One month in and as hoped, my motoring joie de vivre has returned.
It’s not the nicest cabin in which to sit, the forward vision between the rear view mirror and touch screen is very restricted ( mods are available to increase the field of vision by 2cm) and the rear seats are only really suitable for a pair of malnourished pygmies.
That aside, in my circumstances, for a daily driver it’s pretty much perfect. On day two I put the rear seats down to create an almost flat rear load space, and that’s where they’ll stay. Sufficiently practical for me....several trips to the tip with builders bags full of garden rubbish, easy to load in my petrol mower and tools and no inconvenience to date.
On the road it’s as expected. Great fun with huge levels of grip should you wish to make progress. Three adjustable drive modes...60/40 front/rear in Normal, Sport has 30/70 front/rear and Track mode 50/50. Most of the time I just trundle around with everyone else on my local lightly trafficked roads. The GR doesn’t have adjustable suspension, but is amazingly compliant over potholes and poorer road surfaces. No jarring shocks enter the cabin whatsoever.
Perfectly acceptable on the motorway...traffic allowing, I normally cruise at an indicated 80, at which point there is some wind noise but nothing of significance.
The GR has the Convenience Pack, whereas most GRs have the Circuit Pack. All the motoring journalists say to get the latter, but as I won’t be taking it on any circuits or driving it in a manner where I’d likely lose my licence, the extra differentials and upgraded suspension mods makes no difference to me. The JBL sound system is good to my ears, although I haven’t compared it to the standard system, and as per my previous Focus, I find the line of sight Head Up Display a feature I find really useful. Especially when the font showing my speed changes from white to red should I exceed the speed limit...I know it’s no excuse but when driving in a strange urban area it does help.
The Convenience Pack includes SatNav. I don’t use it...Apple Car Play every time for me, so a wasted feature, and the reversing camera is very low resolution. And the Lane Departure has to be turned off every time you press Start...easy enough with a 5 second hold on a button, but irritating nonetheless. I’ll investigate further...
MPG showing 35....plenty of short stop/start journeys at the moment...they’ll stop once I get my new hip, plus some motorway trips....6th is very low geared. It’s a hugely impressive 1.6 3 cylinder power unit....265 hp with 270 lb ft of torque in a car weighing 1280 kgs. Dropping into 4th gear is more than sufficient for most safe overtaking manoeuvres. Dropping into 3rd and flooring it ....things can happen rather too fast on the public road and we don’t want that at my age.
Nothing unexpected has reared its head to date. It performs as well as I had hoped, and way beyond my capabilities as I don’t expect to drive it anywhere near its limits. But it handles like a dream, bags of overtaking power and I continue to like the black colour...doesn’t show off the black carbon fibre composite roof but that’s ok. And I can live with the much reduced people carrying capacity and cargo space.
Glad I don’t have any regrets...and had the courage of my convictions not to go down the ‘safer’ road of buying a more practical Puma ST.
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Enjoyed reading that, LL. We peeked at a Yaris (not a GR, just a Yaris), and though we didn't go down that route it seemed a pleasant place to be.
Is the Toyota satnav you don't use still called, in what I always assumed to be an unfortunate translation, "Touch and Go"?
How do you get your petrol mower in? I have an old one I can't get shot of, because it's way too heavy to get in the car to take to the tip. Do you have a ramp or are you just Geoff Capes?
Also been reading a thread on piston heads today lamenting the fact that very few people overtake anywhere anymore, so good to see someone still knows how to do it! Used to be called "making progress", but seems now to be called "being antisocial and will definitely kill many kittens".
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I’ll check out the Sat Nav. If I need it, which is rarely, I use Google Maps or Waze on my phone.
My mower is an old Honda HR 173....in a previous life I used to hand ball 2 tons of peanuts in 50kg hessian sacks up a steep flight of stone steps every week. And load and unload 1200kg of product every day into my van. And my lawn is up 3 flights of steps so it’s easy lifting it into the GR.
TBH I rarely overtake.....depends if the road ahead of the vehicle I’m going to overtake is clear. If not I don’t bother. Unless it’s a quarry wagon in winter throwing up lots of muck. Or it’s a mimser doing 40 in a 60 and I don’t want to get involved with a nut job several cars behind trying to overtake everyone at once in a Corsa.
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Ooh, it's a long time since we used "mimser". Memories of Lud. HJ. Must be 20 years or more some of us have been chatting now. Cripes.
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Sounds like you're taming the beast LL :)
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Sounds a lot of fun LL. We need a bit of fun at the moment.
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Parked right next to a 21 reg black Yaris GR at Delamere forest on Sunday I think it was.
Nice little thing. Looked sort of fierce. Probably was a bit I suppose.
I can see the attraction.
Good name for it actually “GR”
Grrrrrr ;-)
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For me, GR just conjures up images of mid-spec Peugeot 205 and 405 models!
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I had a 205 Gti…B211 UCP.
Probably similar proportions to the GR, and huge fun.
I was young and supple back in the day… :-)
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How’s your licence doing LL?
;-)
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Probably far safer than when I’m in Spain later this month…no quarter given or asked when mixing it with the locals in my hire cars.
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I’m still grinning like a Cheshire cat when I give it some beans....superb poise and grip, wonderful steering, top of the class manual box.
The minor faults I found initially are now of zero significance...35mpg, not that it matters given my low annual miles, but still surprisingly good for the manner in which it is occasionally driven and the regular short stop n start trips.
10/10. Happy days.
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My biggest initial concern was the lack of practicality given it’s a 3 door with far less internal volume than the Focus estate.
Two months on I haven’t needed to carry anyone in the rear seats....either they know how cramped they are, or don’t want to be a passenger.
Rear seats are permanently folded...this weekend a major pruning job on my mother’s garden, involving professional gardening friends. Builders bulk bags full of compacted green waste, a nice square space, 3 tip runs..two had it been the Focus, but all qualms now forgotten.
Still getting 35 mpg and exciting myself a leetle when the revs exceed five thousand and then it really starts to get going. Not exactly Chuck Yeager territory but as close as I wish to get to it whilst on Mother Earth.
Still 10/10.
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Thanks
I’ve read several reviews of the heavily revised version, and the two ‘specials’.
Lots of video reviews and comparison online.
No idea how it will effect residuals on mine....I was in the sub 5% who opted for the ‘Convenience Pack’. Which has a better stereo, HUD, marginally more forgiving suspension and Dunlop rubber.
The ‘Circuit’ Pack has trick diffs, forged alloys, sticky Michelin Pilot Sport rubber, up rated suspension. And forgoes the above. Can’t have both.
Mine has more than adequate performance, and anyone approaching the cars limits on the public road is a nut job. I’m still a very happy Easter bunny with my choice of variant.
Last edited by: legacylad on Wed 27 Mar 24 at 19:20
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Toyota - GR Yaris initial thoughts - Crankcase
