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FIRST99 FOR NEWNEWS AND REVIEWS EVERY WEEK Est. 1895 | autocar.co.uk NEW GR YARIS IS… 2020’S BEST HOT HATCH

Amazing new The first truly great of Toyota blitzes the decade every rival

HOW IT COMPARES TO THE BEST OF THE REST TOYOTA GR YARIS 2020 UK REVIEW Possibly the most exciting addition to the hot market in a decade. Wickedly purposeful, and wonderfully evocative of fast 4x4s of old.

he new Toyota GR Yaris has actually been coming for even T longer than most of us may realise. While this car has had an extensively previewed gestation, it’s the first ground-up performance car that Toyota has developed ‘all on its own’ in some twenty years. By which is meant ‘without the help of another dedicated car-maker,’ of course. Because believe me, to have made a hot hatchback this good, Toyota must have had quite a lot of help from some very clever people who have been spending a lot of weekends with messrs Makinen, Meeke, Tanak and Latvala. So, now that we’ve driven it – extensively, on a mix of UK roads and on track, and in its most alluringly specialized mechanical specification, we should add – we can at last confirm what matters most: that the hubbub of anticipation might actually have undersold the GR Yaris. This is a wonderfully exciting, amazingly capable and strangely evocative drivers’ car, and a very rare and special hot hatchback indeed. ◊ TOYOTA GR YARIS 2020 REVIEW

∆ First, we’d better define precisely why series-production performance cars that the GR Yaris exists. If the prospect of this it would make itself – and which might 257bhp, four-wheel drive supermini takes therefore be able to influence production you back, it’s not by accident. The GR Yaris Toyotas more widely for years afterwards. is the closest thing we’ve seen in some thirty In an attempt to radically shift the market perception of the Toyota brand,

WHAT IS IT? WHAT years to a downsized rally homologation special; a modern MG Metro 6R4 or then, boss Akio Toyoda would accept Turbo 16, it may seem. nothing less than such a bold, radical – It certainly has the unmistakable visual and undoubtedly expensive – strategy; presence of those cars, with its dramatically which actually makes this a fascinating swollen wheelarches and air intakes – and anti-homologation car – of a sort. the association will do the Toyota no harm If you disqualify the GR Supra produced whatsoever. But that’s not actually what it is two years ago as many do because of its at all. Rather than commissioning a very shared BMW underpinnings, and the limited production run of road cars, built last-gen Yaris GRMN as the appetite- out-of-house, in order to legitimize a testing exercise it so clearly was, the GR World Rally Championship campaign, Yaris is the first opportunity that Toyota Toyota did the reverse when it sewed has had to show the world how seriously the seed for this car back in 2015. it intends to take its mission. It is not an TECHNICAL SPECS It invested in a new motorsport division opportunity squandered. ◊ Model tested: Toyota GR Yaris Circuit Pack (Gazoo Racing) and a top-level Price: £33,495 program with the specific intention of Price as tested: £33,495 applying what it might learn into better Engine: 3 cyls inline, 1618cc, turbo petrol Transmission: 6-spd manual; 4WD; Torsen LSDs front and rear (opt).

