The Toyota GR Yaris has quickly established itself as one of the finest hot hatches on sale and in perfect conditions, can hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in less than 5 seconds. Surely the front-wheel drive BMW 128ti can’t keep up with it in a straight, right?
To answer that question, Cars.co.za gathered the duo together for a series of drag races and the results are much closer than you may expect.
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On paper, the Toyota has the edge over the BMW as its 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder is good for 268 hp and 265 lb-ft (360 Nm) of torque. It is also all-wheel drive and has a six-speed manual transmission. By comparison, the BMW 128ti has 261 hp and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm) in European-spec but crucially, it is sold exclusively with front-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission.
In the first race, the driver of the GR Yaris gets the better launch, although he did bog down slightly off the line. Nevertheless, the Toyota quickly established a considerable lead. However, as the speeds started to increase, the BMW began to claw its way back and actually crosses the finish line roughly one foot ahead of the Toyota.
The second race isn’t quite as close as the driver of the Toyota got an even better launch after holding the revs at 5,500 rpm before side-stepping the clutch. The 128ti had no chance of catching up, although it did manage to claw back some of the Toyota’s lead in the second half of the race.