Scarlet Flare GR Yaris Circuit Pack

[scottos]

Hi All,

Thought i may as well start a thread, i tend to with most of the cars i've had as its nice to keep a log of ownership!

I had the use of a demo GR Yaris for a whole weekend a couple of months back and knew i had to have one, for the roads i frequent it just made so much sense and it was such fun. I did have a 5.0 v8 Lexus ISF as the 'daily' at that point, which i really had no intention of selling and i was very fond of it but i rarely took it out for drives 'just because', especially if it was wet! So away it went, sadly.

Fast forward to last friday and i picked my Scarlet Flare GR Yaris up. This is my first ever brand new car so i was excited for it (im normally too tight to loose money on brand new cars but with these it doesnt appear to be the case!)

At the dealership, Stoneacre Gateshead, great service from these guys:

IMG_20210709_155018 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210709_155000 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Other than a '65' plate Golf R Estate i had, i tend to be in cars that are 10+ years old so the new found tech, such as Android Auto, is a revelation to me and also the head lights are crazy good. I'm never bothered about sat nav in cars but being able to use Waze through AA is great, plus Spotify too, it's all just really nice and easy.

At the top of our village with 40 miles on the clock:

IMG_20210709_172850 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210709_172838 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210709_172909 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210709_172934 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

The colour is amazing, im so happy i ended up with a red one, it probably wouldnt have been my first choice initially but had i got white and saw the red i think i'd have been wishing i got red.

I was itching to drive it the next day but managed to hold off as i wanted to get the arch linings out and spray on some Lanoguard that i'd bought as the rust protection looks minimal under there!

IMG_20210710_124858 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210710_124912 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210710_132407 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210710_132410 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210710_143136 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

It dried like a matt waxy type finish:

IMG_20210710_163434 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

It cured pretty quickly with it being so warm but I left it 24 hours and got out in it the next day and i was glad i got the protection on, drove through some monsoon like rain whilst out in the North Pennines. I checked underneath and all the water had just beaded off everything so it seems like a great product so far.

IMG_20210711_185628 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210711_181502 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210711_175442 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210711_182427 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Mods-wise im not too fussed on changing much, i've fitted some of those carbon rock guards to the front and a godspeed mirror riser. I've got my private plate to go on as well so that will happen once the blanks for the front plinth arrive.

IMG_20210711_172705 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

I'd be lying to myself if i didnt say i'll probably end up with an intake and an exhaust, just for a bit more noise if anything! Im waiting it out for more products at the moment, the GR tax on most current products just seems mental!

Thanks for reading

Scott

[sortedcossie]

I saw one of these earlier this week, the photos don't do the colour justice!

Enjoy, it looks great.

[JFReturns]

Fantastic, congratulations on the new purchase!

[Bright Halo]

Very nice
Best colour for the GR I think although it looks good in white and black as well.
Shame they didn’t do a nice metallic blue as I think that would have suited as well.

Good idea doing the the underside protection.

[BlueJ]

Congratulations OP, great colour, that looks superb.

As a former RC F owner I followed your thread on the IS F here and on the Lexus forum, good to see you back with the new wheels - happy motoring!

[scottos]

sortedcossie said:

I saw one of these earlier this week, the photos don't do the colour justice!

Enjoy, it looks great.

Thank You and i agree, pictures make it look pretty flat but it looks like you could dip your hand into it in person!

JFReturns said:

Fantastic, congratulations on the new purchase!

Cheers, appreciate it!

Bright Halo said:

Very nice
Best colour for the GR I think although it looks good in white and black as well.
Shame they didn’t do a nice metallic blue as I think that would have suited as well.

Good idea doing the the underside protection.

Thanks and i agree now i've seen a red one in person, mine was the first time up close when i picked it up and i was happy it was a red one!

Im hoping the protection will do the job, ill look again before winter and top up any areas that are needed!

BlueJ said:

Congratulations OP, great colour, that looks superb.

As a former RC F owner I followed your thread on the IS F here and on the Lexus forum, good to see you back with the new wheels - happy motoring!

Thank you, i wasnt sure what could top the ISF, i did think maybe moving onto an RCF or potentially a GSF (maybe wishful thinking being so rare!) but that would've been some time in the future. Now im back in a hatch im glad i made the move!

[Rawhide]

Congratulations. I've never had a new car either but I'm on the long list to recieve my GR Yaris in Q2 2022. I've a master plan to warm up my family to it's 'practicality' in this time by having just bought a Honda CR-Z which has laughably small rear seats. When they the GR Yaris arrives they will be positively spoilt by the luxury!

