You’ll have come across the Toyota Yaris before; a dependable and unassuming supermini seen pootling around towns, running errands and patiently waiting in supermarket car parks all over the nation in large numbers every day.
To be clear, the car we’re talking about here – the Toyota GR Yaris – is not one of these. It’s a Yaris but it’s not a Yaris.
You could see it instead as the Yaris’s evil twin, although there’s not even much in its DNA to see it as related. Remarkably, only its front and rear lights and wing mirrors are shared with the standard Yaris.
It’s more than ‘just’ a hot hatch too because rather than being a revved up version of an existing model, it’s been built from the ground up. Hand-built in fact by a Toyota crack team, as a personal project from Toyota’s CEO.
It has real-world race credentials as well, developed with the World Rally Championship in mind, and so following in the footsteps of such fabled road-going race versions as the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and the Subaru Impreza.
With this kind of lineage then, the £30,000 Yaris GR is carrying a lot of hype and is prone to causing heart tremors in people who formally identify as ‘revhead’.
To some, it’s of greater interest than a £200,000 supercar, which seems crazy when you see it, but after driving it for a few hours, you begin to see what they mean.
Parked up, it’s not flashy in the least. No bulky body skirts and spoilers, or superfluous details. This minimalism only adds to its allure. Everything is geared towards making it as light as possible (around 1300kg in fact), right down to its stealthy-looking carbon fibre roof.
Turn the ignition and the engine note delivers a low-level growl, but more like a nervous puppy than an attack dog and certainly nothing to signify what’s to come.
The bespoke 1.6 litre turbo-charged three cylinder engine produces 257bhp. A trusty six speed manual gearbox instead of paddles, brings a welcome throwback feeling. And it’s all delivered through a bespoke all-wheel-drive system.
The car’s urgency is evident straight away, not in the screaming caged tiger manner of some performance road cars, but with an understated confidence that it will respond whenever and wherever the driver decides. Immediately you get the firm sense that this is a car you can trust.
Pedal to the floor, it will manage 0-62 in 5.5 seconds, though it feels faster.
Its rally-engineered chassis, braking and traction credentials nonchalantly bat off the twistiest country roads like fruit flies at a picnic.
It’s flattering too, and very easy to find yourself driving way too fast than you should be, yet the car seems not remotely troubled by its exertions. Leaving you to wonder in awe what it must be like when driven on the edge.
There’s the option to switch to Sport mode where 70 per cent of the power is delivered straight to the rear wheels for added slide potential.
All this and it’s comfortable too, with none of the hard ride you expect from other hot hatches which can leave you wanting a neck brace after a single speed bump.
Which overall, makes it a car you would happily climb inside every day of the week. Easy to park and more than practical enough for daily duties, with a bonkers personality shift available on demand, it would turn even the most mundane drive into a road trip, shift the grumpiest of drivers into a cackling hedonist.
And here’s the one problem. All those bad habits you might moan about in other hot hatch drivers – tail-gating, flooring it at the lights, general impatience and unnecessary urgency – I seemed to acquire myself the moment I started driving the GR Yaris.
I hate yobby drivers but in this car I might just have temporarily become one. Apologies to anyone affected. The car’s spirit and enthusiasm took over. It’s simply too good, too fun, too likeable. Yes, your honour, it was the car’s fault.
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