This Emotional Red GR Yaris is an uncommon find in a sea of domestic econoboxes.
The GR Yaris has had a healthy run since its- what, its five years old already?
It made quite a stir in the automotive industry since, realistically, making a homologation and limited-production performance car now is incredibly hard to justify, especially when everyone is tight for money, want money, and more competitors want money. In 2020, Toyota hadn’t needed to worry so much about the current top-selling manufacturer brand in Singapore. Now? They aren’t the top-selling manufacturer brand. That position is for BYD.
Even back then, a three-door car is already impossible to justify producing, for it was even more money into a bespoke body for a car without much parts to share. Not to mention the bodystyle’s popularity with general consumers – less and less people are, for one, willing to make do without a second row of doors for rear passengers. Plus a marketed-as sports car with only a manual transmission (pre-facelift, that is) is sure to kill off a gigantic majority of the general audience.
Plus, the WRC equivalent was killed off in 2020 due to the pandemic, disrupting the company’s planned test schedule and the fact it would only partake in one season before being barred due to rule changes. Its safe to say they could have cut their losses and kill off the homologation car.
The powertrain at a basic level is an incredibly old-school recipe. The G16E-GTS 1.6-litre is a three-cylinder engine, which reminds me of cars like the Charade GTti in the nineties and newer hot hatches like a Ford Fiesta ST. Power for this turbocharged engine is a quoted 268 horsepower, but more modern variants of this engine in other models like the facelifted GR Yaris, Corolla and (surprisingly) Lexus LBX Morizo RR make 300 horsepower.
Some other engineering additions include double wishbone suspension, the front end of the standard Yaris platform being mixed with the rear end of the Corolla platform, aluminium and carbon fibre-reinforced plastic materials and four-wheel drive. Simply put, its engineered to the point is not so related with the normal Yaris.
There exists a watered-down variant of GR Yaris sold only in Japan, with the same body but with a 1.5-litre turbo three-cylinder engine making a quoted 118 horsepoer. This engine, the M15A-FKS, is shared with other models in the Toyota lineup, included but not limited to the Yaris Cross. If you see any GR Yaris RS, note that these aren’t the best ones to look for.
This here is one of several GR Yaris in Penang Island. There exists a GRMN Yaris in the island, a limited edition model with only 500 units made globally. Most GR Yaris are cosmetically unmodified, which this somewhat is, bar for the RAYS G025 wheels and aftermarket exhaust. The GR Yaris came available in three shades: White Pearl, Emotional Red and Precious Black. This Emotional Red paint seen on this GR Yaris is quite the look.
These as new-old stock are listed for RM120-150k for the 1.5 RS, and RM169k and up for used 1.6 RZ and RC models. For context, the RC is identical to the RZ but missing some components in the interest of modifying under the owner for competition use. We have seen a registered RZ selling for as low as RM140k before.
These will and have already cemented themselves into the history books for Toyotas sporting heritage. Assuming people will be able to keep (although maybe not use their internal combustion engine car) their cars in the future, these might be a nice legacy collectible someday.
This is a subpost of the original entry, linked here: Penang: September 2025 Photos and stills
~Efini
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Read More: Surprise! GR Corolla in Varis clad
