Attention GR Yaris owners: Toyota is offering an update to give the pre-facelift cars more torque

If you’re an owner of an original, pre-facelift Toyota GR Yaris you’ll want to listen up. Heck, even if you’re not an owner right now, you might want to be after hearing this little bit of news. Toyota is now offering a £995 software upgrade for UK cars, which it describes as a ‘while you wait update’.

Fitted by technicians at your local dealer, Toyota itself describes it as “a software update not to be ignored”. That’s because it includes an ECU remap that ups torque from the original 266lb ft to 280lb ft, while not affecting the warranty or the emissions of your little rally-bred hot hatch.

The upgrade also gives owners more settings to play with, so you’re able to adjust the power distribution via the GR-Four 4WD system to 55:45, 45:55 or 50:50 front to rear. There are also newly created ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ modes for the power steering and ‘original’, ‘quick’ or ‘control’ settings for the throttle response.

Makes you want to dive into the classifieds to check used prices, doesn’t it? There goes today's productivity...