Holden Commodore VS Toyota GR Yaris

The Commodore we know and most of us love is just as famous for its quality driving experience as its local production and motorsport successes. So, the ZB has some big shoes to fill in this area. 

At the ZB’s media launch, we drove everything aside from the base LT or any diesel variant, over several hundred kilometres of pretty much every road condition. 

I’ll cut to the chase. There’s a genuine quality to the way they handle Australian road conditions. We drove them back to back with a UK-spec model at Lang Lang, and while you’d expect the local car to excel at its own test facility, the rear and front suspension work in harmony to handle mid-corner bumps with far greater stability than the alternative. The electric power steering weighting was also lighter, but it didn’t seem to lose any precision. 

You probably wouldn’t notice it driving to the shops every day or cruising on the highway, but this on-limit controllability could easily be the difference between life and death in an emergency. 

The turbo four is a surprisingly capable and refined package, and would honestly be my pick if I were in the market. It’s smoother and more tractable than the V6, so feels like it would deliver speed more readily than the bigger engine unless you were going flat out. 

Holden isn’t quoting official 0-100km/h acceleration figures, but we hear the petrol four is good for a 7.0 second-ish time, and the V6 will manage just over 6.0sec. So there’s really not much in it outright. 

Therefore it’s a shame you can’t get the Tourer with the petrol four, but because the combination is available in Europe, Holden could shift the line-up if there’s enough demand. 

The nine-speed auto does a pretty good job with either engine, and its electronic brain does a slick job of seamlessly adjusting its shift behaviour to your driving style. 

Holden isn’t quoting ground clearance figures, but all have enough to handle dirt roads, and while the 17-inch wheel equipped models match the VF II’s 11.4m turning circle, be aware that the 18-inch wheel variants blow out to 11.7m, the 19s are 12.7m, and Holden doesn’t quote a figure for the 20-inch equipped Calais-V Liftback and VXR.   

The only other surprise among the group we drove is the Calais-V Liftback, which is likely to be a bit too sharp in its ride for some luxury buyers on its big 20-inch alloy wheels. The Calais or one of the Tourers would be your best bet for comfort.  

The VXR performance flagship is a completely different personality to the SS models of the past. It’s nowhere near as fast, but is more of a grownup package that’s easier to get the best out of. 

Its more demure than the brash final VF IIs, and the V6 does make a pretty sweet note, even if half of it is coming from the speakers.

Nothing was ever going to replicate the romance and pride of the last SS, but all is not lost for fans of fast Holdens.

This is unlike any Yaris you've ever known. Tommi Mäkinen Racing partners with Toyota in the WRC, and had big input into this car's development, as did a bunch of pro racing drivers. And it definitely feels like a road-ified competition car.

Claimed 0-100km/h acceleration is 5.2sec, although four-time Australian rally champion and long-time Toyota collaborator, Neil Bates, showed us data he'd been sent by an early-adopting Aussie customer, lowering that number to 4.7sec.

Similar times have been recorded independently overseas, and the car feels every bit that quick, surging forward with pure, linear, thrust.

Peak torque of 370Nm is a gigantic number for a 1280kg hatch, and it's available across a broad plateau from 3000-4600rpm.

The high-performance exhaust incorporates dual mufflers and circular sound baffles wrapped around its twin tailpipes. The result is typically guttural three-cylinder engine noise combined with a raucous, growly, exhaust note.

But beware, Toyota has played around with "engine sound enhancement" through the audio system, "integrated with throttle action and vehicle speed." Boo.

Aside from its rapid acceleration one of the strongest initial impressions behind the wheel of the GR Yaris is how well it rides. 

he reason the Corolla's rear end was grafted onto the front of the Yaris to make this car's platform is that while the strut front suspension remains (albeit re-tuned with newly developed knuckles, stiffer bushes, and beefier struts), the rear swaps out the standard car's puny torsion bar set-up, for a wider track, trailing-arm, multi-link arrangement.

I was expecting harshness in line with the GR's performance focus, but not so. Aside from some rumble on coarse roads from the 225/40 Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tyres, this powerhouse Yaris is surprisingly civilised. For mine, a great balance between ride quality and dynamic response is the hallmark of a thoroughly well-tuned suspension.

The sports front seat is a fantastic combination of location and comfort, the short-throw shift for the  six-speed manual gearbox is sublime, while clutch weight and action are spot-on. Save the manuals!

There's a little button on the console to fire up a 'iMT' rev-matching function, but I preferred the old-school 'heel and toe' for braking and down-changing into corners, and the relationship of the pedals is made for it. Huge fun, and very satisfying.

Then there's the steering. The absolutely superb steering. It's electrically-assisted, yet road feel is brilliant, thanks in part to the column's tricky (mainly aluminium) construction, there's next to no shock feeding back through the wheel. A direct connection with the front treads, with no NVH penalty is mega-impressive.

And the brakes are professional grade, with 356mm x 28mm two-piece ventilated and grooved front discs clamped by four-piston alloy calipers, 297mm x 18mm vented rotors at the rear with two-piston calipers, and high friction pads all around.

Put it all together and you have a 'please don't let it end' hot-hatch experience. Set to Sport on the open road, the GR-Four AWD system quietly does its thing.

Irrespective of the selected mode, torque balance shifts in response to driver inputs (steering angle, throttle and brake) and vehicle behaviour (acceleration, yaw rate, etc), as well as surface conditions. It's amazing, and turns go-fast wannabes into neat and tidy heroes.

The GR Yaris puts its power down firmly, and grips hard, but at the limit, the system also co-operates with the stability and traction controls, and ABS to keep things on an even keel.

The car is balanced, communicative, and super responsive. You somehow sense, rather than consciously feel, the smart AWD system buttoning things down behind the scenes.

The brakes, complete with short-stroke pedal, are flawless, washing off speed powerfully but progressively, with zero fade, even after a solid hammering on closed road exercises during the launch program.

Scratching my head for something to pick on, the best I can come up with is the size of the interior rear-view mirror. It's big, and the windscreen's short, so sighting the apex in left-hand corners can be tricky. That's it.