Gotta love a hot hatch…
Discussion
New car day 
Sold my SLK55 at the end of the summer, and started to look around at options a couple of months ago. Considered another Abarth 595 Competizione, Audi S1 Competition, Up! GTi and few others, and then I stumbled upon the Yaris GRMN. I’d never seen one on the road.
The GRMN (Gazoo Racing tuned by the Meisters of the Nurburgring!) is a low volume car built to launch the GR brand in Europe. Has the feel of a skunk works type project and the result is pretty special. It has a 1.8 4-cylinder supercharged engine which Toyota borrowed back from Lotus after they fitted it in the Elise fitted in to the three door Yaris (all other UK Yaris were five door)
Front wheel drive with a Torsen diff, Sachs dampers, BBS forged wheels, Advics front brakes and seats made by Toyota Boshoko who made the seats for the Lexus LFA amongst others.
I tested a couple, and this one felt like a much better car. Was on the Toyota press fleet for 10k miles, so appears in quite a few YouTube videos and magazine articles. Also means it was well looked after, and this continued with its second owner.
Picked it up today. It feels very quick, with instant throttle response, and is very noisy (road noise as well as the exhaust). Love it.
Sold my SLK55 at the end of the summer, and started to look around at options a couple of months ago. Considered another Abarth 595 Competizione, Audi S1 Competition, Up! GTi and few others, and then I stumbled upon the Yaris GRMN. I’d never seen one on the road.
The GRMN (Gazoo Racing tuned by the Meisters of the Nurburgring!) is a low volume car built to launch the GR brand in Europe. Has the feel of a skunk works type project and the result is pretty special. It has a 1.8 4-cylinder supercharged engine which Toyota borrowed back from Lotus after they fitted it in the Elise fitted in to the three door Yaris (all other UK Yaris were five door)
Front wheel drive with a Torsen diff, Sachs dampers, BBS forged wheels, Advics front brakes and seats made by Toyota Boshoko who made the seats for the Lexus LFA amongst others.
I tested a couple, and this one felt like a much better car. Was on the Toyota press fleet for 10k miles, so appears in quite a few YouTube videos and magazine articles. Also means it was well looked after, and this continued with its second owner.
Picked it up today. It feels very quick, with instant throttle response, and is very noisy (road noise as well as the exhaust). Love it.
Edited by 595Heaven on Tuesday 21st March 20:37
Yes great cars I had one , as you say proper engine in this coupled to that diff really works , I’m on the lookout for another hot hatch right now , maybe I should revisit. 
, the seats are excellent, and the car is proper lightweight for a modern vehicle, they definitely go very well indeed.
, the seats are excellent, and the car is proper lightweight for a modern vehicle, they definitely go very well indeed. It is indeed a hot hatch and from what I have read, the pinnacle.
And what I am going to say is going to cause arguments, but the GR that followed is not a hot hatch. The same goes for any Lancia Delta HF and any Golf R, Subaru WRX hatch etc.
Hot hatch to me is FWD, as small as possible and a screaming responsive engine, which this has.
As a long term investment, this is a smart buy, as the GR brand becomes more "famous" this is where it all started from and fan boys will hold this model in high regard.
And what I am going to say is going to cause arguments, but the GR that followed is not a hot hatch. The same goes for any Lancia Delta HF and any Golf R, Subaru WRX hatch etc.
Hot hatch to me is FWD, as small as possible and a screaming responsive engine, which this has.
As a long term investment, this is a smart buy, as the GR brand becomes more "famous" this is where it all started from and fan boys will hold this model in high regard.
Cracking car I am a touch biased though. Had mine for 12 months. Very very capable car with Toyota reliability.
Genuinely only reason I sold mine was prices went mental. I basically ran it for 12m and sold it for what I'd paid for it.
Replaced it with a a45 AMG and genuinely believe it was quicker than the Merc over my favourite b roads.
The 10 year warranty takes away any potential scary bills aswell.
Genuinely only reason I sold mine was prices went mental. I basically ran it for 12m and sold it for what I'd paid for it.
Replaced it with a a45 AMG and genuinely believe it was quicker than the Merc over my favourite b roads.
The 10 year warranty takes away any potential scary bills aswell.
lord trumpton said:
lovely thing. Always fancied one myself
how much did you have to part with for this one?
These were almost £27k new which was strong money.how much did you have to part with for this one?
I’d been tracking prices / mileage for a little while and they tend be be c. £19k with c. 20k miles. There are of course a few outliers.
I’m hopeful that they won’t depreciate too much in the future. If serviced annually by a Toyota retailer, the warranty is extended for another year up to ten years which is good.
Cambs_Stuart said:
I'm very jealous of that! Any chance of a picture under the bonnet? I remember reading it was a squeeze to get the engine in...
Here you go! It isn’t quite as impressive a bit of packaging as the SLK55, but it is tight.The supercharger is packaged along with the inlet manifold and intercooler which is neat.
Excuse the state of the engine bay. Job for a dry weekend,..
Love the pantograph single front wiper. The blade is 28” long! Not sure how well it works yet though.
Edited by 595Heaven on Wednesday 22 March 08:51
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