Back in time: Toyota GR Yaris meets its Yaris TS predecessor

A lot has been said and written about the Toyota GR Yaris since it, literally, burst onto the scene last year.

The model on which Toyota Gazoo Racing has built its recent success on in the World Rally Championship, the GR has, and continues, to scoop up numerous awards for being nothing short of an engineering and driving triumph.

When TS meant GR

Harking back to the early Group A days of the WRC, the GR Yaris very much confirms to the mantra of being a rally car for the road, as it not only sports an intricate four-wheel-drive system, but also a menacing exterior, an interior that treads a fine line between luxury and spartan features and the ultimate pursuit delight, a manual gearbox only.

Put simply, the accolades bestowed upon isn’t exaggeration, but arguably earned in an awe-inspiring way. Incredible to believe then that the fastest and most powerful Yaris ever made stands in complete contrast to the derivative that predated it by two decades.

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Built and exported to South Africa in small numbers between 2009 and 2010, the Yaris TS has little in common with the GR.

While it shares the three-door body style and only ever came with a manual gearbox as well, it eschewed the 1.5-litre engine available in the Japanese equivalent Vitz RS for a bigger 1.8.

What’s more, the TS only had front-wheel-drive, no WRC input and no clever electronic dynamics or driving modes.

As it hails from Toyota’s restrained era, the exterior differences grafted onto the second-generation Yaris, the first to be marketed in South Africa, is nothing as aggressive as those of the GR Yaris that uses global XP210 Yaris as a base.

The rare Yaris

For one, the TS is completely devoid of any performance badging, betraying its go-faster ambition by unique 17-inch alloy wheels, sportier bumpers and door sills, restyled taillight clusters, a roof integrated spoiler and 100 mm exhaust outlets.

The colour palette was also limited, with only two hues being available; black or red versus the four of the GR Yaris.

Inside, the interior’s only changes were the suede-like seats and nothing much else. That is if you exclude the gear knob lifted straight from six-speed versions of the contemporary Corolla.

There is also no touchscreen to speak of, and while it did feature Bluetooth, still very much a rarity at the time, no streaming function is offered, with the sole option to play music from an external device with an Aux input behind the gear lever.

Unlike the GR Yaris, the Yaris TS also came with a centrally mounted instrument cluster that drew the ire of many motoring scribes at the time, but with the inclusion of “big car” features such as push-button start and keyless entry among its list of features.

It also had traction control, or Vehicle Stability Control in Toyota-speak – another Yaris first – revised power steering and suspension, and a somewhat annoying automatic rev-type function, a common occurrence on the second-generation Yaris, that ‘blips’ the throttle when shifting up, but not when going down, in complete contrast to the iMT or Intelligent Manual Transmission function of the GR Yaris.

In essence, it is everything the GR Yaris isn’t and while Toyota tested the waters a few years ago with the scorching supercharged Yaris GRMN, it eventually opted not to bring it to South Africa apart from three examples all owned by its employees.

As a result, until the GR Yaris, the TS remained the sole fast Yaris available to the public, that is, for those who could afford it.

At R198 900 in 2009, it was priced way too close to the turbocharged Volkswagen Polo GTI and the Mini Cooper, making it a viable option only for true Toyota devotees who didn’t mind a massive power deficit.

Today, the TS remains a rare sight and arguably even more so than the GR Yaris, which makes a ‘comparison’ between both even rarer. Not so in this case.

Operation TS vs GR

Whereas the GR Yaris came via Toyota, the Yaris TS comes by the way of yours truly, who, despite not being a TS aficionado, managed to snap one up in April this year after a short search.

Having been familiar with the TS and knowing its rarity, the proverbial right price, a full Toyota service history and 130 000 km after 13 years made for a buy I couldn’t resist.

This led to an ambitious plan of playing the generation game that ultimately became a reality, of pitting the Yaris TS against the GR Yaris, but not on a track or in the confines of Gerotek as the GR Yaris would simply have murdered its forebear in every aspect.

