2021 Toyota GR Yaris track test and performance review

CarExpert

How does Toyota's flagship performance hatch go against a race track and a race driver? Chris Atkinson takes the 2021 Toyota GR Yaris and pits it against the clock at Queensland Raceway to see how quick this luxury hatch is.  Toyota GR Yaris review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKa9KcAyQk8 Toyota GR Yaris v Supra dragparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tBayznxg_c  Lap time leaderboard: https://www.carexpert.com.au/lap-times/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=other-video  More Toyota content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota More Toyota GR Yaris content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota/yaris  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Acceleration and braking figures: 01:03 Initial impressions: 01:19 Hot lap (no talking): 03:00 Hot lap debrief: 04:09  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #toyota #gryaris #review

Transcript

00:00 Hey guys, Chris here and we're back at Queensland Raceway, our test track, and today it's pretty

00:04 exciting because we've got the Toyota Yaris GR.

00:07 Now I've heard a lot of good things about this and probably the coolest thing is that

00:11 it brings me back to when I started rallying and they had a mulligation specials with the

00:15 Subarus and the Evo Mitsubishis and now 30 years later nearly, Toyota are doing the same

00:21 thing again which is really, really cool and really exciting.

00:25 Now it's a 3-cylinder 1.6 litre turbo, 200 kilowatts and 370 newton metres of torque

00:31 and one of the most powerful 3-cylinder engines in the world.

00:34 6-speed manual transmission and all-wheel drive which is pretty important in a rally

00:37 car and that's got a clutch pack in the centre rather than the differential and that distributes

00:42 torque front and rear and go from 60 front, 40 rear all the way to 30 front, 70 rear or

00:47 in track mode 50/50, giving you lots of options.

00:50 So I'm really excited to test that out and basically just see how quick this is on track.

00:55 Now I've read a lot of good reviews, haven't seen any lap times yet so it's going to be

00:59 interesting to see where it fits in.

01:00 First I'll do the 0-100 and the braking test and then some hot laps and see how quick she is.

01:19 Alright so initial impressions, I don't mind the seating position, you do feel high, it's

01:25 almost a little bit like a mini SUV but angle's not bad, it's actually quite a soft seat,

01:31 very cushiony which is a little bit strange, it's comfortable but probably in a track car

01:36 you want a slightly firmer seat because you do move around a little bit in the cushioning.

01:39 Steering wheel for me is good size, dash layout's pretty standard, nothing exciting there, I

01:45 would have liked something maybe a little bit more special like a centre dial and a

01:50 big rev number, shift light and all that, that would have been quite cool.

01:54 Let's see the engine.

01:57 Not bad.

01:59 Seems to rev reasonably well.

02:03 Decent torque and it pulls through the rev range so pretty quick, doesn't blow you away,

02:10 it's 200 kW, it's solid but it's not crazy power and reasonably light, it's 1280 kilos

02:17 so pretty light so that's going to be an advantage but the winning part for me is going to be

02:21 the traction, if we can get the balance right, get the traction off the corner then we're

02:26 going to do a quick lap time.

02:29 Brakes actually feel really good, I was impressed with the brakes in the 86 and this feels even

02:36 better for me.

02:37 I really like when you can modulate and control that pressure and the car's not taking over

02:42 and there's no interference there.

02:44 I've turned traction control off, stability control off and pretty much that's all I can

02:49 do and it's going to be interesting to see how it compares to the hot hatches, down a

02:52 little bit on power compared to some of them but you've got the bonus of the all wheel

02:57 drive.

02:58 Alright let's start our flying lap.

03:03 I'm going to try and get a little bit of traction.

03:23 I'm going to try and get a little bit of traction.

03:53 So there you go guys, the Yaris GR.

04:14 Now time wise, it's actually a pretty good time when you look at it for the segment that

04:19 it's in.

04:20 It's a 1.015, so 61.5, right in the middle of the Golf GTI TCR and the Golf R, actually

04:28 faster than the Golf R by two tenths.

04:31 So pretty impressive from a little three cylinder Yaris, that's pretty cool.

04:38 I am impressed with this car, there's so many good little bits about it.

