There has been no Toyota like the new one GR Yaris from the old Celica GT-Four ST205 from the mid-90s. It was only a matter of time before someone represented a facebetween the two special rally monsters of the company’s latest homologation, and Fifth Gear has been up to par.
In this short video, British touring legend and Fifth Gear presenter Jason Plato takes the two Toyotas around Castle Combe to find out how fast the Yaris is.
I say “the faster” and not “the faster” because, with 18 more horsepower, additional equipment, a roughly 240-pound lighter load weight and 25 years of overall technological progress, I never wondered if Yaris I could it laid the groundwork for what former FIA President Max Mosely once called “More ingenious” traps he had never seen. Victory was inevitable: the question was how bad the wounded would be.
That’s not to say Celica isn’t fast. “You know that? He’s twenty-twenty, that, and he’s pretty good. You have to drive quite a bit, but once the car starts … that, go.” would do at the wheel of the Sega Rally star cover on an open track.
After flogging the Celica around Combe Castle, Plato notices the Yaris, which remarkably brilliantly “sharp and pointed” before making a full seven-second turn faster than in the older car.
The Yaris looks much faster on the track. Of course, that is faster, but there is also a visual illusion to see modern rally cars, with their short axles and sturdy proportions, squash a turn compared to the much larger coupes we had in the 90s. great pace still surprises.
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We already knew the GR Yaris was fast, damn it beat the Civic Type R, a car with about 40 more horses, in a drag race. And yet, every time this hot hatch is released, it somehow breaks their already high expectations. Meanwhile, those of us on the wrong side of the Atlantic are increasingly swallowing the depression of knowing we can’t have them.
No, this video won’t make you feel any better with this, but watching these brothers hit the tarmac together will put a smile on your face. And maybe, just maybe, we can take a spring of consolation with the fantasy that Toyota will soon fulfill its promise to bring a GR-flavored Corolla to our shores.