Toyota GR Yaris review

It drives like you hoped it would. Like you dreamed it would. In Top Gear’s collective head we wanted it to feel like a boisterous little charger, and it does. And that means there’s nothing else out there quite like it. It’s the size of a Ford Fiesta ST (no longer with us, of course), but has the attitude of something far more aggressive. But it’s not as tightly-focused and serious-minded as a Civic Type R.

You get in and it feels right: good seats, nice control weights, no slack in the steering, brakes or gearlever. You immediately feel at one with the GR Yaris, before you’ve got out of the car park even. And it makes a good, growly noise with a real edge to it. There aren’t many hot hatches – or sports cars full stop – that get these basics right.

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Stay with the low speeds and there’s a bit of tussle in the ride. It’s a short, broad, stiff car, so a bit of twitch is to be expected. There’s noise from the tyres when you go quicker, but the heavily strengthened bodyshell means zero creaks and rattles and gives the suspension a rigid central core to work from. Not once did we find ourselves looking for the non-existent adaptive damper button. The GR Yaris proves that if you get a single set-up right, you don’t need more options. No, it’s not as relaxing as a Golf GTI on a schlep. It pulls 2,800rpm at 70mph and isn’t the sort of car you can steer with one finger.

So, does it have different drive modes?

It does. Normal, Sport and Eco adapt the power steering and throttle response, while the auto has its shift feel adjusted. Of more consequence are the AWD modes, which modulate how much torque goes to each axle: Normal (60:40), Gravel (53:47) and Track. This is the one everyone talks about because it sends 60 per cent of the torque to the front wheels heading into a corner, but then 70 per cent to the rears for better acceleration on the way out. This means you can get on the power early, the Torsen diff doing its thing to pull you out of corners. Hard, with zero understeer.

It’s an addictive experience, especially if you want to teach yourself left foot braking, building up power against the brakes mid-corner, and then release the brakes for a maximum attack exit. Not many cars let you use throttle and brakes together. This Toyota does. It’s a small thing, irrelevant to most people, but it’s there and it works well.

Here’s something else in the same vein. Most cars have now replaced the manual handbrake with an electric parking brake. Not Toyota. And not only that, but if you do give it a yank while you’re moving, it disconnects drive to the rear wheels. It’s the best handbrake outside an actual rally car.

Why is there an automatic now?

Good question. A sign that Toyota is taking things too seriously now? It’s designed for the track, and in testing the pros got faster lap times out of it than the manual. As an eight-speed the ratios are closer together, operated by flappy paddles or the drive shifter. At the insistence of chairman Akio Toyoda, the latter had to be backwards to upshift and forwards for down, like a proper rally car. Good old Morizo.

Two major benefits, as far as we can tell. Losing the manual lets you focus on the road (or track), giving you more bandwidth to enjoy the Yaris’s affinity with changing direction. And boy does it relish those lateral Gs. Also, if you’re going to daily this - and encounter traffic a lot - you could argue it’s less taxing.

There’s a fraction of a second between asking for a gear and receiving it; so not race-car telepathic, but still hasty. Could the paddle action feel more… significant? Maybe. The shifter definitely could. But the main takeaway is that - inevitably - losing the manual extracts some of the fun. The short throw of the six-speed is a great partner, although we’d encourage you not to press the iMT rev blip button on the centre console: you can shift fast enough to beat the system. Do it yourself instead. You’ll get more out of it.

What about the engine?

It’s a belter. When it first came out we were sceptical that 257bhp was enough when most rivals have 300bhp. But most rivals also weigh around 150kg more and are nowhere near this engaging. Now the little 1.6 triple punches with 276bhp, and it hits surprisingly hard. Toyota recommends 4,900 to the 7,200rpm redline - like a serving suggestion on a ready meal - as the sweet spot, the GR thumping through that band in third and fourth with real determination.

Lower down it’s a bit lumpy and the turbo doesn’t get going until 3,000rpm, but at the top end it keeps its composure all the way to the red line. And it sounds great. Artificially augmented, yes, but enticing and a much bigger noise than you expect. The kind that makes you want to keep your foot in.

Is there anything wrong with it?

Gah. It’s a proper rufty tufty little car, this. It goads you to give it some, and if you do, it’s with you every step of the way. There are tiny issues: the brakes, although powerful, need a solid stamp. And there’s not much natural steering feel, but because it responds immediately and proportionately, you have massive confidence in it. The manual gearshift is tight and together, and you feel intrinsically connected to it. So to answer your question in a word: no.

Buuut… initially the GR had the mindset of a rally car, not a steely-eyed track weapon. Now that Toyota has made it faster, more rigid and altogether more focused, it’s stepped away from its rallying roots. We miss the tearaway scamp that just wanted to have fun.