TOYOTA GR YARIS

Life-affirmingly wild little hot hatch turns 'Gen 2' with numerous detail changes

- MATT PRIOR

The revised GR Yaris has arrived in the UK. It's a car that Toyota thought would be too niche to have to revisit, but owing to its surprise popularity, here one is.

To recap my prototype drive from the 17 January issue, the changes are largely focused on making this little hot hatchback more durable when driven hard. So there's better cooling, with a stronger mesh in front of the radiator, lights have been moved away from the hot exhausts and the engine and manual transmission internals have been revised.

Toyota has taken the opportunity to raise power and torque, too, to 276bhp (from 256bhp) and 288lb ft (from 266lb ft), and add an eightspeed automatic 'box as an option.

There's no separate Circuit Pack option now: torque-sensing differentials and firm suspension are standard. Firmer, in fact: spring rates are 46N/mm at the front and 40N/mm at the rear (up from 36N/mm all round on the old Circuit Pack car) and there's a stiffer front anti-roll bar.

The drive modes have changed names and altered the four-wheel drive system's power distribution: in Normal, 40% goes to the rear, in Gravel it's 47% and in Track 40-70%.

Body changes include 15% more spot welds and 15% more adhesive used to stiffen the shell, while the front strut mounts are reinforced.

The brakes, wheels and tyres are the same as before.