GR Yaris Which one would you keep?

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si ellis

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Hi Everyone,

I'm lucky enough to be the proud owner of 2 GR Yaris. My 1st car is a March 21 Circuit Pack in solid white, it was my daily and I've put about 44,500 miles on it since new. It's been meticulously maintained by a Toyota main dealer and it's a joy to drive. The second car wasn't planned but as both my better half and I liked our 1st car so much, my wife decided she'd also like one if the chance arose, which it did during one of my service visits on the 1st car. The second is an August 23 Circuit Pack in Pearl White that's covered approximately 9k miles since new and has just had its second service.

Interestingly they both drive differently and have different characteristics, the March 21 car is very linear and strong in its power delivery and sits about 5mm lower than the 2nd which feels quicker because it has more of an old-school turbo kick in around 4000rpm whilst it sits slightly higher but rides firmer.

Unfortunately, I need to sell one as I need to reduce the number of cars we have and I'm in the middle of starting a new business which isn't allowing me or the wife to spend the time with the cars that we once had. Are there any known differences between the earlier vs later car that I should be aware of before selling one? I'm drawn to keeping the later car but thought it best to check with you all beforehand.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Cheers,

Si
 
If you have a 3rd car to sell - that one of course…. 😜. More seriously - I’d keep the newer one.
 
Thank you all for the responses @MarcoS, @Ono , @LittleMav, @GRgrampa , and for the slight dose of pessimism @Greenthumb.

My son tells me the earlier car has a more open ECU so can be tuned a bit easier. Other than that, I agree with all your sentiments about keeping the newer car.
 
I thought they strengthened some gearbox parts at some point to avoid the popping out of 2nd gear issue?
 
Cheers @CerN, yeah I'd heard that as well although it was never a problem for me with the 1st car.
 
Greenthumb said:
Some Infos about it? I'd be seriously interested.
Click to expand...

IMG_0621.jpeg

IMG_0622.webp


GR Yaris - Revised parts

Friend can't decide between '21 with virgin miles and '23 with 15k miles. What parts were revised since first models? I know of gearbox shaft (thanks to @Diyman25 ), there were few more parts I heard of, but can't remember. Maybe we could make a table if gather enough info. If you know old and...
www.gr-zoo.com www.gr-zoo.com

👍🏻
 
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This is interesting as i also have two because i liked the car so much, i thought i better bye another one in case they don't make anymore.
This was back in 2021.
The first car has an older school turbo feel and boosts really strongly from about 3,500 RPM, you can also notice the engine gets very close to 1.5 bar boost on the gauge consistently and feels more rapid and quicker overall.
The second one i bought has a much more linear delivery with less boost and usually tops out at 1.2-1.3 bar and feels slower as a result.

I have always wondered why and Toyota don't seem to have an answer.
 
I only found out about these revisions when my car started to jump out of second gear, I’m the second owner and shortly after buying it with 6000 miles I realised the car had an issue.
Toyota were fantastic and replaced the whole gearbox for me towards the end of last year.

I use this car everyday come rain or shine and I wont ever sell it, its perfect for me and the gearbox is an absolute pleasure to use.
My car is standard apart from genuine Toyota camber bolts up front and fast road geometry settings from a Toyota dealer, I believe this did help when my case, described as a compass case by Toyota GB went through the investigation process.

So I would consider myself to have the best of both worlds with a May 21 car, and a MY23 gearbox.

My understanding of the revisions were a thicker main shaft, upgraded syncro’s and detent springs.
 
rob said:
This is interesting as i also have two because i liked the car so much, i thought i better bye another one in case they don't make anymore.
This was back in 2021.
The first car has an older school turbo feel and boosts really strongly from about 3,500 RPM, you can also notice the engine gets very close to 1.5 bar boost on the gauge consistently and feels more rapid and quicker overall.
The second one i bought has a much more linear delivery with less boost and usually tops out at 1.2-1.3 bar and feels slower as a result.

I have always wondered why and Toyota don't seem to have an answer.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you have the same differences in power delivery as my own two vehicles. I'm not sure the performance is that different, it's just that the later version feels faster due to how the power is delivered. When I asked Toyota about the differences, they said the GR is a predominantly hand built machine compared to their normal vehicles so this could explain how set ups on each car can differ.

Thanks, and good to know that I'm not the only one who purchased two!
 
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Not fussed on the differences. Tune them the way you want if anyone wanted to go a direction. But would 100% go the later models for the small part changes.
 
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