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Almost a year after its unveiling at the Tokyo Auto Show, the most hyped hot hatch of the last decade finally arrives in Malaysia. The Toyota GR Yaris is open for reservation, making it the second Toyota Gazoo Racing product to make its debut here after the GR Supra.
Less than 200 units will be available locally, priced at RM 299,000 on the road without insurance. For that, you get the top-of-the-line Performance Pack which, as the name suggests, adds a host of performance-enhancing benefits, which we’ll get to in a second.
For a limited time, buyers will also receive an Early Bird package that includes a helmet bag, a GR Yaris scale model and a GR Yaris Driving Experience next year. The package is said to be worth RM5,000, which supposedly offsets the savings you get from a 50% reduction in sales and service tax (SST). The three colors available are Platinum White Pearl, Emotional Red II, and Precious Black.
The GR Yaris is a kind of homologation special, allowing Toyota’s World Rally Championship (WRC) team to bake in some crucial spots for what was supposed to be next year’s rally car. Unfortunately, that car was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the GR Yaris is still no less fascinating.
The pocket rocket is the only variant of the European and Japanese Yaris to come with three doors, and its custom bodywork is 45mm lower than that of the regular five-door. More importantly, the trailing edge of the roof is 95mm lower, allowing for the mounting of a larger and more efficient rear wing on the WRC car.
The pronounced fender flares give the car an aggressive stance and add 60mm of width. The huge rectangular lower grille feeds air to the engine, radiator and intercooler, while vertical air intakes on both sides cool the brakes. At the rear, you will find a large lower diffuser and two round tailpipes. The front splitter, bumper corner edges, mostly flat ground and rear spoiler all help increase downforce and reduce drag.
The dash has been heavily relocated, but with some detail changes. The 4.2-inch multi-information display has a display that shows the operation of the four-wheel drive system, the settings of which can be manipulated using the rotary controller in front of the gear stick. Speaking of which, the shifter has been raised 50mm, bringing it closer to the driver’s reach and allowing for quicker shifts.
They are also equipped with sport seats with cushioned cushions and thinner backrests, a GR three-spoke steering wheel and specially placed sports pedals. As for practicality, the GR has a much smaller boot at just 174 liters, although you can still fold the 60:40 split folding rear seats for more luggage space if you so desire.
Custom components extend to the engine, a 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder G16E-GTS. Regarded as the largest and most powerful three-cylinder engine in production, as well as the smallest and lightest 1.6-liter turbo, it comes with D-4S port and direct injection, as well as a single-scroll turbo integrated with the exhaust manifold.
We obtain the engine with European specifications that produces 261 hp at 6,500 rpm and 360 Nm of torque from 3,000 to 4,600 rpm, 11 hp and 10 Nm less than the Japanese. Still, it goes from zero to 100 km / h in just 5.5 seconds on its way to an electronically limited top speed of 230 km / h.
In what will be music to purists’ ears, the GR Yaris is only available with a six-speed manual gearbox, complete with a rev-tuning function. The GR-Four all-wheel drive system has been developed specifically for the car, Toyota’s first system of its kind in 20 years, and ditches the heavy center differential in favor of a multi-disc clutch in the rear differential to distribute torque across the rear. front of. and rear wheels.
The drivers have three different settings to choose from the torque split. In Normal mode, the car sends around 60% to the front wheels and 40% to the rear wheels, while Sport mode has a 30:70 split to add some rear-wheel drive handling characteristics. Tracking mode dials it back to a 50:50 split for maximum performance. The system also comes with a rear axle disconnect feature that allows drivers to pull the manual parking brake (instead of the electronic parking brake on the standard Yaris) to slide into a corner.
This all-wheel drive system is the reason why Toyota has spliced two of its platforms for the GR Yaris. The front end retains the same GA-B fundamentals as the standard car, but the rear uses the C variant of the Corolla and C-HR instead. This allows the installation of double wishbones at the rear, leaving room for the differential and axle shafts.
Up front, the MacPherson strut suspension has been retained, but it sports reinforced hub bearings, lower arms and their associated bushings, plus revised anti-roll bars and redesigned knuckles that increase negative camber and optimize the roll steering characteristics of the vehicle. car. Custom dampers are responsive, while the steering has been re-tuned for speed and response.
Going hand in hand with the improved chassis, the bodywork has been stiffened and lightened for this application, with increased spot welds and structural adhesive and a reinforced rear. A forged carbon roof and aluminum doors, tailgate and bonnet reduce by around 27.5kg and allow the body to weigh about 38kg less than the previous Yaris. Overall, the GR Yaris tips the scales at 1,280kg.
Remember what we said about the Performance Pack extras? Get some tissues to clean up your drool, because our GR Yaris has Torsen limited slip differentials in the front and rear to shift torque from side to side. They are also equipped with 18-inch BBS ten-spoke forged alloy wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S wheels, along with stiffer springs and anti-roll bars, retuned dampers, and adjusted power steering settings.
There are also red-painted brake calipers with GR insignia: the four-piston front bumpers are attached to 356mm discs (even larger than Supra’s), while the two-piston rear calipers are paired with 297mm discs. .
Standard equipment includes LED headlights, daytime running lights, fog lights and taillights, keyless entry, power button, two-zone automatic climate control, a front display screen, a front dash camera, a rear view mirror with auto-dimming, seven-inch touchscreen audio system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, reversing camera and six speakers.
Despite the sloping performance, the GR Yaris does not compromise on safety as it is equipped with the full suite of Toyota Safety Sense driver aids. These include autonomous emergency braking with approaching vehicle detection, cyclist detection during the day and pedestrian detection at night, lane center assist, lane keep assist, and automatic high beam. Six airbags and stability control also come standard.
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