Why is it a bestseller? 2027 Toyota Yaris Cross facelift Lounge vs GR Sport first tour!

This year looks like the all-new Toyota RAV4, but this one is a smaller one, the smaller brother, the Toyota Yaris Cross, in a new facelift here, and you can obviously see it is indeed a facelift for the SUV that is the most sold small SUV in Europe, also the most sold hybrid in Europe. So, indeed, a true bestseller, but what can it do here now in the facelift and what are the changes here in the lounge room, and also as a comparison, the GR Sport. We'll fill you in with all the details with Thomas Nautico-Fuel in 4K, full screen, full length. Let's go here with the new front, which has this vehicle color in the front grille and the honeycomb structure, just like the all-new RAV4. Metal bronze is this very distinctive, beautiful color, so that's pretty cool, and this is the biggest visual change. You also get updated lamps here and a new design, new styling, and you get LED or optional even matrix LED here in the higher trims, and this indeed then has this automatic high beam function that it can also save out some spots on the road. I'll also show you how to activate that very soon, and the length at 4 meters 18 or 165 inches, so it's a very small, compact vehicle, starts with 16-inch steel wheels, and you can get to aluminum ones, also 17 and 18-inch. These are the biggest ones that are available, new stylings. You can also see right here, for example, crossover wheel arches, and indeed, it has some significant ground clearance, so it can also be used for soft off-roading, and here, the Yaris Cross is also stamped then here in this side. This is a very nice detailed feature. You also have this dual-tone design here for the roof, black contrasting roof, then you have like this transition here to the metal bronze color. In the rear, you have this somewhat integrated rear wing. Yeah, these gaps here, this is like a first prototype vehicle, so just to mention that, and they say that it will be better in the final series production version. You get front wheel drive for overdrive, supermoto with the engines, just to mention that this one here is a hybrid and also AWDI. What does it mean? That means you have an electric motor, an additional one at the rear axle to get then this overdrive. Soon, I'll also take the trunk measures for you. Quickly, under the hood because, as I said, all we drive here in this very version, but there are also the front wheel drive base versions. Let's open that one. There we go. It beeps because we have the light on. So, this one here is based on the 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine, 116 horsepower, or here, this is the higher spec with 130 horsepower, and the acceleration difference then is, of course, a little bit then between the smaller and the bigger version. Engine facts are also in a separate data comment, and here with the all-wheel drive, it's a little bit slower than 11 seconds in the acceleration, 0 to 1 kilometers an hour. If you go for the front wheel drive version, it's a little bit quicker, actually, than a little bit under 11 seconds than here in the 130 horsepower trim. The lowest trim is also only connected to the lowest spec. So, the higher specs ultimately go here with the 130 horsepower version, and the GR Sport actually only goes with the 130 horsepower and the front wheel drive because that's the quickest version, and the GR Sport, yeah, is supposed to be the sportier version also with the sportier suspension and so on, and this one would be the most elegant trim here. Thank you so much, everyone, by the way, for the recent or ongoing support, and you maybe cannot really understand, but, you know, when I get the support from you guys and, you know, all the nice comments and so on, this really makes such a difference for me, like when especially like when we work a lot and so on, it really keeps the motivation high. So, yeah, thanks again for all the nice comments. I really always appreciate that. Let's go with the interior here. First of all, door cleaning and sound. Let's say this is a little more basic, not the thing that they pay most attention to. Then, inside of the doors, so this is all hard pack. Then, we have, let's say, it's a fabric covering, but it's hard underneath. This is new here, this decor element or deck decor which fits a little bit to the metal exterior, and then classic window levers and so on, open, close, also easy to control the side mirrors, nothing covered right here. And then, we go to the steering wheel which still has physical controls like wheel buttons here, right side also, for example, for the cruise control, and these are, by the way, already the larger 12.3-inch digital instruments. You start with smaller ones in the lower trims, and there are also base infotainment versions, and this one is also already the bigger infotainment. Then, here, the seats in the lounge trim has a nice fabric, feels nice here on the inside, and then, you have the new Sakura Touch. This is a new leatherette material which actually consists of 40% bio-shear, also like some like cork leftovers from production and so on. It really feels very nice, and this is also then a second material here. It's like a brown fabric here. So, they try to spice up the material life here a little bit and also to be more sustainable in the whole production chain, and then, here, let's take a seat, and the cool thing is it's a tiny vehicle, but it already has quite good seats, and since it's an OEV, also, the feet are not too high, actually, so it's actually a fairly good seating position. Steering wheel up and down, in and out, both is possible, and then, headroom here with one A9, 6 foot 2, still some space left, and this one here actually has a very interesting solution to this glass roof cover, and here we go now with this spectacular effect. Watch that magic here. This is closed here. These are the covers, and then, it says push, so I'll push. Ta-da! Ta-da! I mean, it's a basic function, but it's actually quicker than it would be electric, so why not, and this is in the fixed glass roof here, still some headroom left here, and leaves a lot of light in, but you cannot open it for fresh air or something like that. Then, to the dashboard, cockpit area, and so on, this is here, actually, both soft touch, so that's nice. Also, this new, you know, decorative element here is also nicely structured. Then, slowly going down with the glovebox in the middle part, it looks like this, automatic shift lever, inductive charging pad is here in the front. It's not ventilated, though. I like two USB-C chargers. I would prefer that, and also, pretty fancy here, these retro buttons for the seat heating, and they also stay in place when you shut down the vehicle and start it again. Also, physical dials here for the climate unit, for example, and for the fan speed. Infotainment would start 9-inch. This is already bigger, 10.5-inch, and here, for example, visualization, how