Zeekr X vs Toyota GR Yaris

What's the difference?

It's a good thing in a small package, this Zeekr X, and there are a lot of things I like about it. In fact, the only sticking point for me is the price. But that's all about perspective. If you see this as a newcomer Chinese brand, then yes, there are a lot of more affordable options out there. But if you see it as a premium player, it's really a more affordable version of a Volvo.

Note: The author, Andrew Chesterton, is a co-owner of Smart As Media, a content agency and media distribution service with a number of automotive brands among its clients. When producing content for CarsGuide, he does so in accordance with the CarsGuide Editorial Guidelines and Code of Ethics, and the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

The GR Yaris GTS with the Aero Performance Package is a so wonderfully special with its brilliant engineering, mind-blowing dynamics and fun-to-drive nature. The new aero package makes an already angry beastie look furious, making it the perfect enhancement that's also functional.

The only lower marks here are for warranty, fuel use and practicality. But if there was a score for fun it'd be a 10/10.

The visual changes aren’t massive. This AWD version welcomes a couple of new exterior colours, including the 'Matt Khaki Green' of our test car. It also gets the two-tone black roof and there are new 20-inch alloy designs.

Elsewhere, it's the futuristic-style of design we’re used to which differentiates the X from its Volvo EX30 twin under the skin.

Inside, this is a seriously well-equipped and polished-feeling small SUV, and — unlike some of the newcomer brands to Australia — it all feels very high quality and well put together. And that includes the material choices.

I don’t even hate the fact that most of the functions are controlled via this screen, thanks to the little shortcuts glued to the home screen. I do, however, hate the fact that there’s no easy way to change the wing mirrors or shortcuts for toning down some of the safety stuff.

That aside, though, it’s a nice and high-quality feeling space.

The GR Yaris exists so that Toyota could go racing in the World Rally Championship. As with many racing series it required Toyota to build a road-going version of their Yaris race car, also known as a homologation vehicle. It’s a good deal, they get to race, you get a race car for the road. And so the GR Yaris was born. 

Wildly different from a regular five-door garden variety Yaris, the GR Yaris is a hand-built three-door hatch with a wider track, wider and lower body and the use of forged carbon and aluminium for lightweight construction.   

The GR Yaris already looks very angry, but the GTS Aero Performance Pack makes it look furious. It adds a huge adjustable rear wing, fender ducts that channel air, a front spoiler lip that aids stability, a giant bonnet scoop to help release air, and rear bumper ducts to reduce drag. 

The GR Yaris’s cabin was redesigned for the 2025 update and that saw the dashboard angled more to the driver much like in a race car, but it's more functional than fancy and it’s all very plain.

Still, we’re not complaining. The seats are lovely and the red stitching is a nice touch but this isn’t a Lexus. It’s supposed to favour function over form and so the design is absolutely fitting. And by function I mean dynamics and not practicality.

You know you're in a small vehicle when you can't fit two large (not those crazy American-style jumbo cups, just normal coffee-shop takeaway) coffees in the cupholders, but so it is with the Zeekr X.

The small SUV's 4432mm length, 1836mm in width and 1566mm height doesn't leave much room to spread out up front. There's ample room for driver and passenger, of course, but we are talking about a small vehicle here.

Clever storage helps to mitigate that, though, especially the super-deep storage space in the centre console and the very clever fridge that separates the driver and passenger seats.

Weirdly, though, the space doesn’t feel overly tight in the back seat. We had a massive baby seat in there, and that fit without issue. And full size humans can genuinely get pretty comfortable. I'm 175cm, and I had enough knee and headroom.

In the boot, there’s 404 litres of volume with the rear seats upright and 1247 litres with them folded flat. And it’s worth pointing out this isn’t intended to be a family car, but there’s certainly enough space for the shopping... and a pram.

The regular Yaris is small, the GR Yaris is smaller at 3995mm end-to-end and with two fewer doors. As a tall person (I’m 1890mm end-to-end) the space on board is adequate up front with just enough knee, head and elbow room.

The GR Yaris is a four seater with the two rear seats accessed through the front doors. There’s not much room in there for adults and not even my lanky 11-year old would be happy in there. Still if you need to carry three other people, technically you can.

Cabin storage is limited to fairly large door pockets and two cupholders between the front seats. There is a little shelf carved into the dashboard which is great and a small glovebox below it.

Boot space is tiny at 174 litres but again this is a small car with other priorities. 

The GR Yaris GTS Aero Performance Pack sits at the top of the model range with the six-speed manual version listing for $64,990 before on-road costs, while the automatic is $67,490. That’s $4500 more than the standard GTS without the aero pack

The aero pack significantly toughens up the look of the GR Yaris, and also improves its dynamics. So if you plan to use the GR Yaris as a track car and drive it hard and fast, the kit will help.

That's thanks to improved down force from the giant rear wing, air ducts in the fenders to improve steering under braking, a front splitter for stability, underbody cladding to maximise airflow and a bonnet scoop to help release hot air from the engine bay.

The rest of the high-performance equipment comes on the regular GTS including a Torsen limited slip differential, high performance suspension tune and 18-inch forged wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres.

Standard features are the same as the regular GTS and include heated GR sports front seats with suede leather upholstery, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, leather-wrapped steering wheel, aluminium pedals, dual-zone climate control, proximity unlocking and push-button start.

There's also an eight-speaker, eight-inch media screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and an eight-speaker JBL sound system.

The value is actually great considering all the high-performance engineering around you in the GR Yaris, and it will save you money from being tempted to go down the aftermarket route and buy equipment that hasn't been designed for the car by the people who made the car.

