Photo: Guido ten Brink / SB-Medien
Toyota hasn't built a hot hatch in many years. But to marks its return to the WRC and just because it's a good idea, the Japanese automaker let the racing specialists at GRMN make a supercharged Yaris.
The Geneva Motor Show plays host to three Yaris-based debuts. There's the regular car, which got the same facelift as the Japanese Vitz model, this 210 horsepower Yaris GRMN hot hatch and the next WRC race car. Who said Toyota doesn't have a pulse?
Our favorite has to be the Fiesta ST rival. In a market where everybody uses small supercharged engines, here comes the Yaris with a 1.8-liter supercharged oddball. There hasn't been a screw in a small car since the Mk1 MINI Cooper S.
Speaking of the first BMW era MINI, this feels like a fresh start for the Yaris. No matter how you look at it, the GRMN model is like your mother's shopping car with the biggest wheels and exhaust they could fit. By contrast, the Clio RS and Fiesta ST look like they were part of the design philosophy from the get-go.
The interior is a story of two worlds. On the one hand, you've got heavily bolstered sports seats and chunky aluminum padels, and on the other, the dashboard looks the inside of my fridge a day before I get paid: depressing.
As we've mentioned before, the last Yaris hot hatch was the T-Sport back in 2001 or so. Thanks to a 1.5-liter with Variable Valve Timing producing 105 horsepower, it got to 60 ni 8.7 seconds. We think this one will do it in less than 7, considering it's got more power and torque than the GT 86.
Of course, the regular Yaris will also look a little better for 2017, thanks to a new front end and some sharp LED headlights. But it's not an athlete at the top of its class. Let's hope Latvala and Hänninen can put Toyota's WRC team in the headlines this year.
Our favorite has to be the Fiesta ST rival. In a market where everybody uses small supercharged engines, here comes the Yaris with a 1.8-liter supercharged oddball. There hasn't been a screw in a small car since the Mk1 MINI Cooper S.
Speaking of the first BMW era MINI, this feels like a fresh start for the Yaris. No matter how you look at it, the GRMN model is like your mother's shopping car with the biggest wheels and exhaust they could fit. By contrast, the Clio RS and Fiesta ST look like they were part of the design philosophy from the get-go.
The interior is a story of two worlds. On the one hand, you've got heavily bolstered sports seats and chunky aluminum padels, and on the other, the dashboard looks the inside of my fridge a day before I get paid: depressing.
As we've mentioned before, the last Yaris hot hatch was the T-Sport back in 2001 or so. Thanks to a 1.5-liter with Variable Valve Timing producing 105 horsepower, it got to 60 ni 8.7 seconds. We think this one will do it in less than 7, considering it's got more power and torque than the GT 86.
Of course, the regular Yaris will also look a little better for 2017, thanks to a new front end and some sharp LED headlights. But it's not an athlete at the top of its class. Let's hope Latvala and Hänninen can put Toyota's WRC team in the headlines this year.
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