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GR Yaris
Pumaspeed and the GR Yaris: 280 to 600bhp, and a 560bhp demo car to prove it.
Track tested at Blyton Park, Donington Park, Cadwell and many more. Pumaspeed's aim is to simplify the whole tuning process by supplying no-fuss, bolt-on quality parts and ECU mapping for the Toyota GR Yaris. Whether you need a simple cat-back exhaust or want to push hard on track with a fully forged, fully equipped 560bhp flame-breathing monster, we have you covered.
The Fiesta RS that Ford never built
As Pumaspeed diversifies away from the Fords we know and love, we decided to dip our toes into the Japanese tuning scene with, in our opinion, the two most exciting Japanese cars on sale today, and bought both a Toyota GR Yaris and a Honda Civic Type R FK8 as development vehicles. The GR Yaris is what might have been if Ford had ever produced a Fiesta RS: a true rally homologation special, following in the footsteps of the Lancia Delta Integrale, Subaru Impreza WRX STI and Mitsubishi Evo.
We quickly got to grips with the car by taking it on an initial track day as a standard car to find its strengths and weaknesses, and decided on four areas that needed improving: the clutch, the exhaust, the intercooler and, of course, the power level. All our development of the power kits, clutches, intercoolers, exhausts and turbos was done on a fully adjustable SYVECS ECU, which let us control every aspect of the engine and find the true limits of every component, where a tuning box or simple remap could not.
The Pumaspeed GR Yaris.
The three things holding the GR Yaris back
- Valve springs. The stock springs simply are not strong enough to rev past 6,000rpm on strong boost. You may have heard the term valve float; it is a definite problem for power seekers, and we believe the springs should be changed if you are pushing the car hard.
- The ECU. The stock ECU can now be programmed, but it does not have the flexibility of a stand-alone unit like the SYVECS, so all our initial testing was on a SYVECS to allow full adjustability. With standard valve springs and every conceivable bolt-on, 315-320bhp at 6,000rpm is the limit on the stock ECU.
- The turbo. The stock, unmodified unit will not flow any more than 350-355bhp, and that is with uprated valve springs and a stand-alone ECU.
- The exhaust. The stock system is very restrictive. Swapping just the cat-back for one of our free-flowing Pumaspeed systems gains as much as 15bhp on a stock-tuned car; add the OPF delete and gain a chunk more.
Kelford valve springs → Syvecs plug-in ECU → X37-390 hybrid turbo → X47-420 hybrid turbo →
Clutch, exhaust, intercooler: what we built
Clutch. Within months of the car reaching customers we had multiple reports of clutch failures after repeated launches. The gearbox and engine seem bulletproof, but the clutch is the weak link for higher power and enthusiastic driving, so we worked with a well-known, highly respected clutch manufacturer to develop the Pumaspeed Racing range of uprated clutches — and have had nothing but positive feedback since.
Clutch Stage 1 → Stage 2 → Stage 3 → Stage 4 →
Exhaust. The main criticism of the GR Yaris on launch, and from owners ever since, was the rather disappointing exhaust note. Early on we made the decision to produce a range of cost-effective systems with different volume levels to suit different driving styles and uses. The Pumaspeed Racing exhaust range is designed, developed and produced in the UK from high-quality stainless steel and offers everything the big-name brands do, without the crazy price tags.
GPF-back resonated → GPF-back non-resonated → GPF-back race → GPF/OPF delete pipe →
Intercooler. After our first few laps on track the car was holding back power. We suspected the intercooler was struggling with the heat from this punchy little three-cylinder, which stock dyno runs at MAXDOUT HQ confirmed. We 3D-scanned the available space behind the front end and within a week had a 3D-printed prototype on the car with absolutely perfect fitment, using every bit of room. That became the Pumaspeed Racing Re-Active intercooler: not the usual China-sourced bar-and-plate core that heat-soaks and recovers slowly, but a UK-made Re-Active tube-and-stuffed-fin core similar to the very expensive Wagner type, with amazing recovery. On the dyno it dropped peak intake temperatures by over 30 degrees and the car lost no power run after run after run. We then added a full boost-pipe kit, replacing the comically small 35mm pipework with far better-flowing 57mm pipes — crucial for our GR350 and GR400 SYVECS packages.
Re-Active intercooler → Intercooler full kit → Big boost pipe kit →
560bhp: the demo car on the dyno
Two chapters. The demo car has lived two lives. Chapter one was a 400bhp car on a Pumaspeed hybrid turbo, which is where most owners will be happiest: bolt-on, fast and usable every day. Chapter two was the full 560bhp build, with a Syvecs stand-alone ECU and a complete engine build, so we could find out exactly where the limits are before we sold anyone a 550 or 600bhp package. Everything on the list below came out of those two cars.
Take a look at our demonstrator GR Yaris on the dyno following our build.
Pick your power level
Every package is a complete, matched kit: hardware, calibration and the supporting parts it needs. Start with the car you have and the power you want.
300bhp package → 320bhp package → Syvecs 365bhp → Syvecs 400bhp → Syvecs 550bhp → Syvecs 600bhp →
GR Yaris owner? Call 01924 360260 and talk to the people who built the cars.
