Not too long ago, V8-powered muscle or exotic cars were considered powerful and fast with roughly 400-500hp on tap. Then when everyone started to downsize, smaller engines with modern technologies and upgrades began to evolve and match those outputs. Today, it is easy to squeeze out 400hp+ from a V6, or 350+ ponies from a four-banger without breaking a sweat. But turns out, a turbo three-pot could battle in the same league as well.

Andrew Hawkins is the owner of the quickest and most powerful Toyota GR Yaris in the world. Hawkins and Autotune Australia have been working on the GR Yaris to push his feisty little hatchback to its limits.

The GR Yaris From Factory

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The GR Yaris is Akio Toyoda, the CEO of Toyota’s passion project that came as a result of his desire to put the brand at the helm of the World Rally stages. Bred on those tough and demanding rally stages, the GR Yaris is a homologation model that allows Toyota to go rallying in the first place. Under the bonnet of the GR Yaris is a cute little 1.6-liter turbo three-cylinder engine called the G16E-GTS. From the factory, the motor is said to be capable of up to 270 hp and 273 lb-ft. It features a 6-speed manual gearbox and uses an all-wheel-drive system that is similar to the one used on the rally car.

This results in the GR Yaris being able to sprint from 0–62 mph in around 5.2 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 143 mph.

Related: Jeremy Clarkson’s Car Of The Year Is The Toyota GR Yaris

This Tuned GR Yaris Sets A New Bar With A Three Banger

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In his pursuit of building the quickest and most powerful GR Yaris in the world, Hawkins’ Yaris has already clocked an 11.723 quarter-mile pass at 122 mph. This was when the motor was tuned to generate 362 horsepower.

But now, Hawkins has raised the bar even further. A dyno run performed by Powertune Australia confirms that the GR Yaris three-pot motor is generating 475hp at the hubs!

With the added performance, Hawkins expects his GR Yaris to record a 10-second pass and hit excess of 130 mph. The most astounding part of all of this is that the engine internals have not been touched and the motor has not been opened. The inlet manifold, throttle body, oil sump, head gaskets are all stock from the factory. The only upgrades given to the Yaris include valve springs, a new exhaust, a bigger turbo, a bolt-on aftermarket intercooler, and a new fuel system that delivers a heap tonne of E85 from a custom surge tank.

This No Chill GR Yaris Still Won’t Give Up

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The turbo is set to 36 psi of boost helping the GR Yaris maintain a healthy dose of 368 lb-ft of torque. Despite the surprising output; boost pressure, coolant pressure, and oil pressure are reportedly stable, which suggests that the header is not lifting. Due to the car running on E85, no reports of misfiring or knocks are said to have been noticed from the little 1.6-liter 3-cylinder.

The pokey little engine looks to be holding up nicely. With no real problems being noted, the folks at Powertune in the Motive Video on Youtube claim that the motor shows no signs of being close to the limit. Ryan Nichols of Powertune says “There is no evidence that this car can’t continue making more power or live at this power level”.

Talking about modern cars, he added; ”Not many manufacturers will make cars capable of twice the power.”

While there are many cars out there that could make similar power, we would like to remind you that the remarkable feat is that the engine internals is still stock.

Related: Litchfield-Tuned Toyota GR Yaris Showcases Performance In A Drag Race

Most Powerful GR Yaris In The World

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Hawkins has been claiming his to be the most powerful and quickest GR Yaris in the world. There could be some truth to it as it is the only one with documented proof of the claims with its dyno results.

But Hawkins is not done yet. The GR Yaris will be getting a camshaft upgrade soon. Something that could help change the mid-range power delivery of the motor, but keep things running smoothly the way they are. Nichols is happy to leave the torque output at a steady 368 lb-ft.

As the saying goes; There’s no replacement for displacement. A turbo 3-pot will always have its limitations. Eventually, the GR Yaris will get to a point where it goes no further before it explodes. But a 475 hp at the hub, is quite a feat. Hawkins expects engine horsepower at the crank to be in the ballpark of 500-550 hp. That’s a modern-day AMG V8 territory with five fewer cylinders!

The Toyota GR Yaris is arguably one of the greatest cars on sale today. The G16E-GTS motor looks to be a worthy successor to the 2JZ motor from the Supra of the 90s. One that was also reputed to achieve ridiculous outputs in near stock form. It is a shame that for the US, the GR Yaris is a forbidden fruit.

Source: Motive Video, Powertune Australia (Youtube, Facebook)