Toyota Yaris Hybrid

Only the cheapest hybrid car you can currently buy. At £14,995, the new Toyota Yaris Hybrid is more than £1000 cheaper than the previous holder of that crown, the £16,300 – and less sophisticated – Honda Jazz Hybrid.

The Yaris also boasts the lowest CO2 rating of any new car on sale that isn't an electric car or extended-range electric car. Its 79g/km puts it 5g/km below the recently revised Hyundai i20 in that department.

As well as appealing to the head, Toyota also hopes the Yaris will appeal to the heart in the way no Toyota hybrid – or third-generation Yaris, even – has managed. For starters, it looks a darned sight better than the standard Yaris on which it's based, with a much bolder front-end look.

Toyota also promises "more natural acceleration feel" thanks to its retuned CVT gearbox, something that has blighted the performance potential of Toyota's previous hybrid efforts.

Anyone who has ever driven a Prius or an Auris Hybrid will feel instantly at home in the Yaris Hybrid. The Yaris is a class smaller than those, but the Toyota hybrid hallmarks carry over. So look closely on the outside and you'll spot the blue Toyota badging and the 'Hybrid Synergy Drive' logos. Inside, there is the EV mode button, and on the go there's myriad whirring noises as the petrol-electric drivetrain does its efficient work.

The Yaris uses a 1.5-litre petrol engine based on the second-generation Prius's instead of the 1.8 found in the latest Prius and Auris fuel-sippers. The hybrid system – electric motor, transaxle, inverter and batteries – has been downsized from the larger models to fit into the Yaris without compromising on its spacious interior or 286-litre boot.

The hybrid system offers three different driving modes: Normal, Eco and EV. EV allows the Yaris to run on electric power only for short bursts (something the Jazz Hybrid can't manage). This mode is good while it lasts; the Yaris is silent apart from a slight whirr from the electric motor, but inject anything more than a big toe's worth of pressure on the throttle and the engine kicks back in.

Trying Eco mode once is enough; it saps power too much and makes acceleration either a painfully slow or painfully noisy experience (usually both), as the hybrid system doesn't like to be revved.

So it's best to leave the Yaris Hybrid in Normal mode, which is where its best work is done. Drive at a steady pace and the Yaris Hybrid delivers a decent amount of performance, and it also has a surprisingly good turn of speed off the line. But all this is undermined by the CVT gearbox; you're not likely to be able to enjoy a burst of acceleration as there's a constant drone from the transmission.

And whereas the Prius's hybrid system almost effortlessly and silently blends all the components that go into the hybrid drivetrain (save for the CVT), in the Yaris Hybrid you're continually made audibly aware that under the bonnet is not your average small turbodiesel engine.

The Yaris Hybrid is therefore a car to which you need to adapt your driving style in order to get the best out of it. Gentle throttle inputs are the best way to enjoy driving it, something you'll be rewarded for at the pumps. It's also fun to watch the graphics on the interior screen plotting how efficiently you're driving and whether it's the engine or electric motor/battery pack sending power to the front wheels. And in urban driving conditions you're likely to spend at least 40 per cent of the time driving on electric power only; as usual, it's a case of leaving it in Normal mode and letting the clever electronics decide when to run on all-electric power, rather than sticking it in EV mode yourself.