Reviewed: Toyota Yaris GR-Four sports hatchback
Northland-based motoring journalist Sandy Myhre, from the popular blog Wenches on Adventures, gives her opinion on a fast Japanese hatchback.
The Toyota Yaris GR-Four is priced from $64,990. Photos: Toyota NZ
This is most unusual. It’s not an electric vehicle (EV), it’s not a hybrid, it certainly isn’t a diesel and neither does it run on any other alternative fuel.
It’s petrol-driven pure and, what’s more, that petrol needs to have an octane rating of 98, known as premium unleaded, It’s designed for vehicles with high performance engines and that mostly refers to European cars.
That’s another unusual aspect about this car. It’s Japanese, from Toyota, designed and built to rally specifications with assistance from the company's Gazoo Racing (GR) division.
If you need to fill up in Northland, though, you are out of luck, there are no stations north of the Brynderwyns that deliver 98 fuel.
The rally Yaris Four was first introduced in 2020 and five years later Toyota have given it the treatment based on the World Rally Championship Yaris WRC. This street-legal 2025 Yaris GR-Four is a genuine sports car, with a powerful 1.6 litre turbocharged engine coupled to an eight-speed direct shift automatic.
It has inflated wheel arches and aftermarket-style GR-FOUR intercooler,
Don’t put the foot down until the temperature has warmed up a bit however, even the dash tells you that, not in those terms but with slightly more technical phraseology. Then, when you do give it some herbs, it peels the skin back on your face quicker Terry Dubrow from Botched.
It’s just so seemingly effortless, the eight-speed box helps as does the all-wheel-drive system and the tragedy is, you can’t really enjoy the sensation in New Zealand without getting stuck behind someone in a ten-year-old Tiida or getting nabbed by the highway patrol. We simply don’t have the freedom of speed offered by the autobahns of Germany.
That said, however, there is much to enjoy and our twisty topography is the fun element. If you can’t go fast for long periods of time then go nicely around the bend! The intelligent all-wheel-drive system comes in different drive modes and is a core feature providing high-performance handling.
As for looks, it has inflated wheel arches and a protruding front jaw line complete with aftermarket-style GR-FOUR intercooler. It sits low to the ground just like a crouching tiger waiting for the hidden dragon (the engine) to unleash. Another rally touch comes through strikingly with red brake calipers.
The four-seater hatchback gives rally vibes, thanks to its GR badging.
Inside there is a new dashboard and a lowered seating position, in line with rally dynamics. There is plenty of room in the front but, really, not much in the back. It hasn’t been designed to appeal to back seat passengers after all.
The rally vibe continues with a manual handbrake, you might even remember those from eons ago, and it carries on with hip-hugging bucket seats.
Neither is the boot expansive but there’s enough room for a couple of suitcases or the weekly supermarket shopping. But space isn’t the whole point of this car, it’s a sports car after all.
The Yaris Four is, in a way, a throwback to the 1990s until everyone went electric. It sits in a category all its own.
You could choose the new Audi Dynamic Black Q2 35 TFSI for about the same price but by the time you’ve got through spelling out the name of the German car you could be disappearing into the distance in the Yaris Four Automatic.
It has a 1.6-litre turbo engine, paired with an eight-speed auto transmission.