Toyota Yaris Hybrid GR Sport 2019 review

You only need to travel about 20 metres for those suspicions about a lack of suppleness in the Yaris GR Sport’s ride to be confirmed. It’s not just firm for a regular supermini; it feels firm even by hot hatch standards. The dampers are so aggressively tuned that at 30mph its axles struggle to effectively deal with ruts, bumps, manhole covers - practically any imperfection in the road’s surface. Instead, it just deflects off them in a frustratingly ungraceful fashion. 

It gives the impression that you’d need to be travelling at a considerable pace for them to properly engage with the topography underwheel. Certainly faster than the national speed limit, in any case; even on a suitably fast B-road, that bustling quality to the ride is persistent. 

Credit to it, though, it does at least feel agile - if still a little top-heavy - through faster bends. Body roll isn’t completely erased from the picture, but it is tightly controlled. There's a reasonable amount of front-end grip, too, although this might have more to do with a shortage of punch from the hybrid powertrain than any deficiency in the chassis. Under more aggressive levels of throttle and on a greasy road, its nose does eventually begin to push into easily controllable understeer, but it’s nothing that a lift of your right foot won’t be able to sort out.

On the subject of that powertrain, it feels every bit as slow as its 11.8sec 0-62mph time suggests. You really need to wring its neck in order to extract anything resembling meaningful progress, which means you’re subjected to the inevitable, coarse four-cylinder drone as the e-CVT spikes the engine’s revs while you accelerate. 

It’s not without its merits, mind you. Around town, the ability to rely on electric power alone means you’ll achieve very respectable economy figures indeed. Even after the more enthusiastic driving style that road testing often elicits, the Yaris was still claiming an average consumption figure of about 44mpg. Driven in a calmer fashion, we dare say you’d get even greater levels of frugality.

But on the whole, it’s a largely joyless powertrain – one that has been designed for economical city-driving, as opposed to full-throttle blasts down country lanes. And while it’s undoubtedly good at achieving those wallet-friendly economy figures, it’s not a set-up whose effervescent enthusiasm actively encourages you to chase the revs all the way to the limiter. An Ecoboost-powered Ford Fiesta - even a fairly standard one - is far more enjoyable in this respect.