Re : Toyota GR Yaris - official!

[Boxhiller]

Too many people bigging it up, not just on here but especially on YouTube. The car could be a great, should be amazing etc. - and now expectation of next-level performance....
I agree, on the face of it , it's got all the right ingredients on paper but the only actual driving reviews so far are of a pre-prod. model and some blasts around a track and a not entirely complimentary short road drive to that track by a Top Gear bod.

Still, this all really got going back in January - six months ago! So not too long to wait now eh?

[Trevor555]

Boxhiller said:

Too many people bigging it up, not just on here but especially on YouTube. The car could be a great, should be amazing etc. - and now expectation of next-level performance....
I agree, on the face of it , it's got all the right ingredients on paper but the only actual driving reviews so far are of a pre-prod. model and some blasts around a track and a not entirely complimentary short road drive to that track by a Top Gear bod.

Still, this all really got going back in January - six months ago! So not too long to wait now eh?

It wont be next level performance.

258bhp weighing 1280kg

That's around 200bhp per ton.

But as a £30,000 daily I'm sure it'll be fun.

[shoestring7]

RB Will said:

Lankan said:

Indeed, the Integrale Evo would be a good benchmark to measure GRY's capabilities against, and given Toyota's general reliability, I suspect we wouldn't have as many trips to the dealer/garage to have things fixed.

Edited by Lankan on Wednesday 15th July 14:32

I’d be expecting the GRY to absolutely murder an Integrale.
There was a magazine test about a decade ago, track test at Cadwell, so about as near to a good B road as you can get in controlled conditions.
Old vs new hatches. The Integrale was significantly slower than a standard Corsa! And I’d expect the GRY to leave the Corsa by a similar margin.
Similarly comparing my 20 year old Scoob to a Focus RS. The engine response and chassis on the RS are a different world to my Scoob despite their extra weight.

If Toyota couldn't manage to build something faster than an Integrale some 30-odd years later we wouldn't have 83 pages on PHs anticipating it. But as both are 5-door humdrum hatchbacks that have been given a turbo engine and bespoke 4wd drivetrain & body parts, a dose of development by a rally team, and sign off by a large manufacturer in order to homologate it for international competition, its not surprising that comparisons have been made.

I hope it lives up to the hype, Toyota's recent track record suggests they know how to build a car with driver appeal.

[Tr1cky]

Sam.M said:

Just spoke to a sales guy at Guildford(about 40 mins from me), they're non-plussed. No communication from Toyota despite it being on their website and in Autocar. Left my number for a call back.

Have a view booked at Guildford (ordered the car through them) on Saturday morning, will get some pics

[Lankan]

shoestring7 said:

RB Will said:

Lankan said:

Indeed, the Integrale Evo would be a good benchmark to measure GRY's capabilities against, and given Toyota's general reliability, I suspect we wouldn't have as many trips to the dealer/garage to have things fixed.

Edited by Lankan on Wednesday 15th July 14:32

I’d be expecting the GRY to absolutely murder an Integrale.
There was a magazine test about a decade ago, track test at Cadwell, so about as near to a good B road as you can get in controlled conditions.
Old vs new hatches. The Integrale was significantly slower than a standard Corsa! And I’d expect the GRY to leave the Corsa by a similar margin.
Similarly comparing my 20 year old Scoob to a Focus RS. The engine response and chassis on the RS are a different world to my Scoob despite their extra weight.

If Toyota couldn't manage to build something faster than an Integrale some 30-odd years later we wouldn't have 83 pages on PHs anticipating it. But as both are 5-door humdrum hatchbacks that have been given a turbo engine and bespoke 4wd drivetrain & body parts, a dose of development by a rally team, and sign off by a large manufacturer in order to homologate it for international competition, its not surprising that comparisons have been made.

I hope it lives up to the hype, Toyota's recent track record suggests they know how to build a car with driver appeal.

In a nutshell, this is it...albeit the GRY is a 3-door whilst the Integrale is a 5-door hatchback.

How the GRY handles and its driveability should be the focus here, and to me, that is what the measure should be, not how fast it goes (i.e. its 0-60 time or max speed) or how many features/toys it has, etc. Too many new cars are just that, fast, easy to drive, no real effort required, loaded with creature comforts and nannying electronics, plus they are large/portly, heavy, and unwieldy.

As a long-term Porsche enthusiast, this is the biggest bugbear I have with the marque. Having owned a few of their motorsport creations (i.e. RS and Clubsport versions) over a 15-year period, I find their more recent creations are absolutely huge! I wanted to get a 981 GT4, which to me is the only Porsche that is of a reasonable size, but then when I weighed up its performance/capability and the costs of running one with that of a Lotus Exige S, the latter was a far more sensible option, so went for a 2010 Exige S RGB instead, which, at almost half the price of an equivalent 981 GT4, is almost as quick, if not quicker. Given the difference in weight between the two, of circa 390kgs (950kg vs 1,340kg), the RGB is likely to be more nimble through corners, when one can brake later, harder and still get around a corner faster due to being much lighter. Since both cars are mid-engined, neither has an advantage when it comes to traction out of corners.

