‘Built not bought’ is a turn of phrase that gets on my nerves. I can tell you from experience that it’s a load of horses*t at times, often used to put down people who haven’t driven themselves insane changing every part of a car.
Christ, not everyone wants to replace every nut and bolt on a car they already like, or enjoy as is. That’s not to say you shouldn’t modify your car, because you should *always* modify what you’re driving, but if you really feel the need to change everything… you’ve probably bought the wrong car.
And when I said ‘from experience,’ I mean it, because I learned that the hard way. Long story short, 18-year-old Mario had a 1.4-litre Audi A1 and spent almost all of his student loan money turning it into a track car. I sold it a couple of years later, but it was only after purchasing a Renaultsport Clio R27 (F1 Edition, no less…) in my mid-20s that I realised I’d been a complete idiot – because it was exactly the car I’d tried to build as a kid.
No, in fact, it was better… but it still wasn’t as good as Eventuri’s Toyota GR Yaris.
Why? Because the GR Yaris is, out of the box, a hot hatchback designed to take punishment again and again in the pursuit of driving thrills. It’s a homologation special from an era where the very idea of such a car is alien. It’s a bona fide rally car for the road.
So how do you improve on that? Well, as an all-round package it’s pretty hard to, but that hasn’t stopped Bilal Mahmood – the man behind Eventuri air intakes – from trying with a few choice upgrades.
The GR Yaris is already a bulldog of a car, short and squat with bulging wheel arches at each corner, a mean mug at the front and a funny little rear end. Yet, as with so many cars these days, there’s just something missing from its styling.
Naturally, such wide arches with such an aggressive body kit need the right stance to round out the package. The GR sits low to the ground, courtesy of a Bilstein B16 coilover kit, with a set of 18×9.5-inch Enkei NT03+M wheels wrapped in Continental SportContact 7 rubber.
There’s no need to upgrade the brakes on a road-biased GR Yaris, with the OEM callipers more than capable of sustained track abuse. It helps that they look great, too.
Under the herringbone, symmetrical carbon-fibre bonnet is… more carbon fibre, this time in the form of an Eventuri engine cover for decoration, plus an Eventuri air intake, filter and turbo tube. This provides a noticeable increase in intake volume over the restrictive OEM system, with the added benefit of a wicked turbo whinny when lifting off the throttle.
There’s no point in improving airflow without improving cooling, too, which is why the Eventuri GR Yaris is fitted with a CSF x Jackson Racing stepped-core intercooler, maximising surface area in a pretty tight package. Again, an unintended side effect, but the upgraded unit looks menacing behind the wide mesh grille.
Exhaust, meanwhile, is handled by a titanium Akrapovič cat-back system, giving the mighty little three-cylinder engine a serious burble. A bit of tuning has resulted in a power jump to 330bhp, which is plenty in a pocket rocket of this size.
The interior is largely unchanged from the standard car, a by-product of modern cars coming equipped with well-appointed cabins and full of useful features. The only real criticism of the first-generation GR Yaris interior is its unusually high front seating, which has been remedied here with a pair of Eventuri-embroidered Cobra Nogaro bucket seats that tie in neatly with the car’s black-and-red colour scheme.
So, to circle back, why would you want to do more to a car as capable out of the box as a GR Yaris? This is a car with a pleasant clutch, a snatchy gearchange, rowdy engine and plenty of performance, just with a few choice upgrades for a harder-edged experience.
That being said, there is one thing I’d change on this car. That would be the name on the log book, because I’d like it to be mine.
