No surprises here: how could our 2021 AA DRIVEN NZ COTY overall winner not also top the class in which it competes?
Watch the full Zooming with DRIVEN NZ AA NZ COTY award show by clicking here
Considered in the context of sports and performance cars, the GR Yaris is unique and a virtuoso effort. It’s smaller than you average hot hatch, yet packed with more technology – and more importantly, more driving enjoyment.
Heritage is more important in sports cars than most, and the GR Yaris is brimming with it. It might be an all-new car, but it’s also a callback to the great rally homologation cars of the Eighties and Nineties; there are few production models at any price that get you closer to the experience of driving a proper racecar. Certainly none at anywhere near this price.
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Best of all, the GR Yaris feels enormously entertaining in any driving situation, from a 50km/h run to the supermarket to a flat-out track day. So think of this car as a spiritual throwback to WRC past if you like, but the breath of its talents makes the GR Yaris the perfect sports/performance car for our times.
Runners up
Audi e-tron GT, BMW M3/4
TOYOTA GR YARIS
ENGINE: 1.6-litre turbo-petrol three cylinder
POWER: 200kW/370Nm
GEARBOX: 6-speed manual, AWD
ECONOMY: 7.6l/100km
PRICE: $54,990