KevinA
Obsessed member
Every car has strong points and some weaker points, most of us bought this car because we wanted too ( well I did ) So a journalists opinion is just that, I neither care or am bothered as I love it 
GR Yaris Overrated : Toyota GR Yaris
- Thread starter chr1s
- Start date
SunStorm
Fascinated Member
- Mar 14, 2023
- 13
- 26
- 13
I'm happy with my Yaris. There are bits that aren't great compared to previous cars I've owned, such as lack of rear seat room/boot space.
Some things I'm looking to solve, I have the DNA seat lowering kits are ready to fit for example, but for a small, AWD, fun daily, it's ideal.
Some things I'm looking to solve, I have the DNA seat lowering kits are ready to fit for example, but for a small, AWD, fun daily, it's ideal.
My opinion and history with the GR, and why I get and at the same time don't agree with Sutcliffe:
- Test drove many, many cars, including M2, M4, Mustang GT, many many hot hatches, and never pulled the trigger... until a friend took me for a drive in his GRY CP. Fell in love inmediately, so much so that I bought it the following day
- Loved it at the beginning, but quickly started feeling its defects more and more. I actually became a bit frustrated,...until I realized I had been treating it like a "conventional RWD car". And the more aggressive I treated the Yaris, the better and better it became. As a motoring journalist once said, you have to drive at 10/10ths to properly understand it.
- I had to RELEARN how to drive the Yaris. The initial roll, the not-so-aggressive turn in... but the way in which, once you have leant into the corner, you can do whatever you like with it, accelerate harder, turn tighter, let the suspension flow... It's just different to how you drive other performance cars
- One of the most satisfying moments I've had with it was following a very well driven M2C up a mountain pass. He has giving it his all, rear slipping out from time to time, and I was EATING him alive. He would pull away in straights, but as soon as he entered a corner (and it was not a hairpin kind of pass at all), I would reel him in to the point I had to actually relax and let him drive out again. At lunch, he asked me: what have you done to the car? I can't believe you could follow me like that! (Car is 100% stock, Ps4s had 20.000Km)... By the way, the 350hp+ i30N could hardly keep up with us
- I think Sutcliffe just needs more time with it
- Test drove many, many cars, including M2, M4, Mustang GT, many many hot hatches, and never pulled the trigger... until a friend took me for a drive in his GRY CP. Fell in love inmediately, so much so that I bought it the following day
- Loved it at the beginning, but quickly started feeling its defects more and more. I actually became a bit frustrated,...until I realized I had been treating it like a "conventional RWD car". And the more aggressive I treated the Yaris, the better and better it became. As a motoring journalist once said, you have to drive at 10/10ths to properly understand it.
- I had to RELEARN how to drive the Yaris. The initial roll, the not-so-aggressive turn in... but the way in which, once you have leant into the corner, you can do whatever you like with it, accelerate harder, turn tighter, let the suspension flow... It's just different to how you drive other performance cars
- One of the most satisfying moments I've had with it was following a very well driven M2C up a mountain pass. He has giving it his all, rear slipping out from time to time, and I was EATING him alive. He would pull away in straights, but as soon as he entered a corner (and it was not a hairpin kind of pass at all), I would reel him in to the point I had to actually relax and let him drive out again. At lunch, he asked me: what have you done to the car? I can't believe you could follow me like that! (Car is 100% stock, Ps4s had 20.000Km)... By the way, the 350hp+ i30N could hardly keep up with us
- I think Sutcliffe just needs more time with it
Stayed at a hotel in Ibiza a few years ago and thought I’d found Shangri-La. The whole experience was damn near perfect.
So I was amazed by the review of Michael Winner, Film Director and Restaurant Critic when he absolutely lambasted the place.
The only conclusion I could reach was; Winner loved it so much he didn’t want others to know about or spoil it.
So I was amazed by the review of Michael Winner, Film Director and Restaurant Critic when he absolutely lambasted the place.
The only conclusion I could reach was; Winner loved it so much he didn’t want others to know about or spoil it.
