Toyota GR Yaris review

Toyota’s WRC team had particular input where the GR Yaris’s bodyshell is concerned. Unlike the standard Toyota Yaris, it’s a three-door model, because that shape is better suited to rallying and can more easily accommodate additional aerodynamic equipment. The roofline is up to 95mm lower, to help maximise downforce and aerodynamic efficiency.

A conscious effort has been made to make the GR Yaris as light as possible, too. Aluminium has been used extensively in the construction of the doors, as well as for the redesigned tailgate and rear bumper. The roof is made from a lightweight forged carbon composite, and a good prod will cause the bumpers to flex under pressure. So extensive are the changes to the GR Yaris’s bodyshell that only the headlights, shark-fin antenna, door mirrors and tail-lights have been carried over from the standard car. This is by no means a regular Yaris that’s simply been made a bit sharper and a bit faster.

The optional Circuit Pack, fitted here, brings even more changes. Torsen limited-slip differentials feature at both axles; a more aggressive suspension tune is introduced; the car’s EPAS is sharpened; and 18in forged alloy wheels shod in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber replace the standard 18s and Dunlop tyres.

If anything, that level of stability does contribute to one of the few things we would change about the GR Yaris. Its on-throttle stability and grip is tremendous as its differentials hook up and spear it from corners, but even in its Sport mode, which diverts more power to the rear than the front, this isn’t a car that moves around under braking or straightens its line hugely on the throttle. It’s just hugely impressive, all the time, and interactive and engaging enough with it that even though more near- or on-limit adjustability wouldn’t hurt, it’s still a handling hero of our time.

We have yet to try a GR Yaris without the Circuit Pack in the UK, but it will be interesting to see how it copes with British roads on its softer dampers and also how traction is affected.

The stiffer set-up of this Circuit Pack is pretty good on even bad roads, which the Millbrook Hill Route looks to emulate with surface changes and some severe cambers. They don’t manage to unsettle the GR Yaris nor upset its steering, bar the occasional light hint of movement on the wheel as cambers get really big – but it’s feel rather than corruption.

Likewise the steering gains weight pleasingly and linearly as the Yaris builds towards its terrific limits, which edge towards understeer initially, though you can trail-brake to quell this and then, at least with Sport mode engaged, throttle-on corner exits are fearsomely fast with the Yaris edging towards neutrality.

Rather than braking right into an apex and feeling the car unsettle, it feels ready and eager to be driven on the throttle as much as possible.

Comfort and isolation

If we were talking about one of the GR Yaris’s spiritual forebears – something like a Lancer Evo or Subaru Impreza Turbo – you could gloss over much of this section. But despite having as much dynamic interaction and point-to-point pace as anything with a roof and four-wheel drive, the GR Yaris does serve its day-to-day drivers reasonably well.

For one, there is the Active Noise Cancellation, which keeps noise levels to moderate levels. A handsfree phone conversation, or a chat with a passenger, isn’t the breeze it would be in most hatchbacks from a class higher, or a sports saloon, but it’s far from a chore.

Evenly spaced gearing, meanwhile, means that the engine is turning over at a shade under 3000rpm at 70mph, which drivers of old cars will recognise as an entirely standard top gear length on a petrol car – giving easy enough economy yet sufficient urge to retain speed. So there’s no hugely overdriven upper gearset to improve combined cycle fuel economy – probably bad for the bottom CO2 line or the ability to receive a call on the M40, but better for drivers.