Toyota Yaris GRMN review: A supercharger nicked off the Lotus Elise adds zip to Toyota’s new hot hatchback
The 143mph Yaris sprints from 0-62mph in 6.3 seconds, faster than the Fiesta ST, Clio Trophy and 208 GTi
THERE are rules for every profession.
Office worker: Crack the “job interview?” joke when a colleague wears a suit. Eat M&S caterpillar cake on birthdays.
Builder: Down tools for PopMaster with Ken Bruce. Never say no to a cuppa.
Toyota worker: Build Yaris for old people. Repeat. Repeat.
But wait. What’s this?
Someone hasn’t read the staff handbook properly because this Yaris is bats**t crazy.
The bingo bus has been reincarnated as a hot, hot hatch.
The Yaris GRMN — I’ll explain the letters later — is powered by a supercharged 1.8-litre engine — yes, supercharged — that bangs out 215hp and sprints from 0-62mph in 6.3 seconds.
That’s faster than all of your hot-hatch heroes — the Fiesta ST, Clio Trophy, 208 GTi and so on.
Nerdy fact: The engine is built here at Deeside and the supercharger is nicked off the Lotus Elise. Yep, Lotus. There’s your bragging rights, right there.
Key facts: TOYOTA YARIS GRMN
Price: £26,295
Engine: 1.8-litre petrol
Power: 215hp
0-62mph: 6.3 secs
Top speed: 143mph
CO2: 170g/km
Out: Online orders only from July 27
It also gets a tidy all-black interior with suede sport seats and a smaller GT86 steering wheel.
Toyota is building 400 Yaris GRMNs to mark its World Rally Championship return after a 17-year hiatus.
It’s the missing link between the all-too-sensible road car and the flame-spitting rally car.
Well, you can’t inspire fans through motorsport and only give them a handbag.
But I’m happy to admit the GRMN is even better than I expected.
Mega front-end grip, twitchy rear under braking, responsive . . . and loud. It sounds the nuts.
Hot hatches live or die by their handling and this little rascal has a Torsen limited-slip differential (it kills mid-corner understeer), Sachs performance shock absorbers, stiffer springs, lower ride height and additional body bracing.
It’s also lighter than said rivals.
Other positives include the six-speed manual gearbox, 17in BBS alloys and beefy brakes — all of which have been “extensively tested” at the Nurburgring.
And that brings me nicely to the name.
GRMN stands for Gazoo Racing (Toyota’s motorsport arm) tuned by “Meister of Nurburgring”.
Yep, you’re thinking what I’m thinking. Daft name.
But I’ll let them off for letting me rip around the Nordschleife.
Car tester’s rule: Work hard, play harder.
VERDICT: Low numbers. Much fun. A future classic?
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'We're losing money on this'
TOYOTA is losing money on the Yaris GRMN – even at £26,295 a pop.
Its chief engineer Yoshinori Sasaki admitted: “Yes, big minus. Maybe I spent too much!
“But this is for the customer to have a good image of Toyota.
“We tested the Fiesta, 208 GTi and the Clio and each car has good points.
“The Fiesta has good handling. The Peugeot has good power. But in total I’m very happy with our car.
“It’s very stable at high speed and at low speed not so harsh.
“It does everything from shopping to Nurburgring.”
Fiesta does the time warp again
KEELEY HAWES stars in TV ads for the new Ford Fiesta – alongside Max Whitlock, Geraint Thomas and a Raleigh Chopper.
The time-warp “moving forward together” ad sees Keeley drive past herself as a learner, Max walk on his hands as boy and man and Geraint progress from Chopper to BMX to Team Sky ace.
It’s all very clever.
The ad will be aired for the first time during Corrie on Friday night, just as the new £12,715 Fiesta arrives in showrooms.
We’ve been loving the Fiesta since 1976.