Styling
Let's be fair, Toyota didn't need to do much here. And so it hasn't. With its ridiculously bulging bodywork making it look like a gym-addicted nightclub bouncer squeezed into a slightly-too-tight Savile Row suit, the GR Yaris has always had a fantastically aggressive appearance and stance, and that continues here. It looks fabulous in the only free colour, Pure White Solid. It looks fabulous in Precious Black metallic (£640). It looks fabulous in any of the three £920 Premium paints, which include the only non-monochromatic finish of Scarlet Flare, but also the Precious Machine grey you can see in the pics - and that's the only 'new' hue for the facelifted Toyota.
Therefore, if you want the 'spotters' notes' on what, precisely, has changed with the latest GR Yaris, then prepare to scrutinise the images above with a magnifying glass. Perhaps the most obvious change is the big 'GR-Four' graphic stencilled onto the low-mounted intercooler at the front, but that's actually peeping through a new metal mesh grille sitting in a revised lower front airdam, complete with different outer intakes, and a two-piece bumper that's said to be cheaper to replace or repair should you damage it. Y'know, doing serious motorsport-type activities and stuff, and not simply driving the GR like a total tit on the B1053 to Saffron Walden.
Ditto the incredibly modest airbrushing at the back, where the reversing lights and foglamps have been removed from the area between the twin round exhaust exits and are now incorporated into the rear combination lamps, while the high-level brake light has moved down from the roof-edge spoiler to sit in the same horizontal plane as the rest of the tail-end illumination. The main rear lights, incidentally, now link up into a full-width strip, but it does follow the form of the black insert the GR Yaris has always had high up on its bootlid.
We'll come back to this point later, but following on from the launch in 2020, the vast, vast majority of GR Yarises ordered across Europe were ticked with the Circuit Pack option, so that's essentially now the base spec of the Toyota three-door; the 'non-CP' car has been dropped. This means the ten-spoke, 18-inch BBS alloy wheels on grippier Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres sitting over red brake callipers are standard equipment. This is good, because the CP rims were always the best wheel-and-tyre package for the GR anyway.
Interior
If you were being kind about the new dashboard of the Toyota GR Yaris, you might say it is vaguely reminiscent of the 'drawn with a set-square' fascia of the legendary Lancia Delta integrale. But if you were being slightly less magnanimous, what you might instead opine is that the poor old Toyota seems to have been saddled with a swathe of very cheap-looking, shiny silver plastic that forms a gargantuan and somewhat ugly cliff face that assails the driver's vision from minute one of getting into the car.
Built to house the new digital instrument cluster, which - given its fairly lacklustre graphics - we don't think is any improvement at all on the analogue dials the GR had before, it's a really strange design decision by Toyota to go with this arrangement in such a desirable pocket rocket. It's not only gaudy and all-domineering, either, but it feels nasty and tacky to the touch; as if someone spilled Coca-Cola all over the vertical plastic monolith in the Toyota factory, and then didn't do a very good job of wiping the sticky drink off of the plastic before installing the dash in the car.
In truth, the Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan (the reference here is 'stupid slab of a face', if you're wondering) dashboard of the latest GR overshadows the fact that Toyota's engineers listened to the critics from the first sampling of this uber-Yaris in 2020, and addressed the one critical concern we had about the car - namely, that the driver's seat was mounted just too high. Now, though, the seat has been dropped by 25mm to make the position behind the wheel far more satisfactory than it was previously.
Practicality
You don't buy a Toyota GR Yaris for any concession to practicality. It's a vanishingly rare three-door shell in the first place, so even accessing the vestigial rear pair of seats in a car that's less than four metres long from tip to tail and is possessed of just 2,560mm of wheelbase is a monumental faff of the highest order. The boot measures a meagre 174 litres with the passenger compartment in regular trim, and Toyota doesn't even bother to quote a figure with the rear bench folded down. It used to say you could get four spare wheels and tyres in there for track days and so on, so we assume that's still the case.
And, weirdly enough, that dashboard we were lambasting earlier has supposedly been designed by competition drivers, in order to place all the switchgear in easier-to-reach places, to make the Yaris more practical. That's all right when the super-cool intercooler-spray button is in your eyeline, as it is here, but such cred-boosting stuff is then tempered by all that distasteful silver plastic towering up in front of you.