A quick glance through colleague Mark Jones’ road test archives proves this, as back in 2009, the Yaris TS completed the 0-100 km/h sprint in a not very fast 10.9 seconds versus the GR Yaris’ 5.3 seconds of last year.

Despite being 90 kg heavier, 1 280 kg vs 1 190 kg, the GR Yaris has exactly 100kW/187Nm more than the Yaris TS that rendered a drag race out of the question.

Instead, taking on each separately was the key, an area where the GR Yaris showed not only the virtues of evolution, but also mindset change that went into.

Push, start, go

For starters, it feels a lot more hardcore than the TS the moment you set off.  Whereas the latter comes softly sprung with a little firmness, the GR Yaris’ ride is rock hard and dialled in for being less road car and more race car, as Mark experienced after campaigning it extensively in the inaugural GR Cup this year.

Both do, however, have supportive seats, but in the GR Yaris, the driving position is a lot better and the driver’s seat able to drop down much lower than in the Yaris TS.

In addition, the race sensation wanting to ‘press, start and go’ is a lot higher in the GR and once on the move, the differences became vast.

With 198kW/360Nm, the GR Yaris demands ruthless treatment from the onset. Despite being a three-cylinder, the sound from the 1.6-litre G16E-GTS engine sounds bedevilling and metallic the moment you take the revs above 3 000 rpm.

Complemented by a Group B-esque wastegate chatter that is both addictive and intoxicating, the acceleration is relentless, downright brutal and adrenalin surging unique to the GR Yaris.

What’s more, the stiffness in-feel of the gear lever of the six-speed ‘box is something else and so mechanical that a good shove is needed to change gear.

The result of this brutality though is an incredible reward of an old school potent hatch that thrills while delivering a white-knuckle sensation in the purest of form possible.

In simple terms, even in Normal mode, the rather poor seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system and lack of rear space fades as the GR Yaris is all about the love for driving and not for being a simple hot hatch.

It is, if you like, a simple equation; a fair degree of brute force results in a satisfactory and hard-earned prize. On the other side of the coin, the Yaris TS is more staid and not as thrilling from the get-go, yet comes alive when you “drive it like you stole it”.

Up front, the 1.8-litre 2ZR-FE engine Lotus used until last year, albeit with a raft of modifications in the Elise and Exige, delivers its 98kW/173Nm in a more linear way higher up the rev range.

While not the iconic 20-valve unit that did duty in the Corolla RSI and RXI, the VVT-i unit means it requires a boot full of revs to deliver its magic in a way arguably more labourious to the instant turbo surge of the GR.

What’s more, the conservative tune of the engine, which Toyota carried over into the supercharged Yaris GRMN, means you have to work the six-speed gearbox, which is a lot lighter and not as workmanlike as in the GR.

There is, however, a lovely poise to the Yaris TS’ handling and although the light steering has just enough feel, unsurprisingly, that of the GR Yaris is a lot sharper and with a lot more feedback.

The most surprising though is how just how chuckable the TS feels, another similarity it shares with the GR, although out of a corner, again no surprise, the latter simply scampers off as the turbo boosts and all four wheels grip.

Conclusion

What cannot be undermined though is the significance of the Yaris TS and how it ultimately led to the creation of the GR Yaris.

Admittedly, the overall differences between both are prevalent as the TS wasn’t made with WRC infused performance in mind, let alone being the hardcore monster the GR is.

But, it’s role in helping to shape the fast small Toyota hatch, preceded by the original Starlet Glanza that bowed out in 1999, shouldn’t be overlooked as a result of its power or dynamic shortfalls.

In the same mould as the GR Yaris, the Yaris TS is still something special and arguably a worthwhile forerunner to what has become a celebrated driving machine that requires a special type of input and effort to unlock its true potential for those who dare.