BY now, you will likely have had your fill of car award announcements.

Sitting atop the honours pile is, of course, the 2008 Car of the Year, the Fiat 500, with a plethora of press releases sitting beneath it promoting magazine-this, website-that, gongs for various cars.

All very nice for the nominated car makers, but don't take them too seriously - or even begin to contemplate buying a motor simply because it has won something.

Buy a car because it is right for you, because it suits your lifestyle - the Toyota Yaris, for example, is so right for a lot of British buyers yet it hasn't has so much as a sniff among the recent honours haul.

You should also take a car's safety credentials into account - and the Yaris has won the one top award we all should take notice of - a maximum five-star rating for passenger crash protection from the Euro-NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) testers.

It is a reassuring facet to a hatchback that is affordable, fun to drive, and with enough interior flexibility to meet the demands of everyone from singles to small families.

The five-door SR, with a 1.3-litre petrol engine and five-speed manual gearbox, has the quality and equipment to make small-car space not such a valuable commodity at £11,295, with the bonus of an easy-fold split rear seat that quickly flattens to a level, near-1,100-litre load area.

A comfortable, snug cabin, with thickly-padded seats for good back and thigh support, is upholstered in hard-wearing cloth, and there are plenty of little pockets dotted here and there to take care of the phone, gloves, and ignition fob - it is a keyless start-up for the Yaris.

Instrumentation comes in the form of a centrally-located digital display, angled towards the driver, and it provides one small example of the thought that has gone into putting this Toyota together.

The clear, concise, display read-out feels as if it is located right above the front nearside wheel, so it drastically cuts the need for the eyes to totally refocus when switching from information to road ahead. That is a big, safe, difference from dropping the eyes to read a set of clocks directly in front of you and through the steering wheel.

SR, the top trim, gives the driver a trip computer, rev counter, and minor information and controls, such as heating switches, positioned in the aluminium-finish lower centre console. Toyota starts the Yaris power choices with a 1.0-litre petrol, but the SR dispenses with that to offer 1.3 and 1.8-litre petrols only, plus the firm's immensely popular 1.4-litre diesel unit.

The 86bhp 1296cc unit is most definitely a town machine, with nippy urban performance turning into a bit of a struggle on faster roads. There's little overtaking urge held in reserve, but the payoff is combined fuel economy of 47.1mpg.

Performance figures, for the record, are a 0-62mph time of 11.5 seconds, and a top speed of 106mph. It's a very sound drive, and you will sleep even more so thanks to Toyota's outstanding reliability record.

Auto facts Toyota Yaris SR 1.3 5dr

  • Price: £11,295
  • Ins group: Four
  • Fuel consumption (Combined): 47.1mpg
  • Top speed: 106mph
  • Length: 375cm/147.6in
  • Width: 169.5cm/66.7in
  • Luggage capacity: 9.5 cu ft
  • Fuel tank capacity: 9.2 gallons/42 litres
  • CO2 emissions: 141g/km
  • Warranty: 3 years/60,000 miles