2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport Hybrid Review

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Toyota absolutely dominates the Australian new car sales charts. In 2022, the brand sold 231,050 cars locally – its best ever result and a huge deal given Australia’s relatively small population of under 26 million people. Toyota is seemingly engraved in our landscape and everybody – from those in the outback to city folk alike – appears to own one. The company offers a wide range of cars, and one of its sales stars for 2022 was the Yaris Cross small SUV. The company recently added a new variant, so can the 2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport add even more Toyota sales for the 2023 calendar year? Let’s find out.

The Yaris Cross has been only been on the market for a few years and in 2022, sold 8,432 units locally despite tough stock situations. Those numbers put it only just behind the Kia Stonic and Mazda CX-3, both of which have a lot more stock and don’t offer a hybrid option.

Price & Equipment: 7/10

While the Yaris Cross range starts at $26,990 plus on-road costs, the new 2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport sits below the top-spec Urban and is priced from $35,840 plus on-road costs (around $40,000 drive way).

Based on the mid-spec GXL hybrid 2WD (priced from $31,990 +ORC), standard equipment on the 2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport includes 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic all-LED lighting, single-zone climate control with Toyota’s ‘nanoe-X’ air purification, a 7.0-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation with live traffic, digital radio, dual-LCD dials with a 4.2-inch central trip computer display, two USB inputs (one USB-A and one USB-C), a six-speaker sound system, rear privacy glass, keyless entry and start, heated and auto-folding mirrors, rear privacy glass, a 40:20:40-split rear seat and a leather-wrapped steering wheel.

GR Sport-specific features include the larger wheels, sports seats with leather and suede upholstery, red brake callipers, sportier exterior styling including a rear diffuser and black mirror caps, aluminium pedals and, of course, lots of GR badging. The ride height is lower by 10mm, while a bound stopper has been added for the suspension, as well as an underfloor brace and a second rear brace for extra stiffening.

All of that costs an extra $3,850 over the GXL and actually makes it more expensive than the Urban that’s available for less money – and that’s despite the Urban adding heated front seats, a heads-up display, a powered driver’s seat and an electric bootlid over the GR Sport.

Safety equipment includes eight airbags (including a front centre unit), auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian, cyclist and intersection assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, lane keep assist with lane trace assist, adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, auto high beam, driver attention monitoring, road sign assist, front and rear parking sensors, a 360-degree parking camera and reverse auto braking.

Colour options for the Yaris Cross GR Sport include ‘Frosted White’, ‘Lunar Blue’, ‘Stunning Silver’, ‘Ink’ (black) and our test car’s ‘Atomic Rush’ (red). Premium paint options are $575 extra, while a two-tone roof (including premium paint) costs $1,350. Black faux leather and suede is the only available interior trim.

The two main rivals to the Yaris Cross GR Sport are the Kia Stonic GT-Line (from $32,490 drive away) and the Mazda CX-3 sTouring (from around $36,500 drive away). There’s quite a difference in price between the Stonic and its rivals, yet the CX-3 and Yaris Cross GR Sport don’t add all that much equipment over it. Key features that both the Mazda and Toyota add over the Kia include blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, rear auto braking, front parking sensors and auto-folding mirrors – the Yaris Cross then adds extra airbags (eight in total), auto high beam and a USB-C charging port. But is that enough to justify such a big price difference? We’re not sure.

Despite its healthy standard equipment list, the Yaris Cross GR Sport isn’t cheap to buy, and that’s made worse by how much equipment the Australian model misses out on. Overseas, Yaris Crosses are available with larger infotainment systems, wireless smartphone mirroring, roof rails, a panoramic roof, a JBL sound system, a front centre arm rest, automatic wipers, rear USB charging ports, front fog lights and a heated steering wheel. Adding these bits of equipment would make it far better value and feel more modern inside as well.

Performance & Economy: 8/10

Under the bonnet of the 2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport is the same 1.5-litre three-cylinder hybrid drivetrain that’s available across the rest of the Yaris Cross range. It’s mated to an e-CVT transmission and in the case of the GR Sport, is front-wheel drive – other models with the hybrid drivetrain can be had with all-wheel drive. The total system output is 85kW of power – Toyota doesn’t quote a peak torque figure.

Behind the wheel, the Yaris Cross GR Sport is not the performance car its GR Sport badging would suggest – in fact, it’s really not fast at all with a claimed 0-100km/h sprint time of 11.2 seconds. But that’s not what the Yaris Cross is for – it’s a city-sized SUV, and it’s got more than enough go for accelerating off the traffic lights and bobbing around the suburbs. Particularly nice is the burst of low end torque that the electric motor provides just above 0rpm, which gives it a turbo of sorts for extra punch.

The Yaris Cross GR Sport may not be a good performance car, but it is a really good hybrid and will be significantly more efficient than non-hybrid rivals. Toyota has been in the hybrid game for over 25 years now and the hybrid drivetrain used in the Yaris Cross is smooth and easy to get along with. You can put it into sport mode for more punch or eco mode for more efficiency, as well as B mode for the transmission for greater engine braking for more battery juice, but even left alone, the Yaris Cross hybrid is very efficient. The only negative is that the petrol engine can be quite noisy, especially in contrast to when it’s turned off – which happens quite a lot, actually, hence the excellent fuel consumption it achieves.

