The Toyota Yaris has undergone significant changes since its latest generation form was released. One of the notable features is the touch-screen interface, which some owners may prefer to avoid in favor of the more traditional wheel-based controls. This allows for easier navigation and access to various functions without having to rely on a touchscreen.

One particular model that caught our attention is an automatic variant with the MOOCH mode. When left in this mode, the car will shift smoothly at low speeds, making it ideal for everyday driving. However, when shifted into manual mode, the gearbox responds quickly and efficiently, providing a more engaging driving experience. The engine sounds slightly gruff during acceleration, but overall, the transmission is well-suited for both cruising and spirited driving.

A key aspect of the Yaris's performance is its gearbox and transmission characteristics. In manual mode, the car changes gears smoothly at low revs, making it feel more relaxed and effortless to drive. The manual transmission option allows drivers to connect with the car on a deeper level, as they can feel the engine's torque and respond accordingly.

The Toyota Yaris has also made significant strides in terms of handling and stability. With its updated front suspension, the car is now more stable at high speeds, making it an agile and responsive vehicle. The steering is still excellent, providing plenty of grip and poise during corners. While some may find the ride to be slightly firm, it's well within acceptable limits and doesn't compromise the overall driving experience.

A notable aspect of the Yaris's performance is its lack of "enthusiasm" when accelerating at lower speeds. Compared to other high-performance cars in its class, the Yaris can feel somewhat tame in terms of acceleration. However, this is largely due to the car's focus on comfort and practicality rather than outright speed. When pushed harder, however, the Yaris reveals a more spirited personality, with plenty of power and responsiveness.

The Toyota Yaris is also notable for its ability to balance performance and everyday usability. While it's not as quick as some other hot hatches in terms of raw acceleration, it's more than capable of delivering respectable speeds on longer drives or point-to-point journeys. In fact, when driven at sensible speeds, the car can feel remarkably quick and agile.

One thing that sets the Yaris apart from its competitors is its compact size and light weight. These factors contribute to its agility and responsiveness, making it a joy to drive through tight corners or winding roads. The front suspension has been stiffened slightly, which improves stability at high speeds but doesn't compromise the car's ability to turn quickly.

The Toyota Yaris also boasts a more modern interior design, with a focus on comfort and usability. While some may find the ride to be slightly firmer than they'd like, it's well within acceptable limits and doesn't detract from the overall driving experience. The steering is still excellent, providing plenty of grip and poise during corners.

In terms of its overall character, the Yaris has undergone a subtle shift since its latest generation form was released. While it's still an incredibly fun-to-drive car, it's now slightly more refined and mature in its approach to performance and everyday usability. However, this hasn't come at the expense of its engaging driving experience, which remains one of the best aspects of the Yaris.