This.My opinion and history with the GR, and why I get and at the same time don't agree with Sutcliffe:
- Test drove many, many cars, including M2, M4, Mustang GT, many many hot hatches, and never pulled the trigger... until a friend took me for a drive in his GRY CP. Fell in love inmediately, so much so that I bought it the following day
- Loved it at the beginning, but quickly started feeling its defects more and more. I actually became a bit frustrated,...until I realized I had been treating it like a "conventional RWD car". And the more aggressive I treated the Yaris, the better and better it became. As a motoring journalist once said, you have to drive at 10/10ths to properly understand it.
- I had to RELEARN how to drive the Yaris. The initial roll, the not-so-aggressive turn in... but the way in which, once you have leant into the corner, you can do whatever you like with it, accelerate harder, turn tighter, let the suspension flow... It's just different to how you drive other performance cars
- One of the most satisfying moments I've had with it was following a very well driven M2C up a mountain pass. He has giving it his all, rear slipping out from time to time, and I was EATING him alive. He would pull away in straights, but as soon as he entered a corner (and it was not a hairpin kind of pass at all), I would reel him in to the point I had to actually relax and let him drive out again. At lunch, he asked me: what have you done to the car? I can't believe you could follow me like that! (Car is 100% stock, Ps4s had 20.000Km)... By the way, the 350hp+ i30N could hardly keep up with us
- I think Sutcliffe just needs more time with it
YGR is modern Impreza/EVO. So, while it can work on track, it's more suited to windy roads.
My Megane 3 RS cant really handle bumpy and off camber roads as YGR can, so there should be no surprise there. I've took YGR to the track day and it's fast for sure, but it's far more efficient as a daily. Is it fast as a properly track prepared Megane - no. It would be also much costlier to setup YGR to be as fast and you'd be loosing a lot of compliance on regular roads. I'm very happy on how YGR works out of the box, but I had no expectations that it would be a match for new CTR on track nor as a people carrier.
I'd say that Sutcliffe has far too much knowledge about cars and is pretty fast driver to make such statements - I'd say he's just stirring the pot to get clicky clickys.
Last edited:
Most likely he is a paid shill for another manufacturer. DSG v Manual is a personal choice. For the fastest you most likely want a DSG. If you enjoy a traditional car a manual is likely better. Not everything is determined by the fastest time around a track, enjoyment is a major part of the equation. Seats etc blah. Major take away is to trust your own judgement and treat all MSM as seriously suspect and promoting someone's agenda to your detriment.
For the price no. But the point is not the speed but the enjoyment, take any idea to its limits and you will understand.
TLDR
Criticisms of the car can be solved with aftermarket upgrades which combined with the initial purchase price still come under the cost of the competing products
Engine sound - Intake & Exhaust
More Powaaaah Baee'be - DTUK, ECUTEK or a plain tune - Cams and Springs if you want to take it to the next level
I want it more exciting - Run Cheaper tyres bro, or my favourite good tyres front, chinisium in the back
Screen too crap - get an aftermarket solution like I did
Cant see through the rear-vision mirror - driver error, there is no one behind you (and starring at people eating your dust is mean. Don't be mean)
Seating position too high - a couple of hundreed kangaroos gets you a lower rail
Doesn't have a DCT - Seating position is not high enough, install a baby booster seat
Criticisms of the car can be solved with aftermarket upgrades which combined with the initial purchase price still come under the cost of the competing products
Engine sound - Intake & Exhaust
More Powaaaah Baee'be - DTUK, ECUTEK or a plain tune - Cams and Springs if you want to take it to the next level
I want it more exciting - Run Cheaper tyres bro, or my favourite good tyres front, chinisium in the back
Screen too crap - get an aftermarket solution like I did
Cant see through the rear-vision mirror - driver error, there is no one behind you (and starring at people eating your dust is mean. Don't be mean)
Seating position too high - a couple of hundreed kangaroos gets you a lower rail
Doesn't have a DCT - Seating position is not high enough, install a baby booster seat
Dav1d
Totally Hooked
- Dec 18, 2021
- 494
- 736
- 93
Enjoying browsing old threads in this week between Xmas and NY.
