This Is The UK’s Cheapest Toyota GR Yaris, And It’s Hiding A Secret

Looking at used values of the Toyota GR Yaris is something we do perhaps a little too often at Car Throttle. Can you blame us? The little all-wheel drive hatch has been a revelation since going on sale in 2020, and we even gave the updated version our Car of the Year in 2024.

Even with that version’s welcome updates, we’d take a ‘first-gen’ GR Yaris in a heartbeat given the chance. It seems the market has continued to appreciate it as well, with the very cheapest not-crashed GR Yaris’ still rarely dipping below £24,000, and unlikely heading anywhere south of that anytime soon.

So in our latest browse, seeing a very tidy-looking example that had covered just 8000 miles naturally piqued our interest. On the surface, nothing seems out of order – no signs of damage, no horrendous modifications to bring its value down and frankly, in fantastic condition.

That was until we noticed three things. The first, no intercooler hiding in its front bumper. Second, a lack of GR-Four badging on the back and third, the automatic gear selector. No, this is no ordinary GR Yaris.

While the updated GR Yaris was briefly offered with an eight-speed torque converter automatic, the first iteration only ever had a six-speed manual paired up to its 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine.

Something this car doesn’t have. You see, in the Japanese GR Yaris line-up was a curious model, the RS. On the surface, this looked like any other iteration of the hot hatch, but the powertrain underneath had rather more humble intentions.

It was front-driven, and used a naturally-aspirated 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine producing all of 118bhp and 109lb ft. A far cry from the 257bhp offered up by the GR Yaris as we know it. Oh, and that was delivered through a CVT.

Naturally, this also meant it did away with the clever differentials, too. Its existence seems a pretty strange one, quite frankly. Yet it served a genuine purpose.

You see, when the GR Yaris was initially introduced, it was built to appease World Rally Championship rules that required 25,000 examples of a production car to be made to homologate the bodyshell for competition.

Unsure that could sell that many examples of an all-wheel drive high-performance Yaris, Toyota built the RS too as a cheaper way of hitting that target. Clever, really, and one that would prove pointless as homologation requirements were then dropped.

Although we don’t have exact numbers, it seems not many examples of the RS ultimately made their way into customer hands, making it a strange rarity – it’s certainly the first time we’ve seen any for sale in the UK, with another one hiding on Auto Trader for a higher price.

Worth it at £20,995? No, absolutely not, given the full-fat car is within reach at that point. A very interesting case of a sheep in wolf’s clothing, though.