The Toyota GR Yaris is arguably the best small hot hatch in the world right now, maybe the best one of the 21st century. However, Toyota is reportedly finding ways to improve the 2024 GR Yaris with more power and an auto gearbox option, expected to be a game-changer.
Late last month, the Japanese scoop website Best Car Web reported that the 2024 GR Yaris would debut with two improvements: a 300-horsepower version of the existing 1.6-liter engine and an 8-speed automatic gearbox, optional to the 6-speed manual.
Best Car has been spot-on with its more recent reports, and we expect these updated GR Yaris to debut in the coming months. It was the first car to have Toyota’s powerful 1.6-liter 3-cylinder turbo engine, which is now also used by the GR Corolla.
GR Yaris getting more power
The G16E-GTS engine is already a performance marvel, rumored to be the basis of the next-gen GR86. At 300 horsepower, the updated GR Yaris would match the output of the bigger Corolla. With a torque rating of 272 pound-feet (370 Nm), this subcompact rocket would basically match the performance of a Golf 7 R while being a smaller, more nimble chassis.
The same report also claims that the 2024 GR Yaris would be fitted with an 8-speed automatic. This is a torque-converter auto, not a DCT like a Hyundai N or VW, and it will also be fitted to the bigger GR Corolla a year from now.
Toyota engineers will also revise the suspension, brakes, and chassis of the hardcore Yaris. However, we don’t know if designers have been allowed to facelift the GR Yaris for 2024.
Like most new Toyotas, the Yaris might end up resembling the 2023 Prius. The famous 5th-gen hybrid has distinctive LED headlights shaped like a C-clamp or lobster claws, which other Toyota models seem to be adopting, most notably the Crown models (Cross, SUV and sedan), plus the upcoming all-new Camry.
Believing this is the way of the future, artist Zephyr Designz has created his own 2024 GR Yaris. Like so many of his renderings, this hot hatch features an extreme widebody kit, radical stance and a set of Rotiform ZMO tires.
If you ignore the new headlights, his 2024 GR Yaris widebody is a lot like the infamous Rocket Bunny kit, which you can buy for around $7,100. It’s got massive fenders and a big WRC-style wing at the back. Of course, racing is in the hot Yaris’ blood.
And if you would like to see the 2024 GR Yaris without the widebody, rival rendering artist Avante Design has made his own facelift, featuring the same sharp LEDs. It kind of looks like a Morizo edition with that hood.