POWER KERB WEIGHT (DIN) 257bhp 1310kg

TORQUE FUEL ECONOMY 266lb ft 34.3mpg

0-62MPH CO2 5.5sec 186g/km

TOP SPEED BIK TAX BAND 143mph (limited) 37%

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∆ The very idea of this car promises big. It is a compact, supermini-sized package with an engine ❝ and that lift it way out of the hot supermini Here is a Toyota ready niche, and actually place it on a par with an Audi S3 or VW Golf R for power-to-weight ratio. It has a to hold your imagination unique chassis that’s a hybrid of Toyota’s GA-B and –C platforms, and that’s been strengthened and like few performance reinforced all over the place. It has lightweight WHAT’S IT LIKE? IT WHAT’S cars of the price aluminium and carbonfibre-composite panels, and all-independent suspension and aerodynamics that ❞ have been developed with the help of designers and engineers from Toyota’s WRC team. It also has a manual gearbox; nothing less than the most powerful three-cylinder engine in any production vehicle in the world; and the first proprietary four-wheel drive system that Toyota has developed for a road car in two decades, which can be set for a rear-biased torque distribution and augmented with proper ‘Torsen’ limited-slip differentials for both axles as you prefer. If that doesn’t excite you, folks? Well, I’m not sure any modern hot hatchback will. Then again, even if it doesn’t, I’m pretty sure the driving experience would. The GR Yaris is of a performance breed that you might have unconsciously consigned to history. It’s redolent of a time before seeking a thrill out on the public road became so socially toxic. When our roads were quieter, and the affordable performance cars we had to enjoy on them – from Delta Integrales to fast Imprezas and Lancer Evos – wore dynamic qualities like hard-hitting mid-range performance, any-weather traction and unconditional handling stability as badges of honour, and their affordable pricetags just as proudly. that it shares with a regular Yaris are its lights, door mirrors That doesn’t make the GR Yaris the most and roof aerial. The car’s roofline has its own profile and modern-feeling of vehicle concepts, granted. But boy, sits some 45mm lower to the ground, so you duck your head is it ever good. Improbably fast and composed over ever so slightly on the way in. The driving position isn’t so the ground, with a stability and simple drivability different from that of the regular supermini, though: that make it indecently easy to carry speed in. you sit high at the controls but really well supported in a And yet it’s also characterful, involving and good-sized sports seat, with decent passenger space and mechanically tactile, with a chassis ready to liven up adjustment range for the controls even for taller drivers. underneath you just enough when the opportunity The car’s instruments have a few new digital modes, presents. It’s a car that just begs to be driven quickly, but down on the transmission tunnel is where the chief in other words – and the more you’re prepared to differences are. In place of the regular Yaris’ electronic explore how quickly it’ll go, the better it gets. handbrake you’ll find a manual one with an old-fashioned And what makes all of the above seem deliciously lever; if you pull it on while the car’s moving, the four-wheel improbable is the fact that it’s a ; drive system automatically disconnects the rear halfshafts although not much of one. The only body components (which might be my favourite technical feature about the whole car). Meanwhile, Toyota has also moved the gearshift console upwards and forwards for more intuitive access, and next to it you’ll find the GR’s rotary drive mode selector. It defaults to ‘normal’ mode, in which the clutch-based driveline gives you a 60:40 front-to-rear torque split. Tweak it to the right and you get ‘track’ mode, which moves the default torque bias to 50:50. But rotate it to the left and, in ‘sport’ mode, you get a 30:70 split. It’s not a lockable torque split, so that lion’s share of torque only stays at the rear contact patches until the front ones begin to spin up; but it does have an influence over the way the GR Yaris handles. ◊

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∆ The car’s performance is a lot more serious than you might imagine any supermini – those ‘80s homologation legends notwithstanding – could ever be. The three-cylinder engine sounds vocally meek-and-mild at first; a bit like an angry Daihatsu Charade with a loud-hailer. You warm to its charms, though – particularly once you’ve discovered how keenly it responds to throttle inputs, how indefatigably boosty it feels through the mid-range, and how freely it revs beyond 5000rpm. And the resulting potential for roll-on acceleration? I’d swear it feels every bit as potent as early Turbos did, only without the laggy pause for intake of breath of the old Scoob. It’s a giggle to say the very least. The medium-heavy, alluringly tactile shift quality is surprisingly ‘Scoobyish’ too; likewise the progressive, composed-yet-supple way it Here is a Toyota quite clearly ready to hold rides and handles at pace. There was just a little bit of bite about our test your imagination like few performance cars car’s low-speed ride (Toyota’s optional Circuit Pack, as fitted, adds stiffer of the price. Even at this early stage, I wouldn’t springs, dampers and roll bars, as well as lightweight forged 18in alloy be afraid to call it a landmark car. If there wheels, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres and the aforementioned Torsen are more GR models like it in the pipeline, it slippy diffs front and rear), but it becomes pleasingly f luent at cross- could well be the start of an era every bit as country speeds. Most importantly, there isn’t a hint of the occasionally transformative for Toyota’s reputation among hyperactive vertical jiggle over testing roads that you can find in an car enthusiasts as Akio Toyoda intended. It’s not cheap; UK prices start at a whisker equivalent fast Ford, say. You just get really authoritative underlying SHOULD I BUY ONE? body control blanketed by an initial absorbency that’s as reassuring under £30,000, rising to £33,500 for a ‘Circuit as it is pleasingly pragmatic to unearth. Pack’ car, and so a fully loaded one might cost With steering that’s only medium-paced and a hint of moderation you 50 per cent more than you expect to pay for a about the suspension tuning, the car doesn’t pivot and swivel on turn-in hot supermini. But the GR Yaris so plainly isn’t quite like some hot . It might give back just a little bit more just another go-faster shopping car. reassuring weight and feel through its slightly muted steering, too. Whatever the badge on its rump may It has really striking mid-corner agility, however, changing direction suggest, it’s actually the kind of extra-special, energetically once it’s committed to a bend, and rolling only enough to rare-groove performance machine that comes communicate lateral load clearly. along very rarely indeed. The commitment, The four-wheel drive system isn’t there to allow the car to do an effort, skill and focus it represents simply impression of a rear-driven two-seater, clearly; even in sport mode, demands the attention of proper petrolheads. it only gently straightens the car’s cornering attitude with power rather We’ll be giving it plenty more attention yet, than rotating it towards the inner verge. Even so, it allows you to pour by the way; reporting in greater detail on the on power before you pass an apex - waiting just an instant as the boost car and its driving experience, and directly builds, the diffs bite in, and the car catapults itself viscerally inwards and comparing it with rivals. But we needn’t wait a onwards like a fast 4x4 of old. And the way it does so is as compelling a moment longer to declare that the GR Yaris a phenomenon as any driver’s car at this price level or below it can supply. new pint-sized champion among affordable, road-going, any-weather drivers’ cars. It’s every bit as good to drive as you might have hoped it would be. Honestly, it’s that good and then some.

