Anyone else pushed the button for one of these? I ordered just before Christmas with delivery due July 5th. Black Circuit Pack. The test drive was good, not as "alive" as a CTR FK8, but traction in the damp is epic, and doesn't look as Halfords Bin lorry!

 

Mine has been built not shipped yet. I think shipping takes six weeks and then at least another three weeks in the UK before handover so I would expect mine in June. Mine is white. Not sure anyone in the UK is ordering anything but circuit pack cars, for resale value as much as anything else. It will have to sit at the dealer's premises if it arrives early. I've got nowhere to put it before June.

 

I'm not sure I've quoted you Tony or some loser from Pistonheads. Shirley not the shame. But here are a few facts based on owning one v shortly and having done my research and drives.

All design is of course subjective. The back end of the GR isn't really a Yaris at all and the wide track and big arches are necessary. This is one key difference from things like M cars and R cars which are essentially exactly the same as the cooking specials body-wise bar a few bits of tat stuck on and bigger wheels. This article provides some useful details which will help you to understand just how bespoke a GR is in comparison to something like a Golf R or M car.

https://mag.toyota.co.uk/gr-yaris-bo...it-is-bespoke/

As you can see, the number of parts shared with a Yaris is tiny and I think Toyota might have helped themselves by referring to the car by another name. It does however provide great wind-up potential when stating what you drive. In the short term anyway.

You may have been further confused (it's quite common) by the nomenclature. The car is not best suited to most tracks - especially the larger ones where high power is particularly advantageous. The circuit pack designation is a trim level like AMG line but one which brings mechanical advantages rather than mostly cosmetic ones. Many tests have taken place on tracks because of safety as much as anything else. However, most very competent road-oriented cars will perform pretty well on track (or some tracks) so it doesn't tell us much. I have driven the car on the Goodwood circuit and on country roads. I am not a trackday person but I have driven a lot of performance cars and in my opinion the GR is a fantastic road car. So circuit doesn't mean track, but like Yaris to most means tarted up shopping trolley, circuit pack means tuned for trackdays.

Being a homologation model it's quite difficult to summarise just how different the GR is from most cars currently in production but this will help:

https://newsroom.toyota.eu/new-toyot...competition-0/

I think another misconception - sorry but there are a lot in your post - is that most will use the car as a daily hack. My understanding is that a significant number will be weekend cars much like the S2000. It really isn't designed for practicality but I'm sure people will use them as dailies, much as some use the S2000 or an Evo as their daily. Mine is likely to permanently reside in a mountainous area in southern Europe but I'll get to it and come back from it in a diesel barge. If it lives here, it will come out on Sunday mornings or the days when I know traffic will be light because exercise will be on the agenda.

The radio? Oh no! I nearly cancelled my first S2000 order when I learned about the radio. I shall reconsider the GR order now. You missed out the big mirror and the high seating position that render the car undriveable for tall apes but as I am a lithe lizard I will be fine.

I have driven all of the cars you mention with the exception of the Alfa. On a damp road and/or uneven road I can tell you the GR is in a different league. Back to the circuit pack thing - it isn't a track car - it's a B road weapon best compared to two other cars I have owned - Impreza turbo or Evo but better than both. It should be, 20 years of development on. Neither of those cars excelled on track but funnily enough I'd say the GR is better than both on track too. You need to drive the GR in the conditions I have described where traction is the thing you want most and then you'll see at least part of the value of the £10K but to be honest if you're on a budget, buy the cheaper car and settle for what you get. It's important to remember it isn't a tweaked Yaris versus a tweaked Fiesta - it's a genuine one-off homologation special against a tweaked Fiesta. It's not fair on the Fiesta to be tested in that company. Of course you can modify a Fiesta (a bit) but then you can also modify a GR (a lot). When the Jap tuners get going, they will as ever, blow the Ford boys into the weeds. But that's for another day/thread. I don't modify my cars.

Service intervals for the GR are every 6,000 miles or 12 months, whichever occurs first. First service is an Interim service, second a Full service, and so on. A safety check on brake and clutch fluid is recommended every six months, but this can be done at the same time as an Interim or Full service, depending on mileage. I suspect I'm fairly typical in predicting an annual mileage of no more than 6,000 miles pa for a fun car. I think that's about what I did in my S2000s.

On the subject of being blown into the weeds, take a look at the Toyota (GR) and Ford warranties and weep. Even trackdays don't invalidate the already massively superior Toyota offering:

https://www.ford.co.uk/owner/resourc...and-exclusions

https://www.ford.co.uk/owner/resourc...and-exclusions

Ultimately of course I have fallen for the hype:

https://mag.toyota.co.uk/gr-yaris-awards-haul/

or for the trackers, which does give some insight into its capabilities in the damp and where traction is important:


But I think I'm a pretty good judge of a driver's car.

 

I think most of us gurn at 30k for what it is. And what it will do day to day. Flipping riot of a car, and I'll probably want one next year.
Some engine problems surfacing already with dropped valves and missed gears, expected though in careless hands
Keep us posted
BTW I dont have a log in on PHeads, so not me sunshine!

 

It has a lot of promise and isn't fwd
I would have one I think, the comparison to imprevo is valid albeit it's a smaller car used as a base
I'm too old for front wheel drive on this rainy island

Price is irrelevant, see it as cost.. you're either prepared to pay it or not. A new R will set you back £40k+ of our deprec GBP (Nick TM) these days but this is probably not probably faster point to point and not built by Vadge

 

What's interesting is the fact this GR has kicked the Clio Trophy 182 into the weeds as the new champion small hot hatch. That's a triumph to beat that thing, I was after a Trophy last year before I bought my S and knew I had to get past its hideous Reno interior. For me, it would be a short haul daily.
To be fair they'll likely run this Homol project for a couple of years before they pull the plug due to cost.
Its a bravo moment for Toyota though. I think many expected a 1000kg, 200bhp 3 banger alas the 1300kg 4wd and 260odd hp trickery is sticking 2 fingers up to the rest.
Question - the Alu panels, are they more or less likely to get dents?

 

Did you read the spec Tony? "for what it is"? It's something bespoke and not really a Yaris at all. For £30K (I think mine and Nomadic's are £34K or thereabouts). It's a one off. The only people gurning at £30K are irrelevant/can't afford the car/aren't allowed to have it by the other half. Worldwide allocation was sold within months of launch and order now and you won't get one before next year.

A bit like the F20C for over-revving then. Nothing to do with the robustness of the engine and everything to do with hamfisted drivers. Don't over-rev it and you have a 5 year 100,000 mile warranty which includes trackday use.

 

I have owned numerous cars with aluminium panels and one all aluminium (a Jag). None of them was more susceptible to dents than a steel car. IME the worst cars for dents bar none are steel Renos followed by steel Honda Civics.

 

I've read the spec, of course. 34k for a supermini
Don't get spiky - I'm well aware it's car of the year, probably decade. Its in its early journey right now. Keep us posted when it arrives
https://youtu.be/llD0B2Xc9Vg
Interesting to see the thick walls on that block..
Running costs will be key - £1200 for front discs has to be taken into account - looked after will last 30k? Just don't warp 'em

 

How can discs on something that size cost that much? Wow
aftermarket all the way
Gad down demon tweeks in his hot hatch conjures an image