If you’ve already had a look at our piece on the cars to look forward to in 2020, you’ll know the Toyota GR Yaris is one that I’m extremely excited for and it has now been unveiled in full.
It was officially revealed at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon and it’s the second car Toyota have produced with their performance sub-brand, Gazoo Racing. We’ve seen the prototype with its camouflage wrap but this is the first time we’ve been able to see the full spec.
It may share the Yaris’ name but it doesn’t really share much else. It’s utterly ridiculous. It is powered by a three-cylinder 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine that puts out 257bhp and 266lb ft of torque. Those numbers make it the most powerful three-cylinder engine ever made! That power goes through a six-speed manual gearbox – there are no automatic or dual-clutch options.
From there, it is transmitted through all four wheels via the lightest 4WD system on a production car. Not only is the 4WD system light, it’s variable too. Front:rear drive ratios can be switched between 60:40, 50:50 and 30:70 in driving modes Normal, Track and Sport respectively.
The combination of those output figures and the 4WD system give the GR Yaris a 0-62mph time of under 5.5 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 143mph. Not only does it top its class, it’ll have the cars in the class above looking over their shoulders, especially when you consider the fact that it accelerates faster than a Golf GTI – the epitome of hot-hatch.
If you wanted to add the Circuit Pack, that 4WD setup gets even better with optional Torson limited-slip differentials on the front and rear axles. Also included in the Circuit Pack is a more track-orientated suspension setup and 18-inch forged alloy wheels wrapped in 225/40 R18 Michelin Super Sport tyres. A worthwhile option, methinks!
Already fitted with a lightweight 4WD system and forged alloys, the weight-saving doesn’t stop there. The GR Yaris is fitted with a completely bespoke body that sits 91mm lower than the standard Yaris for improved aero and is made predominantly out of aluminium. The bits that aren’t aluminium, i.e. the roof, are carbon fibre. That’s right – carbon fibre on a Toyota Yaris. These weight-saving measures give it a total weight of 1,280kg.
With hugely flared wheel arches, aggressive grilles and vents and twin exhausts at the back, it certainly looks the part. The only thing I might have added would be some sort of A45 AMG-style rear wing, just to complete the look.
“So why have they made the GR Yaris so completely bonkers?” I hear you ask. Well, it’s all to do with the car they want to enter into the World Rally Championship.
WRC rules, which are much more lenient than they used to be, allow a certain amount of slack with regards to how far away you can take your rally car from the road-going car it is based on. Go beyond those regulations, as Toyota have done in emphatic fashion, and you’ll need to homologate your car.
That means to be able to use their WRC car, Toyota need to produce and sell a certain quantity of road-legal versions of the car – a homologation special. This is good news for us as it means the Toyota GR Yaris will not be a “limited run”. There will, in fact, be at least 25,000 of them!
Customer deliveries are expected to begin towards the end of this year but pricing information still hasn’t been released. Given that the GR Yaris is effectively a full-on rally car that you can take to the supermarket, I wouldn’t expect it to be particularly cheap.
What do you think? Is this the hot-hatch to rule all hot-hatches or will it be an overhyped and overpriced flop? Let us know in the comments section below or via our Facebook and Twitter pages.
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