Hot hatchbacks are a highly contested segment of the market. With giant-killing performance and a solidly gripping drive in an affordable, practical and user-friendly package, they are a breed that brings smiles to karkoppe.
Think Honda Civic, Ford Fiesta ST, Golf GTi, using all forms of mechanical and electronic trickery to urge that last ounce of performance out of their lightweight bodies. Now we have a new entry, Toyota’s rally-inspired GR Yaris.
Born in the heat of competition, this Yaris brings a new 200kW 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine, likely the world’s most powerful three-pot, to a lightweight shell inspired by the 2019 World Rally Championship winning Yaris.
The result is a serious contender in the hot hatch stakes, as well as what looks to be an absolute thrill of a pure performance car and a made for the local rally competition vehicle.
It is the latest in a heritage of Toyota sports cars, including the Celica, Supra and Corolla AE86. Every aspect of the car has a performance focus: an all-new platform and engine, new suspension, lightweight construction, aerodynamic styling and a new permanent all-wheel-drive (AWD) system.
All this comes together to take the 1 280kg GR Yaris from 0 to 100 km/* in less than 5.5 seconds and onto an electronically limited top speed of 230km/h .
As the first Yaris to get AWD, the newly developed system allows for adjustable front-to-rear torque balance as much as a 100% front or back or anything in between depending on mode selected. A Torsen limited-slip differential attends to the need for higher levels of cornering and stability.
Rally knowledge also comes to play with the bonnet, door panels made from lightweight aluminum, and the lower roof, made from carbon fibre-reinforced plastics, which in turn serve to lower the car’s centre of gravity.
This comes from input from the engineers at Tommi Mäkinen Racing, who focused on aerodynamics, weight distribution and light weight - three qualities essential to achieving performance.
Then of course, the powerplant. This turbocharged unit draws on motorsport tech in its multi-oil jet cooling, wide exhaust and machined intake port. The single-scroll ball-bearing turbo is mated with a six-speed manual transmission engineered to handle max torque.
The new AWD drive system, known as GR-FOUR, also needs a mention. A clever system, it uses high-response coupling to distribute torque between front and back while remaining quite lightweight and allowing for ratio shifts up to 100 percent.
The three-door lightweight shell allows for an impressive power-to-weight ratio, as well as a wider rear track and new double-wishbone rear suspension system. The team also devised reinforcements beneath the side members to ensure the suspension’s performance potential can be realised.
The performance braking system features large 356 mm grooved front discs with four-pot callipers, engineered to cope with rigorous demands of high-speed track and special stage driving with high-level heat capacity.
No announcement has been made yet about a South African launch, but one is expected soon.