June 3, 2020

This Toyota GR Yaris Should Be the Shame of Gazoo Racing


Toyota and its bonkers go-fast division, Gazoo Racing broke the rules when it came out with the GR Yaris. With a tagline that read, “Born from WRC,” it is pretty much a homologation special made to satisfy WRC rules. So, it’s just weird that the company and division responsible for such hooliganism would sell out with this: the GR Yaris RS.

While it looks every bit like the GR Yaris, don’t be fooled. The RS here does not translate to anything remotely fast. Why? Well, because instead of a fire-breathing, tarmac-warping turbocharged engine, it’s got a 1.5-liter normally-aspirated three-banger. Oh, and that engine is not even mated to a manual; it is mated to a fucking CVT. Driving the front fucking wheels. Fuck. Talk about a sheep in wolf’s clothing.



Well, at least the GR Yaris RS’s body shell is still shared with its higher-performing counterpart. This means it gets aluminum body panels (hood, door panels) as well as a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic roof. It also gets the “real GR Yaris’s” all-around independent suspension, four-wheel ventilated disc brakes, and 18-inch alloy wheels. Oh, and at least it’s still built at the dedicated GR Factory where master craftsmen actually take the pain to assemble this 120-horsepower *sarcastic* masterpiece.

It’s just funny why Toyota and Gazoo Racing would come up with an underwhelming version of its GR Yaris. For sure, they want to make the GR Yaris appeal to a wider audience, maybe perhaps geriatrics or posers. But why do it so early in the GR Yaris’s life cycle. More than anything, this is like all those 1.8-liter CVT Honda Civics running around in a Type R body kit; only here, that Type R body kit came from the factory. Geez.

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