With the GR Yaris, Toyota has proven that good things do really come in small packages. The pocket rocket’s turbocharged three-cylinder engine is good for 268 horsepower. You’ll find a variation of the 1.6-liter mill inside the GR Corolla where it pumps out a whopping 300 hp. Should you want even more, tuners will happily oblige.
This supermini uses a heavily modified configuration of the “G16E-GTS” engine that produces 530 hp on pump gas. The three-pot can also take ethanol, but at this stage, it’s “only” making 457 hp at the wheels. The tuner struggled to extract more power with E85 because of the small wastegate. The latter is a valve that controls the flow of exhaust gas to the turbine of a turbocharger. The owner reckons it should be possible to extract somewhere in the region of 660 hp with additional modifications.
The fully forged engine has been in and out of the car five times in the owner’s quest for more power from the tiny three-cylinder unit. The GR Yaris was built by SRD Tuning and uses a Plusar turbocharger, but as with most project cars, the build is never truly finished. The owner wants to install a sequential gearbox, a custom suspension, and bring the wheels further out to complement the widebody. He has already spent a colossal £130,000 to bring the hot hatch where it is now. That’s about $164,000 at current exchange rates.
Mind you, this isn’t even the most powerful GR Yaris in the world. Powertune Australia tuned that three-cylinder engine last year to a ludicrous 741 hp. It’s a good thing the rally-bred machine has all-wheel drive from the factory. Rumor has it Toyota intends to give the GR Yaris 300 hp out of the box with an upcoming update. The 2024 model year might also bring a newly developed eight-speed automatic transmission.
As to which automaker holds the title for the most powerful three-cylinder engine, Koenigsegg’s twin-turbo “Tiny Friendly Giant” makes 600 hp in the Gemera.
