GR Yaris Steven Eagell Letchworth

Bat out of Hell

Bat out of Hell

Totally Hooked
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Drove past here today and they have 3 preowned GR's all CP , white, red and Black. I'm sure they are getting me back for not placing my order with them:geek:
 
That will explain why I haven't heard from my salesman trying to buy my car off me then!

3 used - I can see why people are getting out of them, I'm not rating my experience thus far......
 
If it hasn't hit the spot straight away then it will never hit the spot. Sell up while prices are good because if fuel goes to over £2 a litre ICE is going to be hard to shift.
 
Pappyjohn said:
If it hasn't hit the spot straight away then it will never hit the spot.
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Good point. If you don't get it on the first proper drive, I too doubt it's a grown on you type of car... Not everyone needs to like it. Only roughly 0,0001% of the world population can own one.
 
I like what it can offer when driven hard - but not every drive is a flat out..

Its the normal stuff that irritates me, excessive wind noise, road noise, harsh suspension, various rattles from all over the interior, no parking sensors!

I've done nearly 3k miles in it, so have had plenty of drives to see if I can live with it long term..
 
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Hertfordshire1 said:
Its the normal stuff that irritates me, excessive wind noise, road noise, harsh suspension, various rattles from all over the interior, no parking sensors!
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This sort of stuff is part and parcel of this type of car and probably bothers us all. If it was well buffeted from wind and road noise it would have less grip and would weigh more and if I wanted that I'd get a Golf R etc. This and not having parking sensors can't be the reason you aren't rating the experience is it?
 
Pappyjohn said:
This sort of stuff is part and parcel of this type of car and probably bothers us all. If it was well buffeted from wind and road noise it would have less grip and would weigh more and if I wanted that I'd get a Golf R etc. This and not having parking sensors can't be the reason you aren't rating the experience is it?
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A friend of mine has a new Golf R - the infotainment in it is awful and crashes constantly - that would irritate me too..

I bought the GR as a conscious decision to spend less on cars. My previous 4 cars have all been BMW M products and while I liked them (as they do everything well) the amount of money I lost on them was getting harder to swallow.

The GR ticks the cheaper box for sure and as others have said, I can probably get out of it without losing much (if at all) which would be a novelty given my previous cars..

Like you said, the things I mentioned that bother me, bother most owners. However I would rather get into something that I enjoy all the time and not only when its being driven flat out.

Steve
 
You don't like driving it at low speeds? I'm finding it great fun bashing through the gears around town. The involvement levels are really high in the GR.
 
Pappyjohn said:
You don't like driving it at low speeds? I'm finding it great fun bashing through the gears around town. The involvement levels are really high in the GR.
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True if you're still playing with the car. Merely cruising, it's not especially enjoyable though comfort wise, which is what the gent was alluding to I think.
 
CommitConfirm said:
FWIW I've had my GR for a little over a year now, It's great fun when pushing on but have since pushed it into long term storage while I wait for my first EV.
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For us it's a great combo with the family EV.

One is great fun and still has some decent usability (practicality/comfort) as real world car expectations make an entrance.
The other is very practical and comfortable, and is still pretty good to drive when pushing on as opportunities for a bit of fun arise...
 
The biggest thing about the gr to me is that it doesn't really feel very special. Like sure it's a special car but every time I get in it, it just doesn't feel how I imagined it would feel. Plus, to me, it lacks personality. It's a great car, but it's too good imo. It's too dialed in, there's no real imperfections with how it drives to me and it takes away a lot of the fun. My dad has an old defender and its way more fun to drive, because it's absolutely terrible which makes it a joy to drive. The Yaris just lacks that feeling of character, it just feels like any other hatch when just chilling around town and motorways
 
I get this - that it isn't for everyone - but surely the test drive would have shown up some of this? The dual character is what appeals to me, but I suspect this is the same with most 'hot hatches' these days. Enjoyment is very dependent on where you live as well, I drove mine around the SE England recently and hated it. Endless traffic jams, cameras, rsholes, and no quiet A/B roads to enjoy the car's strengths.
 
Tully2001 said:
The biggest thing about the gr to me is that it doesn't really feel very special. Like sure it's a special car but every time I get in it, it just doesn't feel how I imagined it would feel. Plus, to me, it lacks personality. It's a great car, but it's too good imo. It's too dialed in, there's no real imperfections with how it drives to me and it takes away a lot of the fun. My dad has an old defender and its way more fun to drive, because it's absolutely terrible which makes it a joy to drive. The Yaris just lacks that feeling of character, it just feels like any other hatch when just chilling around town and motorways
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If 'GR Yaris' could speak collectively, I wonder how 'it' would review us users ;)
 
the grip it has and how it goes round corners and powers out of them with ease , that is the personality of the car IMO, no car really has personality when your just driving around town and motorways, driving this thing on twisty B roads is different story
 
Have you yanked the handbrake, launched it? Got the rear floating, this car is about moving round and pivoting. This is the cars nature it’s more rally in nature than circuit (stiff, limited roll and grippy)

I find it’s not as easily playful as a typical FWD hot hatch, rear beam, light rear back it in. Also it won’t power oversteer (easily) maybe turn TC off

Ride quality is better than most of the same segment hot hatch’s (with similar sprung mass) obviously as you get more sprung mass comfort is easier to achieve
 
SE Letchworth is fairly local to me but haven't seen they've got three for sale; bet they're keen money! They tried to flog me one for 42K last year, I laughed them off the phone!

I completely agree that the car has niggles as a daily driver though. I'm on 7K+ miles now and it's been down at a different SE dealership since Tuesday having, hopefully, most of the interior rattles sorted. Some are expected and acceptable in a car this stiff but some aren't. End of the day, as someone said to me recently, it's up to the owner what they do to improve the car... If you add sound deadening and that means you enjoy the car way more than before, then it's worth the trade-off with weight (which isn't huge anyway). The internet is full of people who are going to judge you, tell you you should or shouldn't do this or that you're right or wrong... End of the day, if it makes you happy or happier to own the car... crack on 👌👌👌

Also first post here; moved over from GR-Yaris.co.uk - though I'm still active on there a little.
 
They deffo have 3 on their forecourt, red, black and white. Black one has now been reserved, red is their demo car and the white one is on sale I think
 
My local dealer has said if I sold them mine they would put it up for 40.

I always think that's way too much but then I go out and give it a thrash and think what else could come close for that money. Outright speed there are loads better but this thing is so small and "darty".
 
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