Toyota Yaris CVT vs Hyundai Verna Automatic: Real World Mileage Comparison. Toyota has just entered the premium compact sedan segment, comprising of cars like the Honda City, Hyundai Verna and the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, with the Yaris. The Yaris is a petrol-only offering but it offers a wider variety of variants to choose from, especially in its automatic avatar. Where its opponents offer only two or three petrol-automatic variants, Toyota offers four on the Yaris.

Going by manufacturer claims, the Hyundai Verna automatic is nearly 2kmpl less fuel efficient than the Yaris CVT. The Verna AT claims to deliver 15.92kmpl while the Yaris CVT stands at 17.8kmpl.  In the real world, though, while the Verna does return lower fuel efficiency in the city, on the highway it’s a different story with the Hyundai delivering 18.43kmpl against Toyota’s 16.31kmpl. That’s more than 2kmpl extra!

Wondering what makes the Yaris CVT less fuel efficient than the Verna AT on the highway?

The Yaris has a less powerful (enter details here) petrol engine than the Verna. This means, out on the highway, the engine-transmission combo has to work harder to gain speed before the engine settles at an optimum rpm for cruising. This leads to higher fuel consumption.

Toyota Yaris First Drive Review: Read here

Hyundai Verna First Drive Review: Read here

At city speeds, it’s the availability of torque at the lower-end of the rev range that helps maintain momentum. Therefore, the CVT doesn’t have to rev the engine as hard as it has to to accelerate from an already high speed on the highway. The Verna’s torque converter, on the other hand, has to upshift or downshift more frequently, like we do manually, which means the engine is subjected to a wider rev range to keep the car moving. As a result, the Verna turned out thirstier than the Yaris in the city in our road test, delivering 12.17kmpl versus the Yaris’ 16.41kmpl.

Verdict

The above explanation and road test figures reveal a crystal-clear judgement for those who want a more fuel efficient car of the two. The Verna is the car to buy over the Yaris if you’re driving more often on the highways. It’s more fuel efficient in such a situation and more powerful too. If you’re driving more often in the city, the Yaris can be an easy pick. But how much highway running do you actually have to do to justify the Verna AT?

We did some more math and found out that the Verna AT will only consume as much fuel as the Yaris CVT if 75 per cent of your total mileage is highway running! Take your pick.

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