{"id":1373,"date":"2025-01-28T07:31:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T08:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2025-01-28T18:13:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T18:13:22","slug":"toyotas-forgotten-mid-engine-hot-hatch-was-a-pocket-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/toyotas-forgotten-mid-engine-hot-hatch-was-a-pocket-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Toyota’s Forgotten Mid-Engine Hot Hatch Was a Pocket Rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Renault Clio V-6 is the quintessential mid-engine hot hatch, but other brands have also dabbled in turning practical small cars into something more exciting. The Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 and MG Metro 6R4, along with a few wild concepts, spring to mind. Remember Volkswagen’s bonkers W-12 Golf<\/a>? Toyota recently added the GR Yaris M Concept to the list, and you’ll be surprised to hear it’s not the first of its kind from the Japanese automaker.<\/p>\n

For the 2008 British International Motor Show, Toyota<\/a> transformed its diminutive Aygo city car into something “Crazy.” Yep, the one-off received the “Aygo Crazy” moniker and had little in common with the production model. Borrowing the 1.8-liter engine from the Celica and MR2, the pocket rocket received a Toyota Motorsport turbo kit. This kit bumped output from the regular model’s measly 68 hp and 69 lb-ft (93 Nm) to 200 hp and 177 lb-ft (240 Nm).<\/p>\n

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\nPhoto by: Toyota<\/p>\n

The Aygo Crazy borrowed the MR2’s five-speed manual gearbox, which routed power to the rear wheels. It must’ve been a hoot to drive, given a curb weight of only 2,314 pounds (1,050 kilograms), about as much as a Miata ND. Even Toyota described it as “like a kart with doors and a roof.” No electronic nannies were on board, with the engineers choosing to leave out ABS and power steering. Like the GR Yaris M concept<\/a>, its ancestor was strictly a two-seater.<\/p>\n

The suspension was also taken from the MR2, with MacPherson struts front and rear to sharpen things up. Toyota gave the Aygo Crazy adjustable dampers and widened the tracks by a full inch. Elsewhere, the carbon fiber rear wing came from the American Champ Car series, which folded later that year. Larger 17-inch wheels wrapped in 225\/45 tires replaced the stock model\u2019s tiny 14-inch set, while ventilated discs replaced the rear drums. The front brakes were also upgraded with