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Toyota GR Yaris

RACE READY (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

The GR Yaris hot hatch shows Toyota's extreme side. Jonathan Crouch takes a look...

Ten Second Reviewword count: 36

Ever wondered what a Toyota Yaris might be like with over 250 braked horses beneath the bonnet? No, we hadn't either. But Toyota has made one anyway, this wild GR Yaris. It's a rather unique confection....

Backgroundword count: 154

This car is actually rather significant, the first true performance model developed entirely in-house by Toyota in more than 20 years. We've had quick models from the brand in that time, but only with outside assistance; the GT86 (developed with Subaru) and the GR Supra (co-created with BMW). The GR Yaris in contrast, is entirely the work of Toyota's Gazoo Racing performance division, hence the 'GR' moniker. There was a wild version of the last Yaris too, the Yaris GRMN, but this car is quite a bit more powerful, now has 4WD and will be made in much greater numbers. Its purpose is to aid homologation the next generation Yaris World Rally Car, at the same time as boosting the image of the freshly launched fourth-generation Yaris supermini. Chief engineer Naohiko Saito couldn't believe his luck when Toyota asked him and his team to create a Yaris like no other. He's done exactly that.

Driving Experienceword count: 232

This, the second Toyota GR Motorsport-influenced product, is quite differently orientated to the first. Whereas the GR Supra is a sports car developed through track racing, the GR Yaris is a model engineered through participation in rallying. A car very much in the mould performance classics of the past like Subaru's Impreza WRX and the Mitsubishi Evo. Those cars used 2.0-litre engines but units of that size wouldn't fit in the Yaris - and anyway would be too heavy. Even the 1.6-litre powerplant that is used here has just three cylinders - but it packs quite a turbo punch; 257bhp, 360Nm and 62mph from rest in just 5.5s. The old Yaris GRMN, for reference, put out 209bhp. This GR Yaris's powertrain is mated to a 6-speed 'IMT' 'Intelligent Manual Transmission' stick shift gearbox with permanent four-wheel drive provided by the brand's latest GR-Four system. This features a multi-plate clutch delivering power to all four wheels via three pre-set torque distribution levels; 'Normal' has a 60:40-split front-to-rear; 'Sport' pushes nearly all the power to the back 30:70; and 'Track' has an equal 50:50-split. There are big brakes too - 356mm grooved front brake discs featuring 4-pot calipers. And a set of sticky tyres too - either Dunlop Sport Maxx or Michelin Pilot Sport rubber. Plus the regular Yaris model's basic torsion beam rear suspension is replaced by a more sophisticated double wishbone set-up.

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Pictures (high res disabled)

Statistics (subset of data only)

Min

Max

Price:

£29,995.00

£33,495.00

0-62 mph (s):

5.5

Length (mm):

3995

Width (mm):

1805

Scoring (subset of scores)

Category: Sporting Cars

Performance
90%
Handling
90%
Comfort
40%
Space
50%
Styling, Build, Value, Equipment, Depreciation, Handling, Insurance and Total scores are available with our full data feed.

This is an excerpt from our full review.
To access the full content library please contact us on 0330 0020 227 or click here

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