Now that the dust has just about settled on the launch of Toyota’s GR Yaris, it’s clear that while there’s a heck of a lot to love in the 261hp newcomer, it’s not necessarily perfect. Like every performance car ever built, there are things you might like to tweak. That's precisely what the aftermarket is for - and is precisely what Toyota expected. No Japanese manufacturer fears the inside of a upstanding tuner's garage, and its engineers acknowledged that domestic firms had set upon the car before it even arrived in the UK.
Now it's Europe's turn to find room for improvement. Litchfield has already told us it could not be more excited about the Yaris - or more respectful of the job a mainstream (indeed, the world's most mainstream) OEM has done with it. Its work on the Yaris is going, but the tuner naturally brings extensive knowledge to bear in the task of extracting more performance from both engine and chassis.
Starting with the suspension, it has fitted Nitron NTR R1 coilovers, adjustable for bump and rebound through 25 clicks. The engineers have also lowered the GR’s ride height by around 40mm, which adds more aggression to the Yaris’s (comparatively) tall profile – all without harming comfort, apparently. As you’d expect with such a change, Litchfield has also played with the Yaris’s geometry. No stone has been left unturned.
Work has also started under the bonnet with Litchfield moving quickly to develop a piggyback engine management system that overrides the Toyota setup, extracting 302hp from the turbocharged 1.6-litre triple. This is Litchfield’s first stage work – more substantial changes, including hardware upgrades, are being developed – but with over 40hp extra going through that adjustable driveline already, it’s likely to make a difference, hopefully at the rear. Winkface. Dan has already written about the alterations here - now it's time to see how they look and sound on the road. Enjoy.