Performance
Weighing 1.3 tonnes and with a 261hp/360Nm 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine installed, speed was not something for which the original Toyota GR Yaris lacked. Yet, despite this, the Japanese firm has decided to give it higher outputs this time around - namely, increases of 19hp and 30Nm, which bring the totals to 280hp and a whopping 390Nm. This trims three-tenths of a second from the 0-62mph time, so the new model can do the sprint in 5.2 seconds, although the top speed of 143mph (which was previously limited) remains the same.
It's not just a case of Toyota turning the wick up and hoping for the best, though. To ensure the ongoing durability for which this company's powertrains are renowned, the 1.6 in the GR has been treated to a strengthened valvetrain, new exhaust-valve material, lightweight pistons with wear-resistant rings, an additional intake-pressure sensor, and an increase in the fuel-injection pressure. For European models like this, a cooling pack is included as standard, which incorporates a secondary sub-radiator that extends the amount of time the car can be driven at full throttle, as well as modifications to the intake and the inclusion of that water spray for the intercooler.
Capping all of this off is the exhaust system to make the most of the three-pot's exertions, although purists might want to look away now as Toyota has fitted it with a sound amplifier to enhance the quality of the engine note. The GR Yaris also has Active Noise Control, which uses an in-car microphone to detect unwanted sounds and then cancel them out by broadcasting neutralising waves through the speakers.
Those with only a specific type of UK driving licence, rejoice, because Toyota is offering an automatic option on the GR Yaris for the first time. Called the Gazoo Racing Direct Automatic Transmission, it's an eight-speed unit that adds £1,500 to the purchase price of the car if you want it, although we're here testing the conventional (and preferred) six-speed H-pattern variant. This is still fitted with the Intelligent Manual Transmission (iMT) tech, which matches engine revs to road speed during shifts to smooth out the driving experience, but even the manual 'box has had upgrades as part of this work. It receives a new dual-mass flywheel to accommodate the maximum 390Nm of torque, while the 'peak pressing force' for the clutch pedal has been set relatively high to give more feedback.
The results of all the above are startling, however, rather than subtle. Maybe our memory has faded since we last drove a GR Yaris in the middle of 2021, but even though we remembered it as quick and thrilling, we don't remember it being as rabidly demented as it is now in 2025. Honestly, the GR is a certifiable monster. It'll rip through its first three gears in a blur of revs, noise and insane acceleration, but also watch out for the added flexibility it has for roll-on acceleration - a few times on the A1(M) northbound on a trip to North Yorkshire, once traffic moving at about 50mph in the outside lane had moved out of our way following an overtake, we squeezed the throttle with the Toyota in sixth... and the ease with which it would swiftly get to speeds which we can't publish here was quite breathtaking.
It even sounds good, all gravelly of voice and overlaid with the boosty hissing of the turbo from the 1.6-litre. If we were being hyper-critical, the noise of the GR Yaris is not its strongest suit and there are more tuneful performance cars out there if you want them - but, crucially, nothing that's ideologically similar to the Toyota. Other observations of the car's sonics are that we didn't really notice any 'fakeness' with the sounds being broadcast out of the speakers to augment the GR's natural voice, but we also understand why most owners of GRs prior to this point have fitted them with aftermarket exhausts and other accoutrements to make them sound better than they are.
If there is one area of this section of the review which annoys us, it's the GR's fuel performance. Now we're not expecting a 280hp superhatch like this to do 40-to-the-gallon and more. And, in fact, on the motorway you can often get 32-33mpg out of it, as we found across 400 miles of testing during a week with the car. But the 50-litre fuel tank is minuscule, and if you're enjoying the performance and handling the GR Yaris can offer (and you will be, trust us) then you can expect a realistic fuel range of around 200 miles to a tank, maybe less. You could try and spin this as a positive, and say it's prepping us for an age when short-distance EVs become all the rage. Or you could say the GR would be a heck of a lot better and all-round usable as a road car with another 20 litres of fuel storage to its name, without it massively spoiling its kerb weight or balance of mass.
Ride & Handling
Like the performance section above, we'd have expected to 'Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V' our driving impressions of the Circuit Pack drive from five years ago. Seriously, Toyota could have done
precisely nothing to change the GR's driving dynamics, and we'd still have adored it today.
