SIBLING RIVALRY

THE GR YARIS LEFT US A LITTLE NONPLUSSED. NOW THAT THE RALLYE VERSION HAS LANDED IT’S TIME TO SEE WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT. CUE SOME HARD DATA

-  SCOTT NEWMAN

IT’S FAIR TO SAY that the Toyota GR Yaris is one of the more disappointing cars in MOTOR’s recent history. That might sound harsh – and it is – but it’s less a reflection on the quality of the car and more to do with the huge weight of expectation it arrived under.

Toyota’s hot Yaris landed in Australia riding a wave of homologation hype, overseas pundits proclaiming it the best thing since sliced bread and a scintillating return to sporting form for a brand that had laid dormant in the performance arena for decades. No, I’m not forgetting the 86 and the Supra, but they were joint ventures with Subaru and BMW respectively – Toyota is always keen to point out that the GR Yaris is the work of it and it alone.

Our first taste of Toyota’s Gazoo Racing hyper hatch on local roads came at last year’s Performance Car of the Year and it’s fair to say that the experience resulted in a lot of scratched heads. Sure, there was plenty to like about this super-heated baby hatch, including a stonking engine, reasonably slick manual gearbox, fantastic brakes and impressive suspension calibration, but so too was it deeply flawed.