After being raced on the track as part of the GR Cup last year, the automatic Toyota GR Yaris DAT donned its roadgoing overall over the past festive season. Images: Charl Bosch In a comparatively short time, the GR Yaris has become a hot hatch icon in a manner not seen by any other global Toyota product. The personal project of CEO Akio Toyoda under his motorsport pseudonym, Morizo, the GR Yaris become a yardstick for its quintessential hot hatch must-haves.
Aside from a trick four-wheel-drive system, it has a manual gearbox, an interior designed around the driver, and the now rarity of three-doors. Arefresh in 2024, though, brought not only the usual exterior and interior changes, but also a first-time automatic gearbox. Described as a “game-changer”, the eight-speed DAT or Direct Automatic Transmission features predictive software supposed to shift gear based on driver behaviour.
Said to swap gears faster than the six-speed manual and other torque converter ‘boxes using the paddle shifters, the DAT’s key attribute is everyday usability. Unsurprisingly, the removal of a clutch pedal comes with a perceived lack of driver engagement, irrespective of there being paddle shifters or not. As a way disproving this, Toyota selected the DAT as replacement for the pre-facelift manual GR Yaris from the third round of last year’s media division of the annual GR Cup.
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Prone to not always wanting to relinquish the gear it was in, or downshifting when you didn’t need it, its advantage was the lack of momentum loss out of corners. Debuting on track six months before its availability in the road-going model, the end of the GR Cup in October came with a secondary question: how would the DAT fare in reality?
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