Evo Magazine March 2018 Back Issue

TWENTY YEARS OF THE THRILL OF DRIVING
The last decade has seen the art of creating the special performance car that appeals to the dedicated enthusiast and less so to the mainstream buyer, all but vanish. Unless you look to the very peak of the automotive pyramid, of course, and fraternise with those cars with GT, RS, LT and TDF in their names. While we’ll be the first in the queue to grab their keys, it’s the more attainable specials that excite us as much. A run in a Mégane R26 R or Golf Clubsport S can be as intoxicating as any drive in a 675 LT, but the former have been the exception rather than the norm. Happily, a glimmer of hope shines for those of us who look for a little something extra from a regular performance car, be it a more dynamic edge, performance boost, or both. As we’ve discovered this month, Toyota, the company that gave us the Celica GT4, has found its omochahako again and given the most unlikely of evo cars, the Yaris, a thoroughly tantalising specification and equally grand name: Gazoo Racing tuned by Meisters of the Nürburgring.