To find out more about the Toyota GR Yaris, head to toyota.co.uk/gr-yaris AUTOCAR.CO.UK CHEAP THRILLS Our epic 2020 driver’s car fest starts with this – the contest to be named Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car.James Disdale relays the action

cloying autumnal mist hangs over Exmoor as we muster, early doors, for the start of our two-day A Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car contest. The murky conditions, a brisk wind that cuts through to the bone and a shortage of vendors of piping-hot tea should sap enthusiasm, but in fact the opposite is true. You see, not only are these moorland roads epically good, but we’re also going to be driving them in a quartet of cars that prove you don’t need a bank account under the name of Bezos to access a billion-dollar experience behind the wheel. Speaking of which, you’ll notice we’ve gone for an all hot hatch line-up this year. Well, sort of, because delve a little deeper and you’ll discover that each one stretches this decades-old descriptor in wildly different directions. Crucially, what they do have in common is uncommonly good value. All have prices that come in under £40,000 and a juicy PCP deal could mean paying not much more than £200 a month for the privilege of parking at least one of our contestants on your drive. First up is the Golf GTI, a 45-year-old legend that originally popularised the pocket rocket phenomenon and is now in its eighth generation. Then there’s a pair of returning but revised champs: the Ford Fiesta ST and Type R. One has been treated to some tasty tuning tricks, the other fettled with the addition of some gumball tyres and a stripped-out, circuit star vibe. Completing our quartet is the Toyota GR Yaris, a car that in size, four-wheel-drive layout and WRC-infused DNA could have fallen through a wormhole from an early-1990s group test with a Subaru Impreza Turbo and Ford Escort RS Cosworth. ◊ 2020 DRIVER’S CARS SUPERTEST

∆ So, where to start? Well, the Fiesta is the most affordable here, especially in the form tested, which gets the Mountune treatment for its turbocharged 1.5-litre triple, plus upgraded brakes and some cosmetic changes, but not the Essex firm’s choice suspension upgrades. And that’s as it should be, because there was always a sense that the Fiesta ST’s deeply capable chassis could handle more grunt, which is exactly what it gets here. The £890 engine upgrade delivers 232bhp and a punchy 258lb ft. It’s those engine mods that dominate initially (well, that and the relentlessly firm low-speed ride). A bespoke twin-exit exhaust gives it a deeper and gurglier backbeat, but the thumping mid-range is what really grabs your attention. The Ford accelerates with such muscular elasticity from 2000rpm that it’s easy to keep the ST snapping at the heels of its more powerful rivals. There’s a puppyish enthusiasm to the way the Ford goes about its business, rushing for the apex like a hyperactive terrier on the scent, playfully lifting an inside rear wheel as cornering loads grow. HONDA CIVIC It’s laugh-out-loud fun from start to finish. TYPE R LIMITED EDITION Few front-wheel-drive cars are as throttle MATT PRIOR adjustable. The Fiesta lets you tighten or The more time I spend widen your line at will – although buyer with these, the more I like them. On a circuit, beware, because even in its most sensible I’ve wanted it to be setting, the ESP gives you more angle of less about the front dangle than you’d imagine. ◊ end, but that doesn’t matter so much on the road. It gives loads back. I think it has the best steering of any current front-driver and it has terrific body and roll control. Exmoor provided a It does feel quite big. testing array of roads But I’m a big fan. for our hot hatches It’s harder-edged than past Golf GTIs but falls short on engagement

