2002 Toyota Yaris T Sport

Marketed as a “warm hatch” and overlooked by absolutely everybody the Toyota Yaris T-Sport was introduced to the European market in 2001. Nobody really noticed its potential and it was bought and driven only by middle-aged women that liked it for its looks. What was underneath, however is another story. Below the cute,lovable and entirely unintimidating shell hides a true old school hot hatch from the 90s.
The T-sport was my first car and it taught me a lot about driving. It taught me a lot about lift off oversteer - something that hardcore hot hatches normally do. The lack of ESP wasn’t of any help either but without it holding my hand I quickly learned to feel every inch of the car as it is losing grip and introduce minor corrections. Corrections that were much smoother than those of an ESP. That meant I developed an ability to push the car to the limit and keep it there because I knew way better than any computer or sensor exactly where the limit was. An ability that easily translated to every vehicle I have driven ever since. Being a FWD car the T-sport tended to understeer and that is not a big surprise but because of its short wheelbase as soon as you lift the throttle the back stands out and this can be corrected easily by applying power. And trust me a little throttle can make the difference while sliding sideways, in the mountains, in the snow, during the night.