This is what I hope the GRY will resemble and perform when I eventually get to drive one - with a kerb weight of 1,280kg, the GRY is slightly heavier than my old 964RS (a car that I absolutely loved) albeit slightly larger in its proportions. The 964RS was built for smooth surfaces, so a direct comparison is not fair, but if I feel the same level of connection when driving the GRY as I did with the 964RS then that will be it for me.

As such, so far, at least on paper, and from the driven reviews of pre-production/prototype Circuit Pack cars I have seen so far, all the ingredients are there for the GRY to be truly excellent. However, the final verdict will need to be held back until I actually get to drive it.

[plenty]

Lankan said:

What I am hoping is that the GRY to have an effect on the populace as the Integrale had when it was first introduced, and have the same effect when one got behind the wheel, thus being the benchmark that other manufacturers need to aim for in that category.

That's what the Integrale did - establish itself as the benchmark. Will the GRY do the same? Guess we will know soon.

Lovely sentiment, but regardless of how good the GRY is it will never have anything like the impact of the Integrale, or the UR-Quattro, or the Impreza, or the Evo.

The market has moved on. 'Ring times and headline power figures are the only benchmarks that most people pay attention to. And no-one watches rallying any longer.

[sonett]

Tr1cky said:

Have a view booked at Guildford (ordered the car through them) on Saturday morning, will get some pics

Being up north, it will be a while before we get a 'static' display car. One of my concerns is the seating position, I am 6' 2'', so if you see any tall persons milling about or maybe you are around that height, possibly have a look to see how they fit?

[anonymous-user]

Spoke to Guildford again today. It’s a free for all, no slots needed.

[sonett]

plenty said:

Lovely sentiment, but regardless of how good the GRY is it will never have anything like the impact of the Integrale, or the UR-Quattro, or the Impreza, or the Evo.

The market has moved on. 'Ring times and headline power figures are the only benchmarks that most people pay attention to. And no-one watches rallying any longer.

Some of us still watch the odd rally
We were in Sweden earlier this year to watch the WRC, this is were I got my first view of the new GR. This was at the Torsby service area/Special Stage.

[sonett]

[sonett]

[sonett]

This was taken in the small showroom next to the service bays.

[Lankan]

sonett said:

plenty said:

Lovely sentiment, but regardless of how good the GRY is it will never have anything like the impact of the Integrale, or the UR-Quattro, or the Impreza, or the Evo.

The market has moved on. 'Ring times and headline power figures are the only benchmarks that most people pay attention to. And no-one watches rallying any longer.

Some of us still watch the odd rally
We were in Sweden earlier this year to watch the WRC, this is were I got my first view of the new GR. This was at the Torsby service area/Special Stage.

Second that - love watching in-car footage of WRC cars going hell for leather, which is rather exhilarating and entertaining. Always amazed at how adept top drivers' in pushing these cars to the absolute limit.

The GRY looks rather lovely in black. Trust it was on static display?

Edited by Lankan on Thursday 16th July 15:48

[sonett]

Yes, static display and they were locked They did have a red GR as a course car, but I didn't get a pic of that one.
Black is good as long as you don't go out in it, I have a black TME, go down the road and it looks as if its never been cleaned.

[Lankan]

sonett said:

Yes, static display and they were locked They did have a red GR as a course car, but I didn't get a pic of that one.
Black is good as long as you don't go out in it, I have a black TME, go down the road and it looks as if its never been cleaned.

Have to agree with you re Black being hard to keep clean. How did the Red look? I have ticked Pearl White in the pre-order, but my wife likes Red, and since it will be her car, guess I will have to yield at some point.

[sonett]

Lankan said:

Have to agree with you re Black being hard to keep clean. How did the Red look? I have ticked Pearl White in the pre-order, but my wife likes Red, and since it will be her car, guess I will have to yield at some point.

I'm torn between pearl white and red.

It looked a bit weird on the skinny snow tyres.

Official Video..
https://youtu.be/BFDgoGHvyCQ

[Lankan]

sonett said:

Lankan said:

Have to agree with you re Black being hard to keep clean. How did the Red look? I have ticked Pearl White in the pre-order, but my wife likes Red, and since it will be her car, guess I will have to yield at some point.

I'm torn between pearl white and red.

It looked a bit weird on the skinny snow tyres.

Official Video..
https://youtu.be/BFDgoGHvyCQ

Thanks for that - indeed, the GRY looks rather odd with those skinny snow tyres.

Looks like the red paintwork (Scarlet Flare) changes colour depeding on whether it is under artificial or natural light.

[kentbloke]

sonett said:

Yes, static display and they were locked They did have a red GR as a course car, but I didn't get a pic of that one.
Black is good as long as you don't go out in it, I have a black TME, go down the road and
it looks as if its never been cleaned.

This was the very reason I changed my order from Black to Red, I had a black MK3 focus rs and a black Leon cupra, they both looked mean when clean, but the layer of dust on the roof after a day drove me mental

[Deathmole]

Looks tremendous in red, very nice indeed. What a cool little car.

[moonigan]

I too have gone for pearl white as I was unsure about the hue in the red. Impossible to judge from photos as red is notoriously bad to photograph accurately. If the red looks ok then I may change.