GR Yaris adds 'vertical handbrake' to option list
Toyota announces new revisions for the GR, including chassis upgrades - but there's a catch
Toyota is nothing if not true to its word. It often likes to talk of how Gazoo Racing’s motorsport activity is constantly improving the road cars, and here we are - less than 15 months after the Gen 2 GR Yaris’s introduction - with another significant update. No more power this time around, but plenty to be encouraged by nonetheless; Toyota reckons this refresh ‘elevates driving performance, strengthens the connection between driver and car, and further amplifies the GR Yaris fun-to-drive sensation.’ And it was hardly doing bad beforehand.
The recently introduced eight-speed auto has been subject to a few changes, perhaps in response to some reviews that haven’t adored the torque converter. There are now ‘detailed improvements to gear selection control’, said to be focused on speedier driving, so hopefully the auto will be a tad more decisive when it really counts. There’s also a larger footrest, oddly, to ‘enhance the two-pedal driving experience.’ But no need for a footrest, really, when your left foot is there for braking like a proper rally driver…
Speaking of braking, we must discuss the new, optional handbrake. Available for both auto and manual GR Yarises, Toyota suggests it’s been influenced by rally (of course) and promises all sorts of hilarity off the public road. Or away from prying eyes, at least. Certainly no danger of anyone missing that lever, either…
Like all the very best Japanese icons (think GT-R, Evo and the like), the latest package of GR improvements sound modest, and don’t make the car look any different - but sometimes seemingly minor changes can make a meaningful difference. There’s mention this time around of an ‘evolved sense of oneness’ thanks to better steering response (already improved for the Gen 2) and straight line stability. That’s been achieved with new suspension settings and ‘higher fastening rigidity’ bolts. Some existing bolts have been tightened up with more torque.
Alongside further optimisation of the dampers, retuning of the electric steering and the input of racing driver Kazuya Oshima, Toyota has really invested some time in making ‘the sensation of a 1:1 relationship between steering wheel input and wheel response’ as good as it can be. With meaningful progress already made in that regard with the Gen 2, hopes must be high for this revised version. So perhaps that makes it Gen 2 Evo, or Gen 2.5.
Whatever the official name, though, best not get too excited about UK availability. Because we ain’t getting it. For whatever reason, Europe will get this enhanced spec of GR Yaris, complete with suggestive handbrake option, while the UK makes do with the current Gen 2 spec. Which seems even harder to get hold of than ever. Perhaps the aftermarket will be able to incorporate some of these improvements in time. For now, much like the Corolla and Supra Final Edition, this Yaris will be another GR gem denied to enthusiasts over here. Pity.
The small tweaks make sense to me. Quite often when engineers investigate the behaviour of a car, they find that a particular problem or characteristic arises from a single component or assembly which has some unwanted movement in it under load - one thinks of Parry-Jones' team realising that the Fiesta RS1800 had more wheel travel as a result of subframe flex than actual spring deflection, or the importance of a well located steering column seemingly eluding some GM/Saab engineers in the late 90s. So it's believable that they took the existing car to the limit, identified a suboptimal aspect to the car's response, and worked out that tightening up a certain bolt would improve it.
With it not coming to the UK I can only imagine that Toyota either built a batch of cars, or ordered batches of components, for the current UK RHD spec already, and so will need to move these first. Otherwise I find it hard to think why they would go to the trouble of specifically building the old spec for this market. So I imagine that we'll still get some incremental improvements to the GRY down the track.
With it not coming to the UK I can only imagine that Toyota either built a batch of cars, or ordered batches of components, for the current UK RHD spec already, and so will need to move these first. Otherwise I find it hard to think why they would go to the trouble of specifically building the old spec for this market. So I imagine that we'll still get some incremental improvements to the GRY down the track.
Re the GM/Saab steering column, I think possibly you mean the rack itself, which moved, promoting the bulkhead cracking.
Surely it’s just in the way of the gear stick.
Not that we would be getting it in the uk market anyway.
Clearly designed for LHD market, which would explain why we're not getting it.
But presumably will be available in its home market, which is RHD.
After going to the trouble/expense of developing it in the first place, it does seem quite odd.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff