THE NEWEST &
EATEST HOT-HATCH?
I’m sure the majority of you have now heard about the newest hot-hatchback to grace our roads here in Australia and in numerous other places around the globe (sorry USA) and that of course is the Toyota Yaris GR-Four!
Pretty much every automotive magazine and YouTube channel has been boasting about how amazing this new GR-Four is, some even saying its the best hot-hatch of all-time, which is a very bold statement considering the lineage of hot-hatches over the decades. So at this point I thought a test drive was in order to see for myself how good of a hot-hatch it really is and whether it lives up to the hype - but first lets take a look back in time and see just how the GR-Four came to be.
Photo by Toyota
The GR-Four is the newest in a line-up of rally inspired sports cars, that started all the way back in 1986 with the Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165. The ST165 after a few years would then be succeeded in both 1990 with 150 examples of the ST185 being sent to Australia and then again in 1994 with only 77 examples of ST205. Each generation of GT-Four Celica would be visually based off their respective generations of front-wheel drive Celica’s with some added exterior parts for both performance and a more aggressive visual appearance, such as: hood vents, wider fenders and larger wing. The GT-Fours’ undoubtably boasted more power too using the 3S-GTE turbo power plant (which was also used for the Supra race cars at the time) and a state of the art AWD system. All these GT-Fours were Homologation Specials, meaning that a certain amount of road going versions of the rally car had to be sold to allow the rally version to compete in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and that is exactly how the GR-Four Rallye was being marketed with 250 examples believed to be coming Down Under, however now there is no such limited number which is sad to hear in my opinion.
1986 Toyota Celica GT-Four (ST165)
1990 Toyota Celica GT-Four (ST185)
Instagram: @royalsteer
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four (ST205)
Moving on to the Toyota Yaris, the Yaris name has been around since 2005 in Australia, it was the second generation worldwide known as the XP90. Going forward there have been a few generations now and all have typically been one of the best selling small cars, due to their unbeatable reliability, great price and of course their ease of use. When I hear the word ‘Yaris’ I still immediately think of the small car my mum would use to get the groceries in and I don’t think I’m alone here either and still believe the car would’ve been better off being called the Toyota GR-Four.
2005-2016 Toyota Yaris (XP90)
The word ‘Yaris’ in motorsport though means something completely different to those who follow the WRC. The Yaris has been Toyota’s flagship rally car since 2017 (officially) and has been very successful might I add with notable championship titles in 2018 (Manufacturers), 2019 (Drivers and Co-Drivers) and 2020 (Drivers and Co-Drivers) — all of this is what has led up to the release of a much anticipated all-wheel drive turbo Yaris for the road.
2018 Toyota Yaris WRC Race Car
Looking at rally cars now versus back in the Celica days, the design has become a lot more aggressive looking with massive aero being used. So there was a lot of speculation on what a road going version would actually look like and its now safe to say the majority of us are not disappointed. The GR-Four Yaris is a bespoke vehicle for Toyota, only sharing its headlights, tail lights and overall interior layout really with the new FWD model variants.
Now looks are highly subjective, but in my opinion overall Its quite nice - I like it. The front end is nice and aggressive the way it should be, wheels are excellent as far as design and if you look behind them those massive brake callipers and rotors show you this is a true driving machine.
The interior overall is actually quite a comfortable place to be as well, with sporty seats branded with the GR logo that hold you in well, but do sit a smidge too high - but certainly not a deal breaker. A tasteful leather steering wheel that feels premium to the touch, a good infotainment setup (for its price point) as well as decent touch points all around the cabin compared to what I expected from photos I'd seen prior. A nice shifter, power mode adjusting knob/button which allows you to select your drive mode - Normal = 60:40 front/rear split, Sport = 30:70 and Track = 50:50 - this feature is cool to have and makes a noticeable difference depending which mode you've selected. It has a real handbrake too which is of course for us enthusiasts. My personal favourite part though is the WRC plaque, which reminds the driver that it's something special you're driving.
The negatives for me come in the form of the rear-end that is just not growing on me personally, I can see there is appeal with the wide arches and all, but for me its not working as much as I’d like it to. The interior as I mentioned is as a whole a nice place to be, there were things I disliked however and they were the speedometer in general, it just looks quite cheap in my opinion - I understand the idea was to have it looking raw and performance orientated, but could've been much better. The rear seats are not as user friendly as I thought they would be - quite a tight fit, which is a bit of a let down, but also being the sport model, its understandable, it’s just less practical than some of the other competition in the segment. All in all though as far as the visuals go I’d say Toyota have done a spectacular job especially considering the way some other cars are starting to look in this day and age.
