Would You Fancy This 'Base' Spec Toyota GR Yaris RS That’s Available In Japan?

At a glance, it's easy to see how this 'base' spec Toyota GR Yaris RS variant can easily fool anyone into thinking it's the real deal.

In its home market of Japan, automaking giant Toyota actually offers its GR Yaris hot hatch in a more  'basic' flavour. Caled the Toyota GR Yaris RS, the automaker has been offering it to Japanese buyers for some time now.

Though it carries the ‘RS’ suffix that usually denotes a performance special, that isn’t really the case with this model. That’s because the GR Yaris RS has all the sharp styling and aggressive stance of the real GR Yaris, but none of its spicy pep or much of its high performance hardware.

While it may have the looks, the GR Yaris RS makes do with less power, speed, and drive. It's also relegated into adopting a CVT automatic box.

It still employs a 3-cyl mill plonked up front, but it’s a smaller 1.5-litre naturally aspirated unit rated at  118 HP and 145 NM – less than half of what the GR Yaris actually boasts. But perhaps the worst news here is the fact that said three-banger drives the front wheels only (FWD) via a CVT automatic box.

That last para is indeed a far cry from the actual GR Yaris rally rep hot hatch that adopts a 1.6-litre 3-cyl turbo mill paired with a 6-speed manual box that's also brimmed with a trick all-wheel-drive (AWD) system. In short, don’t expect this GR Yaris RS to match the actual GR Yaris in term speed and performance.

Essentially, this GR Yaris RS has the full styling of the real deal, but only half the power and drive.

Inside, things remain largely the same, but there are some tell-tale differences - the CVT's automatic shift lever and lower top speed speedometer being the most obvious.

This, as it turns out, may not be a bad thing altogether, more so given how this also nearly halved its price – literally. Unlike the full-cream version that retails from JPY4,560,000 (approx. RM145,570), this more modest RS version commands a rather reasonable JPY2,650,000 (approx. RM84,597) instead.

Yes, some folks just want the look and style, but not necessarily the performance to match. Could we see a handful of these making their way to local parallel/grey (recond) importers over the years to come? Would you fancy one if it did? Share your thoughts in the comments below…