04:41 The suspension which I didn't talk about in the beginning, the initial feeling is excellent,

04:45 similar to the brake pedal, just rolls over a little bit, nice and soft but still with

04:50 support.

04:51 So for an everyday car, throwing around, having fun, like ideal setup, doesn't feel harsh

04:57 and just absorbs all the bumps and I think on a back road this car could be so much fun.

05:02 The gearbox I did struggle a bit with, I had a few mis-shifts and I noticed it got worse

05:07 the more laps I did, so just with the heat, just sometimes felt like I didn't quite fully

05:12 engage the gear and I couldn't quite trust it, so that hurt me a little bit.

05:17 Interesting thing is the best lap I did was the first lap.

05:20 My first flying lap in this car was the quickest lap and after then I went slower and slower

05:24 and slower.

05:25 Now I think there's two main reasons for that.

05:28 First the tyres, there is a rally version coming and it hopefully solves both these

05:33 problems.

05:34 So I think the tyres are good initially but once they've got some heat in them, they just

05:38 never came back to that initial grip that I had and even when we gave it a rest and

05:42 checked the tyre pressures, I could never get it back to that initial feeling, the grip

05:47 and the traction that I needed.

05:49 And the reason I say that is because this doesn't have the differentials front and rear

05:53 that are coming in the rally edition, the Torsen LSDs, that as long as you've got grip,

05:58 I don't think you need those.

05:59 The car is really well balanced, the car's got great traction but as soon as the grip

06:03 drops away and I started to slip a wheel, then the balance went away and I think the

06:07 differentials in the rally edition would really help there.

06:11 But just the tyres are going to make a difference and it's going to be more consistent throughout

06:15 the laps and not drop off as much, that's my gut feeling.

06:19 Now back to the differentials, what I liked about this and it reminded me of the old Subaru

06:24 when you could roll the dial forward and lock the differential and we used to use that in

06:27 Group N cars and basically lock the differential and when that didn't work, you lost a lot

06:31 of time on the stage.

06:33 And also a bit like an active WRC car back in the day where I could adjust the pots in

06:37 the car and I could tune the balance front and rear depending on the tyre wear during

06:42 a stage.

06:43 With this, in track mode with 50/50 torque split, I found when the grip went away, then

06:50 I had a bit more understeer in the fast corners and just couldn't get the car to rotate as

06:57 well.

06:58 Yet as soon as I put it in sport mode which is 30 front, 70 rear, then I could get the

07:02 car to rotate on the entry there.

07:04 But then I lost out at the exit of the corner with the 30/70, so off this slow corner coming

07:10 up here, I definitely had some understeer in sport mode, yet in track mode with the

07:16 more balanced torque split 50/50, then I could have a better drive off the corner.

07:21 So it's great that that's working and working to a level that I can really feel the difference.

07:27 Tune wise, it's solid, like it's not slow but it doesn't blow you away and you can imagine

07:33 from a 3 cylinder, as much power as you can squeeze out of it, there's always going to

07:37 be limitations with the width of power.

07:40 And I'd say the good thing is that it does feel like it revs pretty freely and it revs

07:43 nice and easily and doesn't have any hollow points, just is a good solid package and is

07:49 more than enough.

07:50 If it's running with a Golf R, then that's definitely not a slow car.

07:54 So hats off to the Yaris for that.

07:57 Steering feedback I thought was quite good as well.

08:00 Reminds me a lot of the things of the feeling of an 86, just in a completely different package.

08:06 And anyone getting one of these is not going to be disappointed, I think it's a real little

08:10 rocket ship, great fun, handles well, you're not afraid of living at the edge and you can

08:16 just enjoy this car in so many different driving situations, whether it's a huge track like

08:21 you are here or on a tiny little back road, I think this car can be great fun in many

08:26 situations and that's what we want out here.

08:30 Hope you guys enjoyed the video, if you did, hit the like button and don't forget to subscribe,

08:33 lots of great content coming in 2021 so look forward to that and let us know what you'd

08:38 like to see on the track as well.

08:39 We'll catch you guys again soon.

08:41 (upbeat music)

08:43 (upbeat music)

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