Recently I’ve seen a couple of comments from people that don’t like the car (on other places online) as it’s too grippy and boring at normal speeds, and that to make it come alive you need to push on to licence losing speeds. I do get that somewhat as on a good road sometimes you just can’t risk it (not just for crash risk, but also for visibility round blind corners, stopping distances eg tractor in a dip and safety of other users). However, I wonder if that is true for the majority of performance cars now? What is the difference between this and another hot hatch which people immediately tune or modify handling to improve grip etc, apart from the fact that as stock the Yaris has a much higher threshold? By tuning the handling surely you are just making it more boring at lower speed too by making it more capable? Equally and on the other end of the spectrum, if you have a super car then you’re nowhere near its performance window and there seems to be no issue with people taking those on roadtrips/ NC500 etc, so not sure I can follow the argument about the Yaris needing to be driven hard to be fully enjoyed. I wondered if there is a bit of an undercurrent against it given the blanket positive reviews in the press or a view that it is in fact overrated per this threads title, but interested in what others think.
Recently I’ve seen a couple of comments from people that don’t like the car (on other places online) as it’s too grippy and boring at normal speeds, and that to make it come alive you need to push on to licence losing speeds. I do get that somewhat as on a good road sometimes you just can’t risk it (not just for crash risk, but also for visibility round blind corners, stopping distances eg tractor in a dip and safety of other users). However, I wonder if that is true for the majority of performance cars now? What is the difference between this and another hot hatch which people immediately tune or modify handling to improve grip etc, apart from the fact that as stock the Yaris has a much higher threshold? By tuning the handling surely you are just making it more boring at lower speed too by making it more capable? Equally and on the other end of the spectrum, if you have a super car then you’re nowhere near its performance window and there seems to be no issue with people taking those on roadtrips/ NC500 etc, so not sure I can follow the argument about the Yaris needing to be driven hard to be fully enjoyed. I wondered if there is a bit of an undercurrent against it given the blanket positive reviews in the press or a view that it is in fact overrated per this threads title, but interested in what others think.
My opinion and history with the GR, and why I get and at the same time don't agree with Sutcliffe:
- Test drove many, many cars, including M2, M4, Mustang GT, many many hot hatches, and never pulled the trigger... until a friend took me for a drive in his GRY CP. Fell in love inmediately, so much so that I bought it the following day
- Loved it at the beginning, but quickly started feeling its defects more and more. I actually became a bit frustrated,...until I realized I had been treating it like a "conventional RWD car". And the more aggressive I treated the Yaris, the better and better it became. As a motoring journalist once said, you have to drive at 10/10ths to properly understand it.
- I had to RELEARN how to drive the Yaris. The initial roll, the not-so-aggressive turn in... but the way in which, once you have leant into the corner, you can do whatever you like with it, accelerate harder, turn tighter, let the suspension flow... It's just different to how you drive other performance cars
- One of the most satisfying moments I've had with it was following a very well driven M2C up a mountain pass. He has giving it his all, rear slipping out from time to time, and I was EATING him alive. He would pull away in straights, but as soon as he entered a corner (and it was not a hairpin kind of pass at all), I would reel him in to the point I had to actually relax and let him drive out again. At lunch, he asked me: what have you done to the car? I can't believe you could follow me like that! (Car is 100% stock, Ps4s had 20.000Km)... By the way, the 350hp+ i30N could hardly keep up with us
- I think Sutcliffe just needs more time with it
20,000 kilometres with the PS4, with the GR? Did you only use the car for shopping before?
I do get that feeling sometimes, and it has happened with most cars. GT86 and 458 included. In that sense diffed fwd with lots of power was more fun as you could always break traction. High power rwd is fun too then.
But those same cars become frustrating when grip levels are lower, so tit for tat.
As mentioned before (ad nauseum), I put on low grip drift tyres to counter this inert feeling...
Dav1d
Totally Hooked
- Dec 18, 2021
- 494
- 736
- 93
Yeah, I actually thought about your post on the low grip tyres point when typing the above. My car definitely felt best when I was on a track, which is why I should book another soon.
- Dec 27, 2021
- 1,659
- 2,762
- 288
If you’re only driving it for ~30 hours per year, I’d definitely say it’s worth selling it.
Unless you wait for the inevitable 25-30 year nostalgia bubble, no, it won’t go up in value.