you get the energy back in the battery. Most of the time, you would probably use Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and there's also a decent integration. Here, by the way, on this side of the seat, this fabric material is called Samara. So, Sakura and Samara, beautiful names, right? Push to normal, off-road modes, and aside, you can use these cup holders here. They are not adaptive, though, and you can make yourself, like, some space here with folding up the armrest when I fold back again. Yeah, this material should be a little bit better from the quality. Inside is also some storage, but if you put stuff like this in there and then you fold up, it, of course, like, flies around inside the console. Well, and the rear seats here, I mean, it's a tiny vehicle, so there's not much space left for the legs when I'm driving. They've made more of this nice Samara material here at the back of the seat, and the Sakura material, once again. So, seat materials are actually the highlight of this vehicle, and then, here, we are, I mean, I could still fit in here, like, barely. That would somewhat work for 4-toy adults, but, you see, it's, of course, limited. But, once again, more of this matte Sakura-touch leatherette here in the middle part and the fabric on the inside. ISOFIX on the seats outside each also has a registration for a fifth passenger, but I don't see that much space-wise, and inside of the doors in the rear is all the way hardback, and, you see, it doesn't open too wide. So, for installing child seats and for accessing it, maybe for elderly people, it's a little bit tough then. And, one more secret thing here, when you fold down this middle part here, there's, like, a ski hatch to the rear, stays open. Then, you also have some hidden cup holders here. That's an interesting idea, and it's also designed in a way that the cups are still upright then when you have it here on this seat bench. That's a good idea. Let's check out the trunk. 320 or 400 liters, depending if you have the all-wheel-drive version or not. This one here also has an electric hatch. Manual one would be the standard one. Interesting that this top cover here is, on the one hand, wobbly kind of, but some also pointed out that when you have something in the back here and it's maybe a little bit higher, it's also being kept tight then by that when it's a little bit higher. So, it's maybe pro and con, but, of course, not the most, let's say, not the most elaborate solution, and it's also a little bit, yeah, complicated to remove that thing. Always like that. Well, maybe we can use it in, like, when there's, like, a lot of sun, maybe, like, for filming to have, like, some shade, maybe like this, you know. Interesting. This is near the full setup, and we have a width of about a meter or 40 inches. Normal length is about 31 inches or 80 centimeters, and then we have this, what I showed to you earlier, this ski hatch in the middle. Under that, you can also fold like this from here, but you can see here when I'm driving, it doesn't really fit then from the size. There we go, and even here. So, I would have to move the seats forward first so that these ones go fully down. I can soon do that, but here, the full length into the seats is 85 inches or about 1 meter 50. Now, about the height, it depends then here. Underneath, for the all-wheel drive version, there's some storage right there. It's also not, you know, fully covered in the lower part, and there's more space in the front-wheel drive version. I can soon show you that there's a difference, and this one doesn't have like a lower step, so to speak, and so here, then, the height for the all-wheel drive version is at 28 inches or 70 centimeters. And, as a second vehicle, we have here the GR Sport trims, the other high trim here in celestial gray. It's a very beautiful color, and it also has this new integrated honeycomb structure grille with the same vehicle color as the rest of the body color, so looks pretty cool, and also more honeycomb scheme here with the GR Sport badge in the lower part. So, here you have, then, the sportier look. I think this is really nicely done from the visual. Also, the top 18-inch wheels here in a different styling, for example. I really like this color because it has like, let's say, like blue nuance to it, this gray, indeed, and the rear is also a little bit different, also sportier, maybe a little bit more high-class in that case, then, because we have the honeycomb structure, then, here on the inside and the GR Sport badge. This one is only available with the 130 horsepower version front-wheel drive because it is the best in the acceleration, and there are also, of course, other front-wheel drive models available, and they are, in a way, more practical if you don't need off-road situation and so on because here you have the larger trunk. You have the split here, one-third, two-third, and you can move it lower, then you have this lower set, and you have more in height. That is the main difference, or you can also take them out completely, and then you just have the most spacious trunk there is for the Yaris Cross. And, now, the GR Sport interior, main difference, the seats here, they look like integrated head restraint, but it's actually a separate head restraint, then we have microfiber on the inside, leatherette on the outside, so they look actually pretty cool, also here with the perforation, red background, then, and so on, and they're actually also nice to look at, but I have to say they're not bad at all or something, but the seating comfort, like in the seat bone area underneath here is better with the fabric seats in the lounge trim, so this is here a little bit stiffer, this seat, definitely, it's the sportier version, more red contrast stitches, for example, here on the inside, also here with the shifting lever, the same also with the red contrast at the inside of the steering wheel, for example, you have perforation in the outside, GR Sport batching, and here even, for example, on the floor mats, there are the GR Sport batches. By the way, in 2025, this one here was also the most sold Toyota model overall in Europe, 200,000 pieces, and will continue to be that way. So, in the facelift before, they already did all the things that are basically under the hood, like, you know, upgrade for the engine and also NVH improvements and so on, and this facelift now really, rather, it's the visual part, you know, with the face and so on, and now it's basically completed this facelift, and the thing is that this vehicle is actually pretty small, but still has enough space on the inside and just delivers, like, a good price performance package. Pricing will remain more or less the same, so it'd be 28,000 euros entry and to some 40,000 euros if you go, like, really high spec everything in. What do you think about this facelift here of the Yaris Cross? Tell me in the comments, and now check out the next little bit bigger brothers.