What would you choose between these 2 cars? And are they reliable?
These are two nice cars and it is a hard question.
The Yaris GR is a weird car. It has it’s front chassis from a regular Yaris and the rear chassis is actually from a Toyota Prius.
It’s engine is a 1.6L 3 Cylinder somewhat loosely based on the Dynamic Force 1.5L.
There is currently 0 information on the G16E engine reliability as it’s rare and no one knows what it caries over form the M15A dynamic force 3 cylinder.
In my opinion it’s at best as reliable as the Dynamic Force that’s usually good for 150,000 miles (250,000km) - basically, in the best case scenario it’s reliability will be mediocre (and I doubt it will achieve that cause 260 horsepower form a tiny 1.6L must be a lot of stress)
As far the Yaris GR transmission, it’s a 6 speed manual - they usually last a lot. And it being a Toyota I’m sure electronics and other components are fine.
The Hyundai Veloster is a mid sized car unlike the tiny Toyota.
The Hyundai is fully based on the “Elantra GT” (if you’re in Europe “Hyundai i30”) and that car has been alright.
The engine on the Veloster is an old proven design - the 2.0L Thea engine. It’s been in use on the Hyundai Genesis Coupe am many other Hyundai cars. As far as reliability it’s alright - nothing crazy 140,000-160,000 miles on those is a given.
the gearbox on the Hyundai is either a manual - and that’s a good manual.
Or a horrendous 8 speed dual clutch. This absolute utter jerking shuttering throwing abomination is not only terrible to drive they’re built so badly there isn’t a “flaw” it’s all a one big flaw of a device. You’ll need clutch replacements every 50,000km even under regular calm driving conditions. Absolutely terrible automatic, do not get within a 10 mile radius of that. Even if they have improved since the D7UF1 days, and from what I hear it only gotten worse, I still wouldn’t touch that pile of junk.
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conclusion:
The Yaris GR is an unproven design, based on a weird platform and the engine is also bizarre and completely new.
The Hyundai Veloster offers a proven design but it’s after all Hyundai quality and things can fail. Electronics and other issues will happen when you get higher mileage.
I’d wait and see which one will be a better hot hatch, but if I’d had to choose today I would go with Hyundai as I know what to expect (BUT NOT THE AUTOMATIC - those are still piles of junk)
Note: the GR YARIS, isn’t related at all to the Yaris in the US as that’s basically a Mazda2.
I wouldn't get either of them. The Hyundai, especially the engine, is trash and the Yaris is unproven. Even Toyota needs time to fix the kinks 3 cylinder engines aren't the best.
Have you considered the Civic SI?
I would pass on both of them. The Toyota is still new - we’ll have to wait a couple years and see how it fairs.
STAY, Stay, and stay away from Hyundai/Kia. They cannot build proper motors. Just look up the class actions they have against them.
Thanks a lot guys!!