It’s an age-old question that keeps manual purists awake at night: are three pedals necessarily better than two? That is the conundrum many were left to ponder when Toyota launched the GR Yaris facelift, now featuring a new eight-speed automatic gearbox.
One might argue that a manual gearbox offers far greater involvement, requiring the driver to master the delicate dance of rev-matching and heel-and-toe shifting. On the other end of the spectrum, the new eight-speed GAZOO Racing Direct Automatic Transmission is undeniably faster.
Because the computer handles the heavy lifting, the driver’s only job is to focus on the road ahead rather than calculating gear ratios mid-corner. However, if you still insist on rowing your own gears, Toyota has provided a pair of gearshift paddles on the steering wheel as a more modern consolation prize.
Still, whether you choose the automatic or the manual, both are paired with the same feisty 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine. In its latest guise, it produces 304 hp and 400 Nm of torque. This allows the pocket rocket to sprint from 0-100 km/h in just 5.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 230 km/h, with all that power sent to all four wheels via the GR-Four AWD system.
If you’re still on the fence before dropping RM325,600 on one, you’ll want to see how these two stack up in the real world. Watch our full video review here to see if the automatic really can win over a die-hard manual fan.
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