The Performance of the GR-Four is really impressive with the 3-cylinder turbocharged engine making a staggering 200kW and 370Nm of torque, making it the worlds most powerful production 3-cylinder engine and allows the Yaris to launch from 0-100kph in less than 5.5 seconds (quoted) and even down into the 4’s when tested independently with gripper tyres and a fluid change. All of this is of course aided by its very impressive AWD system, Limited Slip Differential (Rallye only) and its light kerb weight of 1320kgs (according to CarSales) which is only 60 odd kilos more than my 86 GT-S.
Getting behind the wheel of the GR Yaris was quite a pleasant surprise for me - my goal was to go in with a clean slate and as little bias as possible. Being a 6-speed manual made it a lot more involving - the shifter area has even been lifted up from the original height of the regular Yaris to make it closer to the steering wheel which I loved the idea of. The auto-off feature when driving I didn’t like and have never liked it in any car, it should be press the button to engage it, not the other way around, either way its easily turned off so didn’t alter my driving experience. Playful, planted and punchy would be the three words I’d use to describe the time behind the wheel of the GR-Four. Playful - the hot-hatch just felt willing and very able to be chucked around and take it, the engineers did a great job making sure it was a very serious performance car but yet also still appealing to the fun side of driving, which to me is the whole point of a hot-hatch. Planted - talking about that notion of serious driving, the feeling is that you could push this little Yaris as far as you wanted and it’d still exceed the limits of the driver ten-fold, that is considering we can’t all drive like Ken Block of course. The lack of an L-SD in the base model didn’t phase me since I was on the street, but I can imagine darting out of corners would be made that little bit sweeter with the L-SD. Lastly the punchiness was just next level compared to what I was expecting for the GR-Four, immediately you feel the abundance of torque carrying the lightweight chassis forward, it was like a slingshot that just didn’t die off the further forward it flew, even up at 6000rpm the car had another kick of power to the redline of 7000rpm, which is impressive when in a turbo car. Knowing that this car had a 1.6L 3-cylinder engine I just didn’t expect that much torque, but due to the lightweight of the car you could really feel that engine bring the chassis to life. It’s worth mentioning too that the induction sound didn’t really phase me and did sound quite tough as an engine note - an exhaust however is definitely needed.
Photo by Motortrend
My final thoughts on the Yaris are very positive, it nearly made me make an impulsive purchase at the time, but once you let the dust settle you begin to see things a little more clearly. Now for me this car performs extremely well and it also comes in a brilliant 6-speed manual, which are to my dismay getting harder to come by these days, but even so there are many cars out there that can perform just as good or even better - so it comes down to price point.
The debuting offer was $39,950 AUD for the first 1,000 sold and I believe another 200 were then offered at $44,950 AUD (the offer I was given) - at these prices the GR-Four is an absolute steal when you realise the absolute beast you are getting for your money. But after the 1,200 had all been allocated, prices have since gone up for the late 2021 delivery, it’s gone up to $49,500 (for the base excluding on road costs) and I believe around $56,200 for the first 200 Rallye’s sold. The Rallye’s will all come in Pearl White paint and will also come with a Torsen L-SD as standard, 18-inch forged BBS wheels with PS4S tyres, ‘Circuit Tuned’ suspension, red interior stitching, front brake ducts and red painted brake callipers with the GR logo - whether this is worth the extra money is down to the individual, for me versus the new $49,500 price for the Base, I think its worth it, but compared to the original offers for the Base I’d say its not worth the difference.
So what I’m getting at here is that there are many excellent performance cars out there and price tends to be the big deciding factor. I believe the GR-Four is now in the wrong price bracket for what you are getting, 40-45K to me was the sweet spot where you had them selling like hotcakes, and keeping the Rallye to limited numbers would justify the higher price tag and keep it exclusive (like the predecessors) - but this again is just one guys opinion.
I hope you’ve enjoyed me go on and on about the new GR-Four, whether its the greatest hot-hatch of all time belongs to time to decide, but its certainly on the upper end of segment. The pros far outweigh the cons for this little weapon and I hope those who have received theirs are having the summer of their lives in it!
Overall its been quite an exciting release and a hot-hatch I really enjoyed test driving thanks to Hornsby Toyota - I look forward to seeing what Toyota has next for us spirited drivers moving forward.
