Giant-killing new Toyota rally rocket takes on Honda’s evergreen hot hatch hero
The Toyota GR Yaris has landed in Australia to a chorus of praise from hot hatch enthusiasts and rally fans alike.
But does the 200kW turbocharged all-wheel drive three-door dynamo really move the hot hatch game forward in the way many anticipated?
To find out, we put Toyota’s new rally car for the road up against the front-drive hot hatch benchmark, the five-door Honda Civic Type R, which might be slightly larger and has two extra doors, but delivers similar power for a similar price.
The current generation might be on its way out, but the Type R is widely revered as the consummate front-drive performance car, and remains as fresh today as it was when released in 2017.
Sam Charlwood puts these two landmark Japanese pocket rockets together on track to nail down a winner.
