TOYOTA GR YARIS
Minimal room or need for improvement, but Toyota did it anyway
For such a compact unit, the sheer feist and bandwidth of the engine is remarkable
CAR’s small wish list for the updated Toyota GR Yaris didn’t extend to a torque-converter eight-speed automatic, but that’s what we’re being offered from this summer – and what we’re testing as a lightly camouflaged prototype at Jarama race circuit, Madrid.
Thankfully a manual gearbox remains available for a much-improved car that goes beyond the usual facelift box-ticking. Reasons to trade up include enhanced performance, tweaked suspension, a more rigid bodyshell and a new variable torque split for the all-wheel drive.
The popular Circuit pack (Michelin Pilot 4S tyres on BBS alloys, uprated suspension, Torsen diffs front and rear) is now standard, as is the previous Japanese-market cooling pack with its driver-controlled intercooler spray.
Toyota gleefully displays components destroyed in the heat of competition and testing – ‘develop, race, break, fix’ runs its philosophy – as well as a bumper damaged the previous day; a new three-piece design makes it less expensive to fix (if a little less muscular to behold).
Arguably the biggest Yaris flaw has been tackled too, with a seating position some 25mm lower than the Zen levitation of the original, while an entirely new dashboard layout similarly sits lower, introduces a new 12.3-inch digital instrument binnacle and places key controls within easier reach of the driver – a curved layout based on the Mk4 Supra’s is a big part of that, though it does look a bit like a budget flight simulator.
After a few laps in the existing model, I jump straight into the new car. The GR’s three-cylinder engine always impressed with its low-down flexibility and – more unusually for a triple – enthusiasm for revs. Now it feels even stronger than the 19bhp and 22lb ft increases Toyota claims – that’s 276bhp and 288lb ft in total thanks to revised pistons, fuelling adjustments and a new exhaust with reduced back pressure. For such a compact unit, the sheer feist and bandwidth to dig into here is remarkable.
Tip the Yaris into a corner and more differences bubble to the surface – there’s extra roll support over the outside front wheel compared with the standard model (which feels highly connected on the road if a little soft for circuit use) and extra precision to steering that’s otherwise as responsive and well weighted as ever.
Several factors are feeding in here, notably 28 per cent stiffer front springs and uprated anti-roll bar (while the rear springs are uprated by 10 per cent, the rear anti-roll bar unchanged), shock towers with three bolts rather than a single fastener and extra spot welds
