GR Yaris Circuit Pack Red

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  • Poster car vs GR Yaris

    The Lamborghini Countach was always, and always will be my poster car. The opening scene from the Canonball Run simply blew me away. The noise, the performance, the outrageous styling, simply amazing.

    This post isn’t intended as a comparison of the Yaris with the Countach, they are so different. I wouldn’t want to own a Countach even if it were possible. The intention is more to showcase just what a leap cars have made in the 50 years between these cars being released.

    lambo
    gryaris

    Price: £330000 (adjusted for inflation)

    Price: £33000

    Engine: 4 litre, V12

    Engine: 1.6 litre, inline 3 cylinder

    Power: 375bhp

    Power: 257bhp

    Top speed: 180mph

    Top speed: 143mph (limited)

    0-60mph: 6.8 seconds

    0-60mph: 4.6 seconds*

    So, 50 years on from the release of the Countach it became possible to buy a car for 10% of the price that is actually quicker! The fact Toyota managed to get such performance with only a 1.6 3 cylinder engine just boggles my mind. Yes, I know turbo charged.

    * The 4.6 seconds to 60 is quoted from What Cars review of the GR Yaris. It’s on Youtube so feel free to check! The car they tested is the one I ended up buying.

  • Comments

    So from time to time after a drive in it I get a comment I like, these are my favourites:

    “Bonkers!” Steve – Lotus Emira (the good one ,meaning supercharged V6 and manual gearbox)

    “Thank-you for the GR Yaris experience!” Alan – M2 Performance.

    “Oh, it’s just an ordinary car!” A workmate of the wife who’d clearly been primed with “he’s picking us up in his stupid sports car”. Dunno what she drives. I guess the point here is the anonymity of the GR Yaris from the viewpoint of non petrol types.

    i restored in hd 4k the original spider man pointing at v0 bekphnqftcb41 Rob – GR Yaris Circuit Pack Red.

    “The most motorbike-like car I’ve ever been in” Mark – Triumph Bonneville. Trust me, that’s a compliment!

    “The most terrifying experience of my life” Dave – Jaguar XE

  • The GR Yaris buying experience

    The GR Yaris buying experience

    On a rare Saturday off in March ’22 Rose surprised me saying she thought I was due for a new car. The faithful Peugeot 107 was getting long in the teeth at this point. I climbed into the CHR and Rose set off telling me she’d arranged a test drive of a Supra for me at Motorline in Crawley. After a brief pause I thanked her but said I didn’t want a Supra, at the time they were only available as automatics and I drive manual.

    So we get to Motorline and Rose surprises me again when she tells the salesman she’d made a mistake, I didn’t want to test drive a Supra, I wanted to drive a GR Yaris. I hadn’t even realised she knew what a GR Yaris was. The salesman gave me a serious look and said “Er, you know they’re sold out right?”. I glumly nodded. He smiled and said not to worry, it just so happened he had a demo GR Yaris I could take out.

    demogryaris

    The demonstrator

    Set off and let’s just say it was exactly what I’d expected it to be. We get back to the dealership and the salesman reminds me they are all sold out. Then he smiles again “if you could have one, which colour would you have chosen?”. I reply red, and he smiles again “it’s your lucky day then, I can get you a Circuit Pack in red”. Ended up being a bit more than the £33000 retail price, even factoring in the Scarlet Flare paint Toyota charged £800 for. It also had 6000 miles already on it. I wasn’t phased – this was the car I wanted, the paperwork got signed.

    Turns out the car I bought (GY70 GNK) was a press car. Chris Harris had it for a week for one. For some this might be off putting – the car had definitely been “tested”. What Car claim GY70 GNK hit 60mph in 4.6 seconds! Haven’t had any problems with the car at all as we hit 4 years of ownership.

    gy70