It's worth noting that the Yaris is now significantly pricier than it was when it first arrived on the market. This may be a concern for some potential buyers, but it's also worth considering the car's exceptional performance and handling capabilities in light of its revised price point.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello welcome back to the channel now we've driven the Toyota gr Yaris in its revised form before overseas but this is our chance to drive it on the road in the UK but first here is a small refresher of the technical changes Toyota has made to its Pocket Rocket externally there is a three-piece front bumper now with a larger cooling aperture and a stronger metal Grill at the rear the low-level reversing light has been raised because exhausts were melting it while the high level brake light has gone from the spoiler to the the window because that was upsetting tuners who fitted their own rear Wings hidden body changes are a 15% increase in spot welds and adhesive to stiffen the Shell while the front struts are beefier the engine gets more cooling a strengthened valve train new exhaust valves lighter pistons and a higher injection pressure power is 276 horses and torque 288 ftlb both are up the manual gearbox has stronger linkages but there's now also an 8s speeed torque converter automatic which weighs just 20 kilos more revised Drive modes but 40% of power to the rear in normal 46% in gravel and between 40 and 70% in track although that's less relevant to our road drive today spring rates are increased all round but more so at the front and the front anti- rollar is stiffer too and this is all now basically the circuit pack there's no softer suspension option lastly inside the seat can be dropped 25 mm lower than before the rear view mirror has been raised by 25 mil and the new instrument binacle is 50 mil lower all to improve the driver's sight light and the they've put the price up by quite a lot the Aris used to start at around £30,000 now it is 45k in the UK and so welcome to the inside of the 24 gr Yaris and well let's cabin wise this binnacle is lower than before this mirror is higher than before so visibility is improved but there are aftermarket places which would drop the seat lower for you and I think that would still be beneficial the driving position is otherwise very good these digital instruments are fine and this Yaris now has to comply with the latest batch of safety regulations which includes Lane keep assist and uh road sign speed speed limit warning uh speed limit reading you can turn them off because like most of these systems they're not very good um you can do it all through the wheel you don't have to go into a touchcreen which is fine there is a touchcreen it's got carplay it'll do what you want um this one as you may notice is an automatic if you leave it in mooch along mode it mooches along um it shifts very smoothly very cleanly the engine sounds a little bit grally at times as it accelerates the stuff it doesn't excite all the time in a way that the previous Yaris did which I think always felt like eager always felt like it wanted you to be absolutely on it this feels initially and I think part of it is down to this gearbox and the manual still available of course um is that it does you know it does chill it does mooch it changes up at low revs I mean I'm doing 50 m hour it's put itself into fifth gear where it's doing like 2 and a half th000 under 2 and half th000 reps but you can make it across to manual I don't know how much you can hear of its Fizzies and whizzies but just as you put it around to the Rev line it revs to yellow lines at 6 and A2 and it revs out to seven and it becomes you get a bit of whistle from the exhaust you get as you lift off you get the little Chups here and there it is suddenly much more engaging and much more alert when you put it into manual mode it's torque converter rather than a twin clutch you know what it's fine it changes up quickly enough and when it comes to Down Changes they're both doing that thing where they're sort of disconnecting and firing up the revs anyway and then when a quarter comes I mean it's still gotone that sort of rampant enthusiasm that it just gets better the faster you go and it kind of wants you to go faster and faster and when you do go fast it can go astonishingly quick as a sort of Point to-point car it's really fast it's really fast I mean all performance cars are too quick for the road these days this is among them but you get quite a lot back at sensible speeds when you're sort of pressing on it's not pressing on like you're pressing on in a Ferrari f8 or anything it's not that you know it's not that level of unhinged quickness in the changes that Toyota has made the front suspension I think is slightly stiffer than it used to be what that means is more stable at the front as you turn there's a bit more to lean on it doesn't feel like it's suddenly whipping round um like it did before it's still a very agile car in the great scheme of things it's compact it's light it turns very quickly it turns but it it does it with more stability than the previous Yaris did it's not a criticism that's not good that's not bad it's just the way it is it's still got great steering it's still got loads of grip it's still got loads of poise and on UK Rose and this is the interesting thing um for me I mean you may not be in the UK but I've only driven this car on a circuit before and now to try it on the road there's a reasonable amount of road noise I don't mind that this is this sort of car that you know that's totally acceptable but the ride is fine you know it's it it's firm no question but it doesn't crash it doesn't kick back you know the steering you may have just heard it as I went over a a jol then you know that's a big bump and you I heard it and I felt it a bit but it wasn't unkindly crashy and in a way that reminds me maybe of some of the earlier Subarus maybe that you know they were firm but they had degree of compliance to them um and deafness and you know it wasn't Rock up and the best driver's cars do that you know they don't have to be rock hard all the time and this is still among them I mean I really enjoyed this car when it came out in its first generation form the changes have altered its character ever so slightly it's no more fun than it used to be not sure it's any less fun than it used to be it's just got a very slight difference a very slight difference in in its character but it's still a lot of fun it's now quite a lot of money so it was a lot of bargain priced fund before it's a lot of not quite so bargain priced fund now but it is still a real high point