THE JUDGES

M AT T SAU N D E RS RICHARD LANE SIMON DAVIS JAMES DISDALE A N D R E W Road test editor Road tester Road tester Special correspondent FRANKEL MATT PRIOR Remembered to bring Gave our hot hatches a Heel-and-toe technique Didn’t need asking Senior contributing Editor-at-large waterproof trousers. thorough going-over, must have been twice to put the laptop writer The man with the Mercifully for shorter- but illness prevented adversely affected away and chip along. He Reminded everyone Go-Pro camera gear legged folks, though, him from voting on the by wearing one shoe even managed to avoid that Castle Combe set records with his he forgot the Allen big hitters. We missed and one flip-flop. But rear-ending the editor hosted the first one-take recording keys, so waterproof him at Combe; as did despite the ingrowing during some dramatic Handling Day in 1989. efficiency. He also had cushions weren’t our fine collection of toenail, he stayed the on-circuit car-to-car (He was deemed too to borrow Saunders’ needed in the Ariel. Pink Ladies. course like a true hero. tracking photography. junior to attend. As if.) waterproof trousers. You can’t win ’em all.

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∆ Yes, the ride is unyielding at low speed and some of Exmoor’s more testing stretches result ❝ in the odd hop, skip and jump, while the brake The Golf is a upgrade lacks the progression of the standard stoppers. But the basic Fiesta’s package is as compelling as ever. “I like it a lot,” says good hot hatch but editor-at-large Matt Prior. “It’s a fun factory. And very capable while it’s at it.” Exactly. not a great GTI If the Fiesta is the rabble-rousing teenager, then the Golf is the grown-up in the room, if history is anything to go by. Yet it could be ❞ that this heritage is starting to weigh heavily on the V W’s shoulders, because like many approaching their half-century, it appears to be going through something of a mid-life crisis. All the usual subtle but significant GTI calling cards are present and correct. Powerful turbocharged engine? Check. Lowered and stiffened suspension? Check. Red stripe on the front grille? Check. Checked seat trim? Erm, check. And yet something has changed. Senior contributing writer Andrew Frankel hits the nail on the head: “I don’t understand what they’re trying to achieve with this car. It had a unique formula so why change it? It’s like Apple deciding it really needs to be a bit more like Samsung.” Essentially, it feels like the Golf is trying too hard to keep up with the whippersnappers and has abandoned its hard-won reputation as cultured all-rounder in the process. Make no mistake: the Golf is a fantastically quick and capable car and it picks apart these helicoidal Devon roads with clinical efficiency and real precision. It’s clearly quicker point-to- point than its immediate forebear, the brilliant front-end grip, tremendous traction and cast- iron body control helping to keep it suckered to the road. The engine is a corker, too, pulling with real deep-chested muscle from nothing before zinging happily to the redline. ◊

Just two more to arrive before the sun sets

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∆ What’s missing with the Golf is the engagement Yes, there’s some wheel scrabble and torque steer when and back-and-forth banter to go with its harder-edged those Michelins are chilly, but they warm through quickly to character. The steering is too light and not chatty enough, deliver tenacious grip. Body control is absolute, the damping and while you can disable the ESP (although you’ll need effortlessly keeping everything on an even keel no matter Crystal Maze levels of problem-solving skills to do so), how evil the surface, and the engine still has that voracious the VW isn’t particularly expressive, preferring to play V-TEC addiction to the redline. Then there’s the improved it straight. Worse still, knock the dampers back into six-speed transmission, which is a slice of snickety-shifting Comfort mode and the brittle edge to the ride remains. heaven. If there’s a better manual in a front-wheel-drive It’s still the one you’d take for the long haul home, but the hatch, I’ll eat the Honda’s aluminium-topped gearlever. old easy-going nature has evaporated. “A good hot hatch,” If there’s a gripe, it’s the Civic’s size: it’s quite chunky says road tester Simon Davis, “but not a great GTI.” for a family hatch. Both the Matts, Prior and Saunders, Perhaps throwing the GTI’s issues into even sharper utter the same ‘it’s a big car’ comment after clambering relief is the fact that it rides no better than the Civic: the out of the Honda’s deeply bucketed driver’s seat. Oh, and same track-biased Civic that rolls on Michelin Sport Cup 2 the fact that the standard Type R delivers 99.9% of this rubber and has an interior shorn of infotainment, air-con Limited Edition model’s ability for about £6k less. and a chunk of sound deadening. “Still an exceptional But that’s about it for negatives on the Honda, driver’s car,” says road test editor Matt Saunders, wide-eyed and if you want something more compact and after a few runs. “Just gets the essentials so right: driving less expensive, well, there’s always the Toyota. ◊ position, control layout, Porsche GT3-level feedback and precision, spectacular body control at speed.” That reference to the rear-engined legend from Civic: brilliant steering, Zuffenhausen isn’t hyperbole, either. It has been said tenacious grip and before, but if Porsche were to produce an affordable sweet adjustability front-wheel-drive hatch, then it would drive much like this perfectly honed Honda. The steering is brilliant, with a just-so rate of response and all the feedback you’ll need, and the car pivots beautifully into a corner, its attitude up for instant and accurate adjustment using any combination of steering, brakes and throttle.