But Toyota hasn't rested on its laurels. And it's fantastically nerdy stuff to drill down into, when you want to find out just why the GR Yaris is such an unmitigated dream to drive. The basic architecture is still based on a meeting of the company's smaller GA-B platform up front with the rear half of the GA-C chassis, while the GR-Four all-wheel-drive set-up continues too. With a high-response centre coupling to split the torque distribution from the front axle to the rear, then
two torque-sensing (Torsen) limited-slip differentials deployed to push said force from the left to the right wheels as needed, it's a serious bit of kit.
The GR uses permanent AWD and can theoretically sling all of its torque at either axle (so it becomes temporarily either front- or rear-wheel drive as conditions dictate). However, using the driving mode switch, you can adjust how the Toyota is balanced in a 'default' state. In Normal, the standard front/rear distribution is 60:40, but with a new variable torque drive function, when you're in Track the balance switches from anything between 60:40 and 30:70; ordinarily, in Track, the GR will enter a corner with 60:40 distribution, but flip to fully 30:70 to gain more rear-wheel traction and concomitantly faster acceleration out of a bend. Finally, in Gravel mode, the base setting is 53:47, but in each and every mode the torque balance will shift about automatically depending on the Toyota's attitude at any given moment.
Beyond these changes to the GR-Four, Toyota has increased the number of spot-welds in the shell of the Yaris by 13 per cent while also applying 24 per cent more structural adhesive, all of which increases the torsional rigidity of the GR. With its lightweight forged carbon-compound roof up top, Toyota claims all of the yaw response, steering feedback and grip feel have been enhanced in this updated car.
It doesn't stop there. The suspension remains MacPherson front struts and trailing double-wishbones at the rear, but extra bolts on the leading dampers have been added to suppress the changes in alignment that happen during high-load cornering which causes the upper bush to deform; that also is said to improve the feel and response rates of the steering, too, which is set at a quick 13.6:1 ratio with just 2.36 turns from lock-to-lock. Sticking with the suspension, the spring rates front and rear have also been adjusted to suit the stiffer shell of the car and the changes to its AWD system.
With meaty 356mm front, 297mm rear ventilated brake discs gripped by four-pot and twin-piston red-painted callipers respectively, and with every version now fitted with the sticky Pilot Sport 4S tyres (because all updated GRs are effectively 'Circuit Packs' as we said above), you have all the tools at your disposal to dissect any given road in a highly effective and outright riotous manner. Bloody hell, the GR Yaris is
sublime. Time has not diminished the impact of its spectacular handling skills in the slightest, because everything about it - the keenness of the front end when turning into a corner, the immaculate body and wheel control, the ability to change the chassis' behaviour on the throttle alone, the weight and feedback of the fantastic steering, the sheer competence with which it deals with crest, compressions and unexpected mid0bend bumps - is about as perfect as performance cars get. Nothing, but nothing, can cover ground like the GR Yaris when the roads ahead of its snub nose get technical, because its trim kerb weight, tiny road footprint and nigh-on-unimpeachable grip on the road surface make it devastatingly quick from point-to-point.
Crucially, it still puts an enormous grin on your face while it's working its chassis magic. This is not a car that will 'do everything' for the lazy driver, so when you've really got it stoked up into a furious boil on your favourite B-roads, it makes you feel like you're the one eliciting that level of pace from it; or, in other words, that not everyone could get the best from its top-notch hardware. And for that, we can't fault the way it handles. At all.
Is it the comfiest car in the world? Well, no, it's not, but the dampers operate at such a level of sophisitication that you can easily take on longer, less-interesting journeys in the Toyota and not get out of it at the far end despising it with every fibre of your being. Sure, the vertical movements of its body are abrupt and high frequency, which can make the GR feel a tad bouncy on poorer surfaces, but it's never actively crashy nor lumpen. If you want a physical demonstration of the difference in ride comfort between truly elite suspension, as fitted to the GR Yaris, and then something which has simply been 'firmed up' by its parent manufacturer to make it sporty (and which is then quite uncomfortable to travel in), the best comparison would be to try one of the last remaining front-wheel-drive hot hatches that's vaguely in the Toyota's sphere of influence - to whit, the
F66 MINI John Cooper Works. That three-door Brit is by no means the worst offender of unyielding suspension - in fact,
one of its stablemates is an abject horror in this regard - but the GR is leagues above the MINI for this sort of thing. So while we fully accept that, if you were given the choice of any type of car in the world in which to do a 300-mile motorway slog in one hit, the GR Yaris would be nowhere near the top of your list, the brilliant news is that if you do have to do that sort of thing in the Toyota, it can soak it all up with a suitable level of aplomb that doesn't let the whole dynamic shebang down. And with reasonable rolling refinement for such a small car, plus that absolute hammer of a sixth gear to play with, it's even fun (in a way) when you're just pootling up and down the M1 or similar.