Speaking of fuel consumption, the claimed combined fuel consumption for the Yaris Cross 2WD hybrid is 3.8L/100km with CO2 emissions rated at just 86g/km – we achieved 4.4L/100km in combined driving, which is excellent, particularly given our test car was not yet broken in. The Yaris Cross can run on 91RON regular unleaded and it has a 36-litre fuel tank. By comparison, the CX-3’s claim is 6.3L/100km and the Stonic’s is 5.4L/100km – the CX-3 has more go in particular, but its fuel use can almost double the Yaris Cross’ in the real world.

Ride & Handling: 8/10

The regular Yaris Cross drives quite well thanks to Toyota’s TNGA platform, and Toyota has enhanced this further with the GR Sport variant. Of course, a sportier version of a car not designed to be sporty at all might seem strange, but we think the ride and handling balance of the GR Sport has improved the overall dynamics of the Yaris Cross. The ride – which has been lowered by 10mm – is definitely firmer than the others in the range, but the body control is better and it’s also stiffer overall. It’s no Yaris GR Rallye but it’s still fun to drive, with good steering feel and a balanced chassis.

The rest of the driving experience is positive with good visibility, relatively subdued road noise levels and well tuned safety systems – though the constant barrage of ‘you are entering a school zone’ and ‘you are exiting a school zone’ messages are irritating (thankfully they can be turned off). The 360-degree camera resolution is poor, however, with grainy screen quality that can be hard to see at night.

Interior & Practicality: 8/10

As the name suggests, the 2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport’s interior largely follows the same path as the standard Yaris. That means that it’s good quality, pretty ergonomic and reasonable practical as well. The Yaris Cross is quite well screwed together with a solid and long-lasting feel, though the materials used aren’t amazing – the dashboard materials are soft (unlike the Stonic) but most other materials are hard and scratchy. The GR Sport-specific perforated leather steering wheel is lovely to hold, however, and its sports seats are quite comfortable as well.

Centre of the Yaris Cross’ interior is a 7.0-inch touchscreen that’s well featured with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation with live traffic updates and digital radio. The screen quality itself is not great, and it’s a touch slow to use, while it’s small as well. Both the Stonic and CX-3 feature larger 8.0-inch screens and overseas Yaris Cross models have a larger 9.0-inch screen with newer software that we hope will make it to Australia.

In the GR Sport, there are two USB ports up front – one USB-C for charging and one USB-A for smartphone mirroring – though there is no wireless phone charger.  

Storage is not great inside the Yaris Cross either – there’s no covered storage (which is ridiculous on a $40,000 drive away car) and no centre armrest either. However, it does feature reasonable cup holders and door pockets, as well as a large glovebox, a small tray underneath the air vents and a tray ahead of the gearbox that’s a good size for a phone or wallet. There’s a good range of adjustment for the drivers seat, making finding a comfortable position easy.

The back seat of the Yaris Cross GR Sport isn’t huge, but for such a small car, it’s well packaged and larger than both the tiny CX-3 and slightly larger Stonic. Two six-foot adults will fit fine thanks to just enough legroom and pretty good headroom. There are some features like a single map pocket, small bottle holders in the doors and a 40:20:40-split rear seat with a centre ski pass that doubles as an arm rest with cup holders – there are no rear charging ports, however.

The 2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport has a 390-litre boot space with the seats up and 1,095L with the seats folded – this compares quite well to the 264L Mazda and 332L Kia. The boot features some clever features like a dual-level boot floor that can be split in half, as well as some some hooks for shopping bags and a space saver spare wheel.

Service & Warranty: 9/10

Like other new Toyota products, the 2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport has a five-year/unlimited km warranty with no roadside assistance. If serviced according to the logbook during the warranty period, Toyota will extend the mechanical warranty to seven years and the hybrid system warranty to 10 years if it’s serviced at a Toyota dealership. Its service intervals are once-yearly/every 15,000km, whichever comes first, and five years/75,000km of servicing costs just $1,250 ($250 per service).

Kia offers a seven-year warranty, while Mazda offers a five-year warranty – Kia gives up to eight years of roadside assistance if you service your car at a dealership while Mazda gives you five years, regardless of where it’s serviced. A further advantage to the Yaris Cross is that its service intervals are once yearly/every 15,000km, which is 5,000km further than the Mazda and Kia. Five years of servicing the Kia costs $2,143 ($428 per service) and the Mazda costs $1,819 ($363 per service) – and again, that’s only to 50,000km in total, which is 25,000km shorter than the Yaris Cross.

The 2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.0/10

Ultimately, the GR Sport part of the 2023 Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sport name doesn’t transform it into a rally car like the full fat GR Yaris – there’s no extra power, and it’s still not what you’d call quick. However, that’s besides the point because the Yaris Cross is still a well-rounded small SUV that offers a lot to buyers, like its frugal hybrid drivetrain, fun driving dynamics, spacious cabin for its size, large boot, long list of safety equipment and very cheap running costs for both fuel and servicing.

The GR Sport badge doesn’t totally transform the driving experience, it must be said, but there’s definite improvement in the chassis and with the ride quality. It also looks a lot nicer than the GXL that sits below it, thanks to its handsome 18-inch wheels, and the new sports seats are great as well. But whether it’s worth the extra cash over the better equipped Yaris Cross Urban is up to you – for us, the increase in dynamic ability is great but we’re sure that others won’t agree. Regardless of the spec chosen, the Yaris Cross is a great small SUV – just make sure you choose it with the hybrid drivetrain.