There hasn’t been a Toyota like the new one GR Yaris since the old Celica GT-Four ST205 from the mid 90s. It was only a matter of time before someone staged a face …between the company’s two most recent homologated special rally monsters, and Fifth Gear has risen to the occasion.
In this short video, British touring car legend and Fifth Gear presenter Jason Plato takes both Toyotas around Castle Combe to find out how much faster the Yaris really is.
I’m saying “how much faster” and not “which is faster” because with 18 more horsepower, an extra gear, a curb weight about 240 pounds lighter, and 25 years of technological advancements in general, it was never a question of whether the Yaris could beat the foundation for what former FIA president Max Mosely once dealt with Most ingenious cheat he had ever seen. Victory was inevitable – the question was how bad the whooping would be.
That’s not to say the Celica isn’t fast. “You know what? It’s about twenty years old, and it’s pretty good. You have to steer quite a lot, but once the car turns … this, wow” Plato walks away, as I imagine. I would be behind the wheel of the car. Sega meeting cover star on an open track.
After slapping the Celica around Castle Combe, Plato ties himself up in the Yaris, which he calls remarkably “sharp and pointed,” before completing a lap seven whole seconds faster than the older car.
The Yaris looks so much faster on the track. Of course is faster, but there’s also a visual illusion to seeing modern rally cars, with their short wheelbase and stocky proportions, crush a lap compared to much larger coupés we had in the ’90s. The enormous 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 hp more, in a drag race. And yet, every time this hot hatch is released, it somehow shatters his already high hopes. Meanwhile, those of us on the wrong side of the Atlantic are getting deeper and deeper into the depression of knowing we can’t have one.
No, this video won’t make you feel any better, but seeing these siblings hit the asphalt together will put a smile on your face. And maybe, just maybe, we can take comfort in the fantasy that Toyota will soon deliver on its promise to bring a GR-flavored Corolla to our shores.