A drive with the GR Yaris.

Since its release, this car quickly became one of my favorites. Just because of the idea of a road-going rally car. I have always been a huge fan of rally racing and have followed the races since a young boy. Back in the day, that one time of the year where the WRC was coming to Portugal, it used to have a special stage in my hometown. It also had regular live transmissions on national television. So I grew up following the likes of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae and dreaming of one day owning a Lancia Delta Integrale.

Then, Toyota released the GR Yaris, the dream-car like Homologation special that maybe I could afford. I really needed to try one.

Looking through the Japanese websites, I found a special event by Toyota Rent-a-car where we could have the “GR Yaris Experience” (for a lot of money). I booked a day on the spot. I was so excited!

The day finally came and it was pouring rain... The car was there waiting for me, it was even in my favorite color for this car, the red. I get in, ready to go, and it’s an automatic?! I had no idea they came in auto… I felt a bit annoyed but the rent-a-car guy said it’s a JDM only version and this one has shifting paddle things, so ok I guess, I’ll try it and head out to the Japanese mountains.

The car: As soon as I started driving, I was immediately pissed with the gearbox. It is only usable in the higher gears when already at speed, the launch is terrible. And there are 9 gears!! But the worst part, there was no power… For sure it didn’t feel like a 270hp car. I made my research and found that this version was the GR Yaris RS, an under 120hp, automatic car. Basically, they are selling only the looks with this version. So very Japanese and oh my disappointment…

Speaking of the looks, this car is beautiful. It is small but wide, it's mean and I love it. The inside is comfortable, not too fancy, seats are huggy but not extreme, it’s very analog still which is a huge plus for me, you can see the development money wasn’t spent on the interior, and that’s ok.

Even though this wasn’t the full-on version with lots of power and fancy drive modes, it still held its own. The suspension was good, you felt the car planted and the car turned really quickly. The roads I went to were very typically Japanese mountain roads, which is to say really tight and winding. Awesome. We drove through mountains, tunnels, dams, and spent all day enjoying as much as we could this little car, even with the rain. As the day passed, the weather got a bit better and we ended up in Toyota Car Museum in… Toyota City, Aichi.

I made a short video of some of the mountain roads we drove through and you can get an idea of how they are. Check it below!

Finally, the day ended, I complained about the version I got for such an expensive rental price and delivered the car. As much disappointed as I was, it is now a goal of mine to someday own the real deal.

How do you feel about the GR Yaris?