[Pars]

I haven't driven the Automatic, but I have clocked 35,000km on the manual. Initial clutch take-up was a bit finicky when new and it was easy to stall the thing, but after the clutch got some wear and tear on it, take-up was ok. Still not as good as my old Civic (but that car had a bigger engine and more low end torque while weighing the same as the Yaris). But once you get going, the DOHC engine in the Yaris really shines through. You can make some serious tracks on the road, while keeping the rev's in the 3k to 5k range and still get good gas mileage.

It'd be cool if the Yaris had enough initial power to make for easy clutch takeup. e.g. In my old 98 Civic Hatch, I was able to easily take off, with my foot off the gas pedal, even on a slight incline...it had that much low end grunt.