Three Years Later, is the Toyota GR Yaris Still Worth The Hype?

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Fun fact about the GR Yaris: It has a longer wheelbase than a Porsche 911 🙂 Regarding the few drawbacks of the Circuit Pack: It does have Apple Car play and Android Auto so navigation etc. is no problem at all. Also, I upgraded my speakers for about 350 Euro so it's now better than the convenience pack's stereo. I simply don't understand how anybody would get this car with the convenience pack, this car is literally defined by the torsen differentials.

59 cars owned including M cars Italian horse cars, my 2020 gr is the longest I’ve kept a car 44000 faultless miles so far, incredible car. Staggering grip, never a dull moment

I love my GR yaris, still look at it every day and get that "coooor what a car" feeling - and its never let me down

The map button does work if you connect an iPhone or Android, it will open your last used nav app in carplay or android auto. Who needs a built-in sat nav these days?

For anyone still unsure about this genesis of the GR, Chris Harris did an excellent review for Top Gear. Harry Metcalfe ordered one after his review. It’ll run rings around other more exotic/expensive machinery on a British A or B road, most of which have to give up at the first roundabout … or crash! It’s way more capable than my previous M4 Comp even if it lacks that car’s outright speed. A simply phenomenal car with incredible engineering. I waited over a year for mine and drove one for the first time on delivery day. It’s every bit as good as James report, which is why mine is a permanent fixture in the collection.

I’ve had mine 3 years now and I’m still in love with it. It’s the bends, it’s just such a giggle driving through them in a rally car.

As someone who's owned a Yaris gr for a year and a bit and done 15k miles in it, I absolutely love it. Its so usable, and its so much fun, especially in the winter. Haven't done any mods apart from a milltek resonated exhaust, some Stedi lights in the front and OZ Ultraleggeras with cup2s as summertires. And everything always works on it. Even in -25 celsius it connects to apple car play without hesitation (all my other cars struggle when the electrics are cold), never had any rattles or noises from the interior. It just works. And its so, so fun to drive on every road. No matter if its hot summer tarmac, gravel or a snowy field.

My car is just coming up to a year old and straight after I had run it in I did an alpine road trip with a number of like minded people. The car is comfortable on long motorway schleps and is an absolute riot on b roads and alpine passes. It’s punch out of corners along with the speed you can carry through them made other more expensive cars disappear in the rear view mirror. R8’s, DB9, M2 competitions, Ferrari 360’s didn’t stand a chance. It almost has too much grip as it just seems to taunt you with “is that all you’ve got” when you come out of a bend that you thought you were going fast into and it went round without a murmur. Bloody love it.

I have a 2023 GR Yaris equipped with a Circuit Pack, and as an avid fan of BMW M cars, I can confidently say it offers a more enjoyable and engaging driving experience than the M2 Competition it replaced. Its driving dynamics and lightness remind me a lot of my previous e36 and e46 M3s. I'm definitely keeping this car forever.

Oh wow 344k subs I remember when you had a few thousand absolutely amazing 👏

The most amazing thing is if you service it through Toyota every year you get 10years/100k miles of warranty AND they don’t care if you track it! Just incredible 🤯

This review was the final nail in the coffin, you have turned me into a fan of yours. Idk why I found you off putting initially, but this was yet another brilliant review and now a loyal follower.

Cheers for featuring the Yaris James! And most importantly well done on driving it properly and bashing that limiter! Top man 👍

When all the initial hype happened I was still sceptical 🤨… it’s a lil Yaris, I just can’t lust over a car that LOOKS like that. Then a subscriber reached out and offered me to drive one… yep I agree 💯 with your verdict on this one. Amazing review James, reminding me yet again why you’re the YouTube road testing GOAT 👏

It's awesome to see you come back to this! I remember when I first saw this thing it was the only new car that I've ever wanted. I finally got one June last year. While I did end up having to part with my Suzuki Cappuccino to get it and I do really miss that car am in LOVE with the GR. I've put a seat lowering kit along with a few other things similar to what's been done to this example and I'm so happy to call it my daily, especially at only 24 years old.

I had a go in my mates GR at Christmas. It was a horrible cold and wet day, but I couldn't even get the traction control to cut in such was the level of grip. The only time I lost a tiny bit of traction was under heavy braking for some flood water. Amazing amazing car, wish I could afford one!

I overpaid for mine, it had 6k miles on it and still cost me a bit over retail. Regrets? Forget it. Glad I was able to get it.

Lovely video! I have owned my circuit pack for a year, and I am still in love with it. Exhaust, intake and a few exterior mods just made me absolutely love this gem of a car. In my opinion it needs those mods to truly come alive. I quite like that raspy 3-pot noise as well, and it produces lots of fun turbo-noises with an intake. The aftermarket support for these cars have taken off! There are a few guys on the gr-zoo forums who have bought 2 of these, using one, and stuck the other in a garage for long-term. Crazy stuff. I cant wait for spring to come around. I am going to sit outside looking at it with a cup of coffee after a long detailing session... Cheers from Norway!

Fantastic review once again! for anyone STILL unsure of getting one, I collected mine in May 2021 and was my second ever car, 18,000 miles of somewhat daily use later and I feel like I have found the elusive "forever car". Your review is the only one I felt that nails what it feels to drive and own one.