One very hot little number comes from the Toyota stable, and with 200 kW and 370 Nm to play with this is a serious Best Hot Hatch contender.  It seems from out of the blue Toyota have made sure that the performance part of the equation is kept well and truly alive in a car that you might assume would be least likely to get big, raw power.  We’re more accustomed to seeing Grannies and Hair Dressers driving a typical Yaris about town, but now they can even have the choice of driving one of the quickest little hatchbacks currently on the market.

Priced at over $50k new, the 2020 Toyota Yaris GR may not seem very cheap, but then when you consider that this car can make cars priced twice as much seem very slow in comparison then you can understand that there must be more to the GR; and there is!  Now is the time to get very excited about the arrival of the Toyota GR Yaris, which is an AWD rally-derived version of the Yaris with a stonking 200 kW of power being pumped out of a three-pot Turbo.  Boasting a 1.6-litre, inline three-cylinder petrol turbo that is linked to a six-speed manual transmission and AWD, the Toyota GR Yaris is a thrilling car to drive in the purist motoring sense.

Underneath the front half of the car it’s all similar in dimension to your standard Yaris.  Head to the back half of the car and it’s essentially the latest Corolla.  Both the current Yaris and Corolla both use the TNGA platform, but the Corolla has a wider track, so in the new GR Yaris this wider track is exploited for the purposes of performance and rally racing alone!

Now we’re starting to get the picture forming that this Toyota is truly something special.  The GR Yaris is an out-and-out performance Hot Hatch with handling and grip that leave you in awe.  Boasting AWD and a wide back end, the car hangs on like glue over any road surface, and all this equates to a superbly fun and rewarding drive.  With as much as 370 Nm of torque available for all four wheels, the small Toyota GR Yaris is very quick over the ground.  The time from 3000 rpm to the red line is over in a blur!  There is loads of grunt to carry the quick cornering speeds through onto the straights where the car can get up to some insane speeds very quickly.

While you can happily commute to work in the new Toyota GR Yaris and enjoy a combined fuel consumption of around 8 litres/100 km – sometime less, you can make short work of the 0-100 km/h sprint in a mere 5.2 seconds!  Now how many cars, and what cars, can boast those sort of times.

You can choose from three AWD modes: Normal (front-biased 60/40 torque distribution), Sport (rear-biased at 30/70) or Track (50/50). There are Torsen limited-slip differentials front and rear and the car is shod with Michelin Pilot Sport tyres with 18-inch BBS forged alloy wheels.  The GR Yaris boasts a well sorted suspension system that is firm but compliable in Normal and Sport modes.  Track mode is understandably firm but outstandingly good – even fun on the road!  Sharp and direct steering, and awesome handling, is backed up by terrific braking.

On the exterior, only the lights and mirrors are carried over from the latest Yaris models. The car sits 55 mm lower than your normal Yaris shopper. The roof is carbon fibre; the bonnet, doors and tailgate are all aluminium.  This car is simply phenomenal.

On the inside, the Alcantara bucket seats are figure hugging and totally supportive.  The material is grippy – perfect for crazy cornering!  A chunky and solid little steering wheel feels great in the hands, and there are some sporty aluminium pedals and a leather gear shifter.  Dual-zone climate control, electric windows, electronic stability control, automatic cruise control, a reversing camera, keyless entry, AppleCar Play and Android Auto are just some of the nice features that come as standard on the car.  The sound system is a beauty, though an upgrade is available in the Convenience package.  Pay a little more for the Convenience package and a JVR audio, parking sensors, satellite navigation, an upgraded infotainment system, blind spot monitoring, a heads-up display and rear-cross traffic alert are part of the furniture.

Being a two-door, the back seats need to be entered via a smallish space behind the front seats.  Boot space on the GR Yaris is a rather tiny 174 litres (down from 270-odd in the standard Yaris), but then this is purpose built for the World Rally scene, so there is probably some serious wizardry components filling out the standard Yaris boot space, and who cares anyway!

This is one of the most delightful cars to drive for the enthusiast.  I think I’m raving about the new Toyota GR Yaris.  Yes I am!  This is a car that ticks all the fun boxes, and you’re also going to get Toyota reliability.

• The 2020 Toyota GR Yaris

For any more information on the new Toyota GR Yaris, for that matter, any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181.  If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quote requests out to our national network of Toyota dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours.  Private Fleet – car buying made easy!