Yaris GR: Car of the Moment

The UK has always been fond of a hot hatch, and in recent years Mercedes and Audi have gone toe-to-toe in a battle of supremacy which has resulted in a complete new ‘hyper hatch’ category. Back to reality, without the eye watering price tags and headline horsepower figures, the hot hatch sector has never been busier, and never has it been stacked full of credible pound-for-pound contenders. We’ve seen the title of ‘hot hatch of the year’ change hands between the Golf-R, Focus RS, and more recently the Civic Type-R. Enter the latest must-have car of the moment; the Toyota Yaris GR.

We had the pleasure of working on one of these pocket rockets recently, and it caused quite a stir in our all-new workshop. A 1.6ltr 3cyl turbo, with 260hp, and AWD. Seems a bit confusing for most people, it’s a Yaris, your Gran has one, and they usually drive at 27mph everywhere. The GR version however is a different animal, it’s a homologation special, so that Gazoo Racing could take it rallying. Make no mistake this is no granny chariot.

Toyota Yaris GR.

Now that you’ve seen one, you’ll be trying to find the Yaris - I think the headlights, doors, and boot are the same; the rest, and the underpinnings, are totally bespoke, as is the engine and gearbox. It’s no wonder then, that there’s a 12 month wait for one, if you can get one at all.

What did we have this one in for? Well it’s no surprise, given the rarity of these cars, that the owner wanted to protect the paintwork as best they could. It was a nervous wait, having booked in on collection and having to wait almost 3 months for us to fit it in. Some careful running in miles helped keep the car pretty clean and free from stone chips. Our brief was to apply a full front PPF kit, along with some custom designed arch guards to protect the bulbous rear wings, after which we were to apply our favoured Labocosmetica ceramic coatings to protect the rest of the paintwork, wheels, and glass.

Total surface protection using PremiumShield Elite SH self-healing paint protection film on all the vulnerable and high wear areas, and Labocosmetica STC and HPC ceramic coatings on the rest. This makes up our ‘Ultimate New Car Detail’, and with a life time warranty on the protection film install, we are sure our client will happily enjoy the vehicle to the maximum now it’s fully protected.

We’re looking forward to working on many more of these over the coming year.

Have you got a luxury, or sports car on order you’d like us to protect for you? Or maybe you’ve just got a cherished vehicle you’d like us to bring back to better than new condition? Drop us an email on info@magicdetail.co.uk - we’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Last word on the Yaris; why oh why did Toyota decide to put a vinyl wrap over that beautiful forged carbon roof?