Toyota Yaris GR4 4x4 Rally going into production.....

DarrenM343 said:
Then will have to decide whether to keep the MX-5 30AE RF which was supposed to be a keeper :). The yaris would enable me to return to one car again - currently running two due to the obvious flaw with the MX-5 (space & I hate parking it in carparks!)
Click to expand...

Keep it if you can afford it. I am keeping my 30th AE, you cannot drop the top on the Yaris.
 
Hi there

Had an hour in the GR today and it lives upto the hype so keeping my order on but will comment on what I feel others have not touched on:

- It feels under powered to me but that could be because it’s mapped quite linear as in something happens low down and then it seems to find full boost 3500-4000 and seems to pull happy to 6500 before it feels like it’s dying off a little. In earlier post I said I felt 300HP would be enough in this car but chassis and brakes are so good I feel to make it more lively it needs 400.
- Steering feel, plenty of it, surprising amounts, I’d just got out the Aston which has some of the best steering feel of any car and was not disappointed. Also very direct!
- Clutch pedal is too light does not match the gearbox which feels great, lovely shift action just don’t rush it.
- Ride comfort is superb, pot holes are absorbed it has zero crash, makes you feel you truly rally the car.
- Car has a real solid build quality feel to it like you can rag it all day, rally it and track it, never worry about it breaking.
- Seat height to me fine and the rear mirror and infotainment never distracted me i found visibility great and car easy to place. The seats are hugely comfy!

Id say in the dry this risk being a boring car even though it’s full of feel as it has a real like it can take any corner at any speed feeling, the car also hides its speed amazing well just like a much bigger car would which is a negative thing. In the wet the grip is mind boggling, way beyond that off an EVO/Scoob I’d say maybe down to modern tyres, diffs either end and how little it weighs.

Did not like the retirement red colour, so glad gone with white.

I’ll definitely be voiding my warranty though and will go for 350-400HP unless the lack of performance was more down to being three up and the car only done 100 miles so not ran in.

The fake sound is fine but at cruise and idle it’s totally silent inside which makes you think your just driving regular shopping cart.

Chassis and brakes are class leading no wonder it can be a sting in the tail to a super car on a road or challenging circuit but it needs some live adding to it by way of more power and noise I feel, otherwise it’s a drive 10/10 car everywhere as it’s so capable and so feel some.

Can’t think of much else apart from IMT is rubbish and it’s mega easy to do yourself anyway, I averaged 21mpg and was driving for 59 minutes on mainly B roads.

The Abarth feels as fast maybe faster because of how poo it’s chassis is and the fact it has old school power delivery but the Abarth though fun is at heart a Fiat 500 whereas in the Yaris you know your driving something solid that was built by a race team, it’s very sorted and maybe a little too good.

Oh and the sales manager reckons due to demand and success Toyota will build more but he is expecting U.K. price to increase by 10% soon due to Brexit and other reasons as mainly Toyota don’t make a profit on them.
 
Last edited:
I drove one this morning too, similar length of time solo drive

My thoughts differ from yours a little but perhaps due to where we are coming from

So firstly, a negative, the seat height definately an issue for me, the hieght is not too dissimilar to my Punto but roof is lower, I can just about put my hand between my head and roof which is goimg to be problematic for a helmet. There is a good couple of inches of empty space under the seat but mount points are high on the side so how solvable it is in aftermarket I am unsure, I also struggled to get comfortable in the seat, I'm a fatboy so probably my issue but also getting out due to seat positioning I found it a struggle navigating steering column with my legs, such is the way I was sat, again I am not an agile guy. I didn't hit my head on the lumpy bumpy stuff when hooning on rough roads but will advise anyone to take their helmet on the test drive, if you have circuit intentions, I'm going back up with mine in the new year.

Performance wise it was good as expected, I was mostly focussed on the mundane stuff, my majority drive, you know what it was like off boost, pootling about and it was pretty decent, only marginally worse off boost than my current car but not annoyingly so, gear changes are fine and smooth, I found the front end is a little dead, I did not check pressures etc, it may have been soft, though it could just be PS4s, Michelin always feel a little less communicative than some tyres particularly new, they have the grip just not the feedback, car had only done a few hundred miles though and I run F1 supersports which are of course already worn in on a lighter car with a pointy front end, I'd imagine some wear in and tweaking on the Yaris would get it there.

