James May is one of the industry’s most senior and respected automotive journalists but that doesn’t mean he’s out of touch with what the young kids are up to.
Consequently, The Grand Tour host opted against making a traditional video review when offered the chance to explore the potent Toyota Yaris GRMN, instead electing to make an ‘unboxing’ video. It’s 16-minutes long and doesn’t actually show May driving the hot hatch. Nonetheless, it is still an entertaining watch.
The clip starts with May slowing opening up the box that’s housing the Yaris GRMN. Once he gets inside, he’s able to peel off the windshield protector and can get rid of all the cardboard which Toyota has applied throughout the interior.
Sadly, the Toyota Yaris GRMN isn’t cheap.
As focused as the interior and exterior designs of the Toyota Yaris GRMN may be, they aren’t the most important aspects of the car.
Instead, the secrets to the GRMN lie beneath the skin. Powering the hot hatch is a supercharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine delivering a very respectable 209 hp and 184 lb-ft (250 Nm) of torque. This engine is paired exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission that sends power through the front wheels. In the right conditions, the Yaris GRMN can reach 62 mph (100 km/h) in 6.2 seconds before topping out at 143 mph (230 km/h).
Those straight-line figures are pretty impressive but it’s in the corners where the Yaris GRMN really shines.
Toyota is building just 400 examples of the car, exclusively for the European market. That’s a shame because if it was offered elsewhere, we’d be very tempted to make a visit to our local Toyota dealership and buy one.