.
Exterior and Styling
For 2019 the sedan’s large front grille gained a honeycomb-style insert, and the LE and XLE sedans received a new rear lip spoiler. The hatchback had its own more compact proportions. Both were small, city-friendly cars, with the hatchback offering the easier cargo access that comes with a hatchback body.
Interior and Equipment
Inside, the 2019 Yaris came with a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a six-speaker audio system, a USB port, Bluetooth connectivity and a reversing camera. Low-speed automatic emergency braking, which Mazda calls Smart City Brake Support, was standard — a notable safety feature for an entry-level car.
Toyota offered three trims for 2019: L, LE and XLE. The new top-of-the-line XLE added simulated leather upholstery, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, automatic air conditioning, automatic LED headlights and rain-sensing windshield wipers. Even the base L included air conditioning, cruise control and keyless entry.
Fuel Economy and Performance
The 2019 Yaris was rated by the EPA at up to 32 mpg city and 40 mpg highway in automatic form, with a combined figure of about 35 mpg. That made it one of the most efficient non-hybrid subcompacts of its year.
Acceleration was modest rather than quick: with 106 hp moving a small car, the Yaris was adequate for city driving and highway cruising but not fast. Toyota’s own figures and independent tests placed it among the slower cars in its class, which is consistent with its role as an economical commuter rather than a performance model.
The Yaris competed in the United States against the Nissan Versa, the Kia Rio and the Chevrolet Sonic, all of which were cheaper or larger in places but none of which shared the Yaris’s Mazda underpinnings. Its closest mechanical relative was the Mazda2 on which it was based.
Because Mazda built the car, the Yaris sedan and hatchback used Mazda’s suspension tuning and interior switchgear rather than Toyota’s. That gave it tidy handling for an economy car, but it also meant it felt different from other Toyotas of the time.
Toyota still sold larger cars above the Yaris in the United States, with the Corolla one class up. The hybrid Prius c, a Toyota-designed hatchback, was discontinued after the 2019 model year as well.
In later years Toyota returned the Yaris name to its own designs in other markets, but the Mazda-based Yaris sold in North America in 2019 and 2020 remains a distinct, short-lived chapter in the nameplate’s history.
The Global Yaris and the WRC
Outside North America, the Yaris of this generation was Toyota’s own design, and it was the car Toyota used to return to the World Rally Championship in 2017 with the Yaris WRC. That motorsport program is the reason the Yaris name became associated with performance models such as the GRMN and, later, the GR Yaris — none of which were related to the Mazda-built North American car.
Rallying is contested under the rules of the World Rally Championship, and Toyota’s Yaris program competed at the top level of the sport.
Availability and Pricing
The 2019 Yaris sedan started at $16,530 in L form before destination, with the LE and XLE above it. The hatchback was priced similarly. Toyota discontinued the Mazda-based Yaris after the 2020 model year, and because the underlying Mazda2 was no longer sold in the United States, there was no direct replacement.
Readers can compare it with our 2019 Toyota Camry Atara S Engine Specs and Release Date and our 2019 Toyota Avalon XLE Plus Review articles. This feature is part of our wider Car Review coverage.