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI ANDREW FRANKEL I don’t understand what they’re trying to achieve with this car. It had a unique formula that’s worked better than any rival formula for 45 years. Why change it? It’s still pretty good – and I think that’s an important point to make – but it’s less good at what Golfs have always done best, and without a commensurate gain in dynamic ability.

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FO R D FI E STA ST MOUNTUNE M235 ANDREW FRANKEL Proves it’s not the ingredients but the recipe that counts. Diff aside, there’s nothing out of the ordinary here, but when it comes to the simple provision of fun, it knows exactly what to do. Amazing how hard you can tax that chassis with all that additional power and torque and it doesn’t just cope, it rises magnificently to the challenge.

Proof that if you want to get ahead, get a hat

∆ The fact that the Yaris exists at all is Get moving, though, and the Toyota is incredible. There’s no need for it from a brain-bulgingly, eye-poppingly exciting. motorsport homologation point of view, It’s simply so fast across the ground, thanks so you have to speculate that Toyota to its blend of compact dimensions, four-wheel- expensively developed and built a bespoke drive traction and a boosty engine that gets four-wheel-drive platform for its new stronger and stronger the harder you work it. supermini just for the hell of it. These are Most of our testers needed a few moments people we can work with. And while £33,495 to ref lect after an energetic attack on Exmoor, might look pricey for a Yaris, you can bet the but with thoughts gathered the superlatives brand isn’t making a penny out of it. soon flowed. “Stone the crows!” exclaims the Still, any financial loss is our gain, normally inscrutable Saunders. “I thought although the GR’s charms aren’t immediate. we might never see the likes of this car again Pugnacious wide-arched stance aside, the – what used to be called ‘a licence-loser’. Yaris feels a little ordinary at first. You sit And yet, for me, it has charms that come high behind the wheel and the interior is through right across the speed range.” rather workaday to behold. Hit the starter It’s the composure that gets you. No matter button and the three-cylinder engine fires what the surface or weather, the Toyota digs in into life so unobtrusively that you have to and goes, taking everything in its stride. There’s check the rev counter to confirm its running. barely a whiff of understeer on turn-in and its ability to let you get on the throttle so much earlier than in the others here is otherworldly. ◊ AUTOCAR.CO.UK 2020 DRIVER’S CARS SUPERTEST

∆ Yet there’s also a playfulness on show and you can subtly vary your angle of attack from corner entry to exit, the trick four-wheel drive sending enough torque rearwards for satisfying, four-square slingshots down the next straight, aided by a gloriously ferocious engine that really comes on song at about To find out more about the 4000rpm and feels twice as powerful as its official 257bhp rating. Davis describes it as a “furiously rabid weasel”, which I can’t really argue with. Toyota GR Yaris, head to We loved the Toyota, then? In a word, yes. So I won’t beat around the bush: toyota.co.uk/gr-yaris the Yaris smashed it, with five of the six judges placing it top of their list and the sixth putting it second. That’s as close to emphatic as you’ll get. So there you have it: Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car 2020 is a Toyota Yaris, and TOYOTA G R YA R I S that’s a line I never thought I’d write. Now, can this remarkable little machine CIRCUIT PACK pull off a similar giant-killing feat against the heavy hitters? RICHARD LANE The combination of supple suspension, boosty – but not especially laggy – power delivery and the meatily connected steering makes the GR Yaris feel like an Integrale for the modern era. It’s easy to drive, loves to be hammered, has well- positioned pedals and, if you’ll excuse the cliché, feels every inch the rally refugee it wants to be, minus the poor rolling refinement of bygone Mitsubishi Evos and the like.

❝ I thought we might never see the likes of this car again ❞

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