Value
This is the killer blow to the 2025 GR Yaris' overall chance of bagging five stars. The GR Yaris has got faster in a straight line and even more unrelentingly joyous through the corners than its direct predecessor, yet it hasn't sacrificed all of its acceptable day-to-day civility in the process. So surely it deserves top marks? Sadly, we can't reasonably do that... because it's now the wrong side of £46,000. In 2020, you could get in a GR without the Circuit Pack for £29,995. Even with the CP fitted and coated in Scarlet Flare paint, it was less than £34,000.
But
forty-six grand. And don't even look at the Ogier or Rovanperä specials if this already discomfits you, because they're a genuinely staggering £61,750 apiece. A sixty-two-thousand-pound Toyota Yaris. Even as good as it is, that's mind-boggling. So our demo car offers the best-value way into GR ownership now, and you could frame the alarming price hike in the context of the fact GRs tend to hold their value (and they might even appreciate as future classics), as well as remembering there's literally nothing else quite like it available for any price, and it's a limited-build thing as well. Indeed, on that last score, you can't even spec a GR Yaris at the time of writing; Toyota GB says it is a case of 'existing stock availability' at the moment, but another batch of them might become available in the near future.
Also, Toyota hasn't struggled to shift the GR. Since its launch five years ago, more than 40,000 examples have been sold worldwide, with half of that number finding homes in Europe (the vast majority of which have been CPs, as we keep alluding to). Further, the company says the GR Yaris is typically bought to be part of huge car collections, happily sitting among far more exotic machines belonging to the super-rich who own those big, dehumidified garages we all dream about. So £46,000 is small change to that market. But still. Forty. Six. Thousand. Pounds. Regrettably, for all our adulation of the way the GR Yaris drives, we have to say that £12,000-£16,000 leap from the old car's prices is impossible to ignore in our overall appraisal.
Verdict
The revised Toyota GR Yaris has more speed and flexibility, thanks to the increase in power from its 1.6-litre three-pot turbo engine. It has a far better driving position, courtesy of the lower-mounted front seats. The spectacularly anally retentive attention-to-engineering-detail that has gone into reinforcing its frame and sharpening its dynamics has worked a treat. And the technology onboard has taken a step up, even if it's housed in a laughably clunky, slab-faced dashboard that looks like the rear control panel found in the Mitsubishi Starion piloted by Jackie Chan and Richard Kiel which featured in
Cannonball Run II.
All improvements, on something which was borderline magical to start with. So the car itself, this updated 2025 GR Yaris, remains a blinding thing to steer. But the fact it is now £46,000, instead of £30,000, simply cannot be ignored. If you'd lost all leave of your senses and gone for either of the aforementioned rally-linked special editions, you could have dropped almost £62,000. On something which was called a 'Yaris'. And you can argue until you're blue in the face that, no, the GR
isn't really a Yaris because it shares so little hardware with the
Japanese firm's regular B-segment hatchback; the fact of the matter is that a £61,750 Toyota Yaris, even one with the magic dust of GR's input sprinkled over it and driving like the 280hp nutcase does, is frankly impossible the justify to anyone except car-collecting multibillionaires.
So, dashboard aside, the phenomenal little Toyota GR Yaris has unequivocally become better as a result of these midlife technical updates wrought upon it by its parent company. But, sadly, the associated and extraordinary hike in prices that go with it unfortunately take that last degree of dazzle and shine off the car. Which is more than can be said of that hideous fascia inside, mind; we wish someone would take the shine off of that. Or, indeed, take it off the car entirely. Hey ho.
