Toyota GR Yaris
Did the hot hatch prove a busted flush after 10,000 miles? Spoiler alert: no, it did not
Daily life with one: the final chapter
I’m about to have fewer conversations. After nearly 10,000 miles, the Toyota GR Yaris has returned to its maker, which means life won’t continually be punctuated with conversations in car parks and fuel stations that start: “Ooh, is that the new…”
It is. The GR Yaris is the current ‘it’ car, and people either know about the GR and want to talk about it, or they have no idea and just think it’s a regular Yaris – a situation that suits me nicely.
As you’ll know, the GR Yaris is Toyota’s rally-inspired hatch, a 258bhp four-wheel-drive three-door that receives huge changes over the regular production Yaris in its transformation to all-conquering sports car. And yet despite its stance and wide arches, the car isn’t so f lashy that it gets ogled wherever it goes like, say, a brightly coloured supercar would – which is good because sometimes those kinds of glances aren’t complimentary.
The follow-up to the opening
“Is that…” or “Nice car…” tends to be: “What’s it like?” To which the answer is, obviously, brilliant. Before this long-term test car arrived, the GR Yaris had won our Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car shootout last autumn, and acquitted itself rather well against the less affordable opposition, too.
This Toyota then arrived in late December with 1630 miles on it and departs many more later having scored a five-star road test, gone quicker around a very short and quite wet circuit than a Nissan GT-R Nismo, and appeared in a bunch of features and videos.
In between times, it was superb daily transport. The thing about some really special cars is that they’re a pain to live with. Its short, 6000mile service intervals apart, the GR Yaris isn’t like that. It’s so compact that it’s easy to use around town, and because its ride height is generous and overhangs are so short, you never worry about scuffing the nose on driveways or car parks. It’s no wonder that I’ve had correspondence from people with big car collections who have picked a GR Yaris and just drive it every day.
This car came with the Circuit Pack, a £3500 extra that brings with it stiffer suspension and locking differentials, and takes the list price above £30,000 (metallic paint, at £585, inf lates the total price to £34,080). It seems to be an obvious choice for most GR Yaris buyers, but while our car was receiving its first service, I had my only go in a regular GR Yaris, which I found really enjoyable, too. It has more compliance on bad roads, which is sometimes quite welcome, albeit less adjustability to its cornering stance on account of the differentials
not tightening the car’s line.
If I was making the choice for real, I’d be quite torn: I think it would depend what else I had to drive. If the GR was going to be my visceral hit, I would spec the Circuit Pack.
If it was a quick, entertaining but ultimately usable daily driver and my kicks came elsewhere, I might go without. (Alternatively, like one reader, you could buy both, see which you preferred and hand the other to a family member.)
Either way, it’s a reasonably practical car. There’s the ease of use, of course, but there’s also just about room in the back for an adult behind the front-seat passenger, though four is a squeeze. And while the boot is small, and reminds you of its stripped-out credentials via the f limsy cargo net, the rear seats split and fold just like in any other Yaris, making a load bay big enough for a bicycle if you remove its front wheel.
Reliability and durability have been great. Toyota replaced the front tyres on this car at the 6000-mile service more out of prudence than anything. We had worn the shoulders through repeated heavy performance and track testing, but I’m confident you could do a few track days without bothering the tyres or brakes. Which is the advantage of a light car with modest power and relatively pliant suspension.
Nothing went awry and it used no oil. Not even an infotainment crash, although the fact that it doesn’t have much is presumably an advantage. You can specify a Convenience Pack that adds such things as better speakers, a head-up display and satnav, but the standard unit will mate with a smartphone, and general road roar is sufficient that I don’t think this is a car for the audiophile.
As with durability of consumables, economy is good for a car of this performance. Sure, use all of the throttle, a lot of the time, and you will see the 15.7mpg we returned while getting the performance figures of our road test (0-60mph in 5.2sec full of fuel and two people aboard, by the way). In normal driving, I frequently returned more than 32mpg and, if you spent lots of time below the 1.6-litre engine’s turbo zone, at a very steady cruise in sixth gear, I think you would push over 40mpg if you wanted.
If you did, you might also look even more like a conventional Yaris driver, rather than one of the GR version. Chances are you won’t want to do that, though. Or even if you try, you won’t keep it up for long, because this car wants to be driven rather more briskly. The enthusiasm is infectious for the driver, not just bystanders.
People with big car collections have picked a GR Yaris and just drive it every day