Playing with the performance this morning on the greasy roads, my car was an absolute scrabbly mess, diff pulling front end this way and that, its quite exciting, but not fast :D in the YGR, wow, no drama, I managed to break traction once or twice where it goes into mild understeer and then just shoots but the way it puts its power down is impressive in low grip, obviously 4wd vs 2wd but still, its going to be a killer at a slimey hillclimb/sprint. The 3 pot pulls hard to the redline and actually went over it without an aggressive power cut (not intentional overrev just happened during a slippy pull out of a roundabout) due to conditions I left safety systems on, I don't know the car and am not a driving god, it did cut in according to the light but didn't feel obtrusive at all, my car will slap you and take power away :( They way this thing pulls to the redline is superb doesn't feel like it wants to give up, definitely loads of potential, so I'm still interested, definately soaks up lumps and bumps well.

Other Disappointments, engine note, whilst I didn't mind the augmented sound it is enjoyable enough it didn't sound as rally car as my Punto, no turbo whistle or wastegate chatter which considering the location of turbo in front of driver is surprising, the engine drama from the Abarth on the way was greater and it's not exactly amazing either.

Media screen, its massive which I have no issue with but they strip circuit pack cars of simple functionality like nav, sure you can use AA/ACP but there's a map button and when you push it nothing happens, weird choice considering it is packed with other frivolous stuff stuff such as L2 autonomous driving, which i don't mind, who doesn't like a bit of radar cruise on the motorway, just saying, the screen fundamentally seems pointless except for reversing but they have then packed a billion pages of screens into the tiny driver display, some of that could be on the big screen, then I suppose you would Focus on the fact it's directed at the passenger.

Some might complain about interior but I am coming from a car that started at 7k base so to me seemed perfectly fine, perhaps not fine for a £34k car but when I sit in 50k German cars they seem poor also to be honest, quality definitely taking a shift downwards in most cars chasing profits.
 
Retirement red? :D
I thought could be a bit boring in some cases due to it's sheer ability and grip. It's an easy car to drive fast, probably. Being able to have fun at fairly low speeds is something I love about the MX-5 along with it's fizzy engine (top end).
Anyone managed a cruise @ 70MPH? I've read can be a bit too noisy?
21MPG is pretty poor :). Good effort by those test driving though.
 
DarrenM343 said:
Retirement red? :D
I thought could be a bit boring in some cases due to it's sheer ability and grip. It's an easy car to drive fast, probably. Being able to have fun at fairly low speeds is something I love about the MX-5 along with it's fizzy engine (top end).
Anyone managed a cruise @ 70MPH? I've read can be a bit too noisy?
21MPG is pretty poor :). Good effort by those test driving though.
Click to expand...

Yes as my interest is as a daily and I can sit on the motorway for hours so I did a stint on the M4 in the YGR with cruise enabled at 75, just a junction so a few miles, its perfectly fine, quiet, I should qualify that with in comparison to my MX5 and Abarth both of which have relatively poor refinement from road noise I actually arrive at the dealer from the motorway stint which led on to a dual carriageway when trying to drive how I would normally and not like a lost McRae and onbard said 39mpg, I doubt i would ever see that in reality, it likes revs too much.

It was a grey day and yes the red didn't pop, looked a bit drab.
 
Last edited:
sandys said:
Yes as my interest is as a daily and I can sit on the motorway for hours so I did a stint on the M4 in the YGR with cruise enabled at 75, just a junction so a few miles, its perfectly fine, quiet, I should qualify that with in comparison to my MX5 and Abarth both of which have relatively poor refinement from road noise I actually arrive at the dealer from the motorway stint which led on to a dual carriageway when trying to drive how I would normally and not like a lost McRae and onbard said 39mpg, I doubt i would ever see that in reality, it likes revs too much.