There are some nice comforts, too, like the leather seats, although the media screen is small.   

The big news here is a more powerful rear motor – meaning you get more grunt whether you opt for the rear-wheel drive or this all-wheel drive.

In rear-drive form, that boosts your outputs from 200kW to 250kW, dropping the sprint to 100km/h to 5.6 seconds. In AWD guise, your new outputs are 365kW (up from 315kW) and 573Nm, and your sprint to 100km/h falls to 3.7 seconds.

It still boggles my mind how 221kW and 400Nm is extracted from a 1.6-litre three-cylinder petrol engine but here we are. The GR Yaris has this set up with this output, along with all-wheel drive. 

Thanks to lightweight materials such as forged carbon and aluminium the GR Yaris weighs nothing in car terms - just 1300kg - so acceleration from 0-100km/h is a rapid 5.1 seconds.

I’ve already detailed the juicy engineering bits the GTS Aero Package is fitted with, from the limited slip diff to the adjustable rear wing, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that not many small hatches are this gifted with this kind of genius.

Our test car has an eight-speed automatic, which is easy to drive in city traffic. However, I'd opt for the six-speed manual because if you've come this far you may as well go the whole way.

This is where it starts to get weird. The rear-drive Zeekr X is fitted with a 61kWh LFP battery, which can accept up to 230kW DC fast charging, taking you from 10 to 80 per cent charged in just 18 minutes. Total claimed range is 405km.

The flagship AWD, though, charges at a slower rate. It gets a 66kWh NMN battery and can only be charged at 150kW, meaning the same charge takes 30 minutes. Zeekr is promising a 415km driving range between charges.

The GR Yaris is a hungry beastie that eats through its 50L petrol tank fairly quickly and then wants more. Toyota says you should see 9.1L/100km of 98 RON used in the automatic and 8.2L/100km with the manual over a combination of driving conditions. 

Stop-start city driving in traffic saw fuel use increase dramatically to 13.0L/100km in the auto. According to our car's trip computer, my own testing used an average of 14.5L/100km after mainly suburban driving.  

Short answer? Pretty good, with some caveats.

I'm partial to a firmer ride. I find some Chinese car companies can feel like they get their suspension bits from Captain Snooze, such is the soft, pillowy ride served up. And to be honest, it makes me a little seasick at times.

The Zeekr is not like that. It has firmness dialled into the ride equation and can feel harsh at times, but also improves the drive experience, delivering connection and engagement at the cost of some sharpness on the wrong road. 

It's also faster than the model it replaces, but it's also one of those cars in which the real-life feeling doesn't quite match the on-paper promise.

This thing serves up supercar speed, but it doesn't feel like it from behind the wheel. Instead, the acceleration - especially from a rolling start - feels potent, but not biblical.

From a standing start it pauses for a moment, almost like an internal-combustion vehicle might, before delivering a quick (but not stratospheric) flow of power. None of that is a bad thing, by the way. Who wants their small SUV to accelerate like a supercar?

It's otherwise an entirely pleasant drive. The cabin is serene and quiet and it's a small car that doesn't feel like one. There's nothing light or tinny about the drive experience, instead there's a heft and quality.

There’s been a multitude of electric cars through the test garage over the past six months and the GR Yaris is like a diamond found in a tub of Lego when it comes to driving.

So much sound. The three cylinder snarls on start up sending vibrations into the cockpit and up through the steering wheel, the transmission can be heard engaging gears, the big brakes creak as they’re released. And we’re hardly even moving yet. There’s so much theatre. It’s all real and I love it!

I even love that in the first 10 minutes of driving, a message appears on the instrument cluster asking that excessive acceleration be avoided while the engine is cool. You don’t get that beautiful inconvenience in an electric car.

But when you can excessively accelerate (on a race track of course, right?) it's wonderful and it's loud. Lift off, and the wastegate lets out a little "weeee!" in excitement.

I don't need to tell you that the GR Yaris handles better than just about anything in this price range and while the ride is firm and speed bumps feel like you’ve hit a gutter I still drove the GR Yaris every day, even to do the school run, because it is so much fun. Meanwhile my hybrid long0term test car looked lonely in the driveaway all week...

Being an automatic makes it easy to drive in traffic and the small size makes finding parking spots quick and simple.

Visibility is good, steering is excellent, the seats are big enough to accommodate me but snug enough to offer good lateral support, too.   

The GR Yaris has not been crash tested by ANCAP and the score for the regular Yaris can't be applied to the GR version.

Still the GR Yaris comes equipped with an array of advanced safety tech such as auto emergency braking (AEB), lane keeping assistance and a blind spot warning.

There are six airbags, two child seat ISOFIX points and two top tether anchor mounts in the rear row.  

Zeekr's coverage is an underwhelming five-year, unlimited-kilometres, while the drive battery is covered for eight-years or 160,000km. There’s five years' of roadside assistance thrown in, too.

Service intervals are 20,000km or 12 months, with five years' of ownership setting you back a hefty $3072; an average of $614 per workshop visit.

There are currently 16 Zeekr dealers in Australia - two of which are 'pop-up' sites rather than full retail centres.

Multiple locations in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with the ACT, Adelaide and Perth also covered. Others include Geelong and the Sunshine Coast but so far you're out of luck in Tassie or the NT.

The GR Yaris is covered by Toyota's five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty which is lacking compared to many other mainstream manufacturers’ seven-year-plus warranties. The good news is that the engine and driveline is covered by an extra two-year warranty.

Servicing is capped at about $300 for the first six visits, although services are six months apart which means that after three years you’ll run out of capped-price servicing.

Still, Toyota’s reputation for reliability does provide some peace of mind.