Toyota’s Mid-Engine MR2 Is Closing In, And It’s Hiding Inside A GR Yaris Concept

The mid-engine GR Yaris mule is really a test bed for the next MR2.
Toyota recently ran a prototype through a 24-hour endurance race.
New 2.0-liter turbo four is chasing over 100 horsepower per cylinder.

It has been three years since Toyota’s Gazoo Racing team began building a mid-engined GR Yaris prototype, the plan being to master this layout before it lands in a production car. The work has reached its closing phase, and that clears the way for Toyota to concentrate on the all-new MR2 and Celica, two cars widely tipped to carry the same mid-engined hardware once they arrive.

Read: The Mid-Engine MR2 Is Going AWD, And Toyota’s Racing It To Prove It Works

Ordinarily, car manufacturers go about projects like this in complete silence, but Toyota has done the opposite. Over the past three years, it’s routinely written about the trials and tribulations of building such a car, and has just released a 90-minute documentary detailing the development. It offers a fascinating insight into one of Gazoo’s most ambitious projects to date.

Toyota’s Mid-Engine MR2 Is Closing In, And It’s Hiding Inside A GR Yaris Concept — ToyotaTimes/YouTube

Toyota has been testing the mid-engined layout in its Concept M racer, based on the GR Yaris. The car has undergone a series of improvements over the past three years as the company has battled to ensure it performs perfectly. Toyota has also gone endurance racing in the car, the ultimate reliability test.

The setup inverts the GR Corolla and Yaris layout, keeping all-wheel drive with front and rear Torsen limited-slip differentials while a prop shaft runs from the rear-mounted transmission up to the front axle. Engineers say the car can send all of its torque to the rear or up to half to the front. They told Car and Driver they also tried a 70/30 front split, but it understeered badly.

An Exciting New Engine

The engine in the Concept M test mule, which is widely expected to debut in the new MR2 and Celica, is Toyota’s new G20E 2.0-liter turbocharged, direct-injection four-cylinder. It should replace the 1.6-liter turbo three-cylinder found in the GR Yaris and GR Corolla, and Toyota has built it to be both more powerful and smaller than the 2.4-liter turbo four offered in several of its other models, including SUVs and pickup trucks. Toyota eventually expects it to make more than 100 horsepower per cylinder.

Toyota

Ensuring this engine can be cooled adequately has been a key challenge for the GR team, but it appears to have ironed out those issues. In total, six different generations of prototypes have been developed, and the latest Gen-6 mule recently competed in a 24-hour race during the Super Taikyu Series at Fuji Speedway.

GR chief engineer Naohiko Saito told Car&Driver that at least 14 more iterations of the all-wheel-drive test bed are planned beyond the current ones, with the program drawing on the work of at least 500 Gazoo Racing employees.

Now is a very exciting time to be a Toyota fan. Early reports from those who’ve experienced the new 2.0-liter turbo engine in the mid-ship GR Yaris, are very positive, and it bodes well for smaller, low-slung sport models like the revived MR2 and Celica, which have been talked about for years and now finally appear to be just around the corner.