of Modern Performance car hot Hatchery rally replic whatever whatever you want to call it it is still one of the best driver's cars on sale great fun before great fun nowhello welcome back to the channel now we've driven the Toyota gr Yaris in its revised form before overseas but this is our chance to drive it on the road in the UK but first here is a small refresher of the technical changes Toyota has made to its Pocket Rocket externally there is a three-piece front bumper now with a larger cooling aperture and a stronger metal Grill at the rear the low-level reversing light has been raised because exhausts were melting it while the high level brake light has gone from the spoiler to the the window because that was upsetting tuners who fitted their own rear Wings hidden body changes are a 15% increase in spot welds and adhesive to stiffen the Shell while the front struts are beefier the engine gets more cooling a strengthened valve train new exhaust valves lighter pistons and a higher injection pressure power is 276 horses and torque 288 ftlb both are up the manual gearbox has stronger linkages but there's now also an 8s speeed torque converter automatic which weighs just 20 kilos more revised Drive modes but 40% of power to the rear in normal 46% in gravel and between 40 and 70% in track although that's less relevant to our road drive today spring rates are increased all round but more so at the front and the front anti- rollar is stiffer too and this is all now basically the circuit pack there's no softer suspension option lastly inside the seat can be dropped 25 mm lower than before the rear view mirror has been raised by 25 mil and the new instrument binacle is 50 mil lower all to improve the driver's sight light and the they've put the price up by quite a lot the Aris used to start at around £30,000 now it is 45k in the UK and so welcome to the inside of the 24 gr Yaris and well let's cabin wise this binnacle is lower than before this mirror is higher than before so visibility is improved but there are aftermarket places which would drop the seat lower for you and I think that would still be beneficial the driving position is otherwise very good these digital instruments are fine and this Yaris now has to comply with the latest batch of safety regulations which includes Lane keep assist and uh road sign speed speed limit warning uh speed limit reading you can turn them off because like most of these systems they're not very good um you can do it all through the wheel you don't have to go into a touchcreen which is fine there is a touchcreen it's got carplay it'll do what you want um this one as you may notice is an automatic if you leave it in mooch along mode it mooches along um it shifts very smoothly very cleanly the engine sounds a little bit grally at times as it accelerates the stuff it doesn't excite all the time in a way that the previous Yaris did which I think always felt like eager always felt like it wanted you to be absolutely on it this feels initially and I think part of it is down to this gearbox and the manual still available of course um is that it does you know it does chill it does mooch it changes up at low revs I mean I'm doing 50 m hour it's put itself into fifth gear where it's doing like 2 and a half th000 under 2 and half th000 reps but you can make it across to manual I don't know how much you can hear of its Fizzies and whizzies but just as you put it around to the Rev line it revs to yellow lines at 6 and A2 and it revs out to seven and it becomes you get a bit of whistle from the exhaust you get as you lift off you get the little Chups here and there it is suddenly much more engaging and much more alert when you put it into manual mode it's torque converter rather than a twin clutch you know what it's fine it changes up quickly enough and when it comes to Down Changes they're both doing that thing where they're sort of disconnecting and firing up the revs anyway and then when a quarter comes I mean it's still gotone that sort of rampant enthusiasm that it just gets better the faster you go and it kind of wants you to go faster and faster and when you do go fast it can go astonishingly quick as a sort of Point to-point car it's really fast it's really fast I mean all performance cars are too quick for the road these days this is among them but you get quite a lot back at sensible speeds when you're sort of pressing on it's not pressing on like you're pressing on in a Ferrari f8 or anything it's not that you know it's not that level of unhinged quickness in the changes that Toyota has made the front suspension I think is slightly stiffer than it used to be what that means is more stable at the front as you turn there's a bit more to lean on it doesn't feel like it's suddenly whipping round um like it did before it's still a very agile car in the great scheme of things it's compact it's light it turns very quickly it turns but it it does it with more stability than the previous Yaris did it's not a criticism that's not good that's not bad it's just the way it is it's still got great steering it's still got loads of grip it's still got loads of poise and on UK Rose and this is the interesting thing um for me I mean you may not be in the UK but I've only driven this car on a circuit before and now to try it on the road there's a reasonable amount of road noise I don't mind that this is this sort of car that you know that's totally acceptable but the ride is fine you know it's it it's firm no question but it doesn't crash it doesn't kick back you know the steering you may have just heard it as I went over a a jol then you know that's a big bump and you I heard it and I felt it a bit but it wasn't unkindly crashy and in a way that reminds me maybe of some of the earlier Subarus maybe that you know they were firm but they had degree of compliance to them um and deafness and you know it wasn't Rock up and the best driver's cars do that you know they don't have to be rock hard all the time and this is still among them I mean I really enjoyed this car when it came out in its first generation form the changes have altered its character ever so slightly it's no more fun than it used to be not sure it's any less fun than it used to be it's just got a very slight difference a very slight difference in in its character but it's still a lot of fun it's now quite a lot of money so it was a lot of bargain priced fund before it's a lot of not quite so bargain priced fund now but it is still a real high point of Modern Performance car hot Hatchery rally replic whatever whatever you want to call it it is still one of the best driver's cars on sale great fun before great fun now\n"