I'm intrigued by the Lanoguard. That seems like a very sensible idea and I'll likely do something similar. I'm keen to understand if the mudguards are mostly cosmetic or if they really do protect the arches somewhat. I hope in the months I wait some of these first world problems will be worked through

Edited by Rawhide on Friday 16th July 15:10

[scottos]

Rawhide said:

Congratulations. I've never had a new car either but I'm on the long list to recieve my GR Yaris in Q2 2022. I've a master plan to warm up my family to it's 'practicality' in this time by having just bought a Honda CR-Z which has laughably small rear seats. When they the GR Yaris arrives they will be positively spoilt by the luxury!

I'm intrigued by the Lanoguard. That seems like a very sensible idea and I'll likely do something similar. I'm keen to understand if the mudguards are mostly cosmetic or if they really do protect the arches somewhat. I hope in the months I wait some of these first world problems will be worked through

Edited by Rawhide on Friday 16th July 15:10

Good job and i bet you cant wait! What have you ordered?

There's very little protection under there and im sure the surface rust would set in rather quickly on the parts like the trailing arms, hubs etc.

If you look at the picture of the guards you can see where the wing/ skirt cut right in, if you leave it as it is then the whole side of the car gets peppered, including the front of the rear arch. Apparently its an aero thing but im sure its fine to cover it! The leading edge of the front skirt/ arch is all in the firing line too, i thought best to cover it from day 1. Lots of people are fitting these big rally mud flap things but i think they look absolutely terrible, you can hardly notice these ones.

[Rawhide]

scottos said:

Good job and i bet you cant wait! What have you ordered?

There's very little protection under there and im sure the surface rust would set in rather quickly on the parts like the trailing arms, hubs etc.

If you look at the picture of the guards you can see where the wing/ skirt cut right in, if you leave it as it is then the whole side of the car gets peppered, including the front of the rear arch. Apparently its an aero thing but im sure its fine to cover it! The leading edge of the front skirt/ arch is all in the firing line too, i thought best to cover it from day 1. Lots of people are fitting these big rally mud flap things but i think they look absolutely terrible, you can hardly notice these ones.

I've ordered a Pure White CP car. I did originally order a Pearl white but I've changed to flat white as I think it will be more subtle and easier to colour match if required. I also hope this might expedite the order time as there would likely be more in production/cancelled.

The guards do look good. I'm not keen on modifications on a new car but if they really are solving a real problem thats fine with me. I've looked into the Lanoguard also and that looks like a great product. How many litres did you use? 2 or 5 ?

[jamesbilluk]

Looks fantastic! especially in that colour. I saw my first one a couple of days ago, locally to me. Had a lot of road presence, it was in the same Red as yours. Enjoy

I must stop looking at the classifieds for them!...

[Yorkshire Lad]

Ordered a Scarlet Flare with CP earlier this month and it looks like I just got the order in just in time as Toyota are saying any orders from now will be 2023!!

The colour does look amazing in the flesh. The Lanoguard is certainly something I would do as well and also the narrow stone guards as those rear flanks look very vulnerable to chips. I think I might have mine done with PPF on all forward facing surfaces as an extra protection. Keep the updates coming and roll on May 2002 for mine to arrive.

[scottos]

Rawhide said:

I've ordered a Pure White CP car. I did originally order a Pearl white but I've changed to flat white as I think it will be more subtle and easier to colour match if required. I also hope this might expedite the order time as there would likely be more in production/cancelled.

The guards do look good. I'm not keen on modifications on a new car but if they really are solving a real problem thats fine with me. I've looked into the Lanoguard also and that looks like a great product. How many litres did you use? 2 or 5 ?

I bought the 2L one and i think i've probably got enough left to do the whole thing again and i was putting loads on!

jamesbilluk said:

Looks fantastic! especially in that colour. I saw my first one a couple of days ago, locally to me. Had a lot of road presence, it was in the same Red as yours. Enjoy

I must stop looking at the classifieds for them!...

Thanks, with the ones i've seen on the road i thought the same too, they look like aggressive little things!

Yorkshire Lad said:

Ordered a Scarlet Flare with CP earlier this month and it looks like I just got the order in just in time as Toyota are saying any orders from now will be 2023!!

The colour does look amazing in the flesh. The Lanoguard is certainly something I would do as well and also the narrow stone guards as those rear flanks look very vulnerable to chips. I think I might have mine done with PPF on all forward facing surfaces as an extra protection. Keep the updates coming and roll on May 2002 for mine to arrive.