It was a grey day and yes the red didn't pop, looked a bit drab.
Click to expand...


I got to see red in sunlight, pictures on my Instagram and found in direct sunlight is was still a bit meh, the colours are quite a let down with this car, considering the cool colours you can get an Aygo in its thoroughly disappointing that the selection is white, white, black and retirement red.

Would look awesome in the purple or orange Toyota do the Aygo’s in and blue probably look great too.

Suspect more colours will come on later years or special editions.
 
Hi there

I did also take some pictures, here is a couple, I feel in photos the red looks better than it does in the flesh which is quite unusual.
Quite excited about getting mine next year, looking forward to seeing what it can really do when I am alone and can properly push it a lot harder. :)

gr1.jpg

gr2.jpg



It is a great looking little car, that when you look in the mirrors reminds me of my 911 with those huge rear hips. :D
 
I liked the red in person, just didn't fancy it sat next to my red 4c. I think the white is more 'rally' and will suit it long term. I also quite like the idea of a black one with the wheels refinished in that Satin Aurum (?) Porsche colour? Bit flashy but would look cool I think.

Hoping mine will go into build before new years, ordered 16/11 and the ETA on the form is 12/3.
 
Chris1712 said:
I liked the red in person, just didn't fancy it sat next to my red 4c. I think the white is more 'rally' and will suit it long term. I also quite like the idea of a black one with the wheels refinished in that Satin Aurum (?) Porsche colour? Bit flashy but would look cool I think.

Hoping mine will go into build before new years, ordered 16/11 and the ETA on the form is 12/3.
Click to expand...


Mine has not gone into build yet either. cannot remember when I ordered mine, but was in November and my delivery date is 16/3.
 
Chris1712 said:
OaCNkPL.png
This was an interesting watch, tight track so it's suited but impressive nevertheless.
Click to expand...


Like you I've pretty much watched every video.

The one thing that surprises me is its ability on a circuit, normally these kind of cars, like Subaru's and EVO of this ilk tend to lose out to their RWD competition on a track day, particular in the dry, but the Yaris GR seems to be not only an incredible B road car but also an extremely capable track car too, which and the only thing I can think of is the lightweight of it, or maybe simply because its a far newer AWD system with diffs at both ends.

Not complaining either way, what I will say that maybe the regular none circuit pack car is a better more fun road car, as the one thing I did notice in my test drive of the circuit pack car, it is simply way too good on the road, it has too much grip as it is so sure footed even in miserable conditions, I've driven many EVO's and Scoob's but none of them gripped like the Yaris, but to be fair I think the lack of power in the Yaris is part of the reason, also the fact it is the only car to wear PS4S in 18" size too, so it has the best tyre, along with latest AWD system along with lightweight and differentials either end, it is just a grip monster.

I will get mine, drop some weight, see how it feels and then maybe drop in a race chip tuning box to see how that feels and then later down the line start making physical modifications, exhaust, proper remap etc. as I truly feel this car will need at least 350HP to feel alive and more towards 400, the chassis is simply that good.

But for a 260HP car it shoots well above its weight, I won't be going this extreme with mine, but imagine what it could do on track tyres, stripped to 1100kg and with 500HP.
 
Chris1712 said:
Litchfield & RaceChip both have plugins ready @ 300bhp. Once the ECUs cracked I bet a big noisy induction and exhaust will see you at 330-340, exciting!
Click to expand...

May take a while as its a Denso ECU. They're notoriously difficult to work with unlike the Bosch ECU's MED17 based stuff for example, and other Bosch units. Its also very model specific, and ultimately companies need to make money from putting the work into cracking them which is why many Toyota ECU's do not have any remap options available.
 
SonicSW20 said:
May take a while as its a Denso ECU. They're notoriously difficult to work with unlike the Bosch ECU's MED17 based stuff for example, and other Bosch units. Its also very model specific, and ultimately companies need to make money from putting the work into cracking them which is why many Toyota ECU's do not have any remap options available.
Click to expand...

Guess those who want big power will just add piggy back ECU's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom