RALLY GR-EAT UPGRADE FOR TOYOTA FAVOURITE

EXCELLENT YARIS NOW EVEN BETTER THAN PREDECESSOR

- 

With the possible exception of Porsche, no other car company caters better for the enthusiast than Toyota.

Not only does it make some truly exciting cars, but it makes the effort to dramatically improve them when they fall slightly short in a few areas.

For example, the GT86 coupe was affordable but lacked punch. Toyota had another go and produced the excellent GR86.

The Supra sports car went down well but a certain band of customers wanted a manual gearbox option. Toyota provided one. And that brings us to this week's test car, the GR Yaris that Toyota launched in late 2020 - a rallyinspired offering based partly on the Yaris itself but with bits of Corolla thrown in as well.

It has a carbon fibre roof - exotic - and power comes from a turbocharged three-cylinder engine that produced 260PS driving all four wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.

Compact, lightweight and with realistic and usable performance.