It sounds like you did, those 2023 allocations are confirmed either so if you order now then its only going to be possible if they make any more, crazy all for a Yaris haha I think id of ordered the standard white but mine was the first red one i saw in person and was so happy i ended up with a red one!

[scottos]

Continued use of the car since the last post has consisted of a couple of commutes up to Newcastle (56 mile round trip) and plenty of hooning, i was glad to see the MPG on commute journeys is pretty good, mid 30's or so without trying, more time on the motorway would have made it better i guess.

Parking out of the way in Newcastle, happy to see no one had joined me when i got back!

IMG_20210715_114851 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

I decided to clean the car for the first time in last fridays heat, which i instantly regretted, i couldnt dry the thing quick enough and i was sweating buckets. I then went for a drive out and it was covered in flies and brakedust after 25 miles anyway :ROFLMAO:

Went out to the middle of nowhere, bliss. Another 120ish miles boxed off. It really does romp on over these roads, i've started opening it up a bit now as i approach the magical 621 mile mark!

IMG_20210716_183859 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

IMG_20210716_184240 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

I went out with friends yesterday too but didnt take the GR, if i did then i'd have likely hit the magic number. I decided to take the sweatier, harder work option! Typically when i wasnt in my GR there was one where we parked up! I posted the picture on the Facebook page and the owner replied. He was busy showing a young lad with a GT86 around the car so didnt get chance to have a natter with him!

IMG_20210718_172940 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

It also does the family thing quite well with a bit of thought. Rear facing baby seat means you have to put the baby in through the boot, you get bemused looks off people! This left plenty of leg room in the front for the missus too and both of them like the car. The big lad always smiles/ laughs with a bit of foot down, he was the same in the Lexus too albeit the other halfs Volvo v50 doesnt have the same effect!

IMG_20210719_092752 by Scott Osborne, on Flickr

Cheers,

Scott

[clarki]

It just looks soooooooooooooooooooo much better in that colour!!

[Court_S]

It looks fab in that colour.

There seem to be a few owners on PH. I’ve not seen one in the wild yet.

Are you missing the ISF at all?

[scottos]

clarki said:

It just looks soooooooooooooooooooo much better in that colour!!

Thanks!

Court_S said:

It looks fab in that colour.

There seem to be a few owners on PH. I’ve not seen one in the wild yet.

Are you missing the ISF at all?

Yes and no, it felt like an old friend even though i only had it 10ish months. It felt like it would never let you down and just did everything (except snow!) incredibly well. I miss starting it up and the general noise/ theatre of the thing, the straight line pace it had is missed too albeit i was ever more conscious about not stretching its legs too much, it got silly quickly!

It always felt quicker than the stats suggested and demonstrated this a couple of times against things that should've been quicker, in the cases where they werent friends cars i can only imagine the people were thinking what on earth is this diesel taxi doing pushing me down the road and that was its charm, it blended in, got no negative attention but could be a hooligan when called upon!

I'd have kept it if i could've afforded too but im also much in the mind id rather drive a slower car at 80% on the road than a faster car at 40%, especially on the roads i frequent, where doing NSL (ish) is quick! On those roads i dont think much would stick with the GR, its a crazy little machine.

[fooman]

Best colour! The white is too ordinary for this special car, though I'd have one any colour.

[Bright Halo]

fooman said:

Best colour! The white is too ordinary for this special car, though I'd have one any colour.

Strange thing is that there is two white’s. A flat and a metallic, would have thought better to offer one white and something else (a blue maybe) instead.
I struggle telling the whites apart unless up real close.

[Rawhide]

Bright Halo said:

Strange thing is that there is two white’s. A flat and a metallic, would have thought better to offer one white and something else (a blue maybe) instead.
I struggle telling the whites apart unless up real close.

I drove a scarlet flare demonstrator but ordered a pearl white car, then changed to a flat white to allow for easier paint repair due to challenges in matching pearl white. It also seems like a colour with some legacy for Toyota. However I do honestly now regret not buying red after seeing a new flat white one parked up locally in the sun. The curve disappear in the direct sun.

The red really does look fantastic.

[chrismc1977]

Nice colour.

These looks wide in the flesh- could just do with being a big more squat to my eye. Looks a wee bit bug-like with the stock ride height.

A little bit lower a la Harry Metcalfe’s looks much more purposeful

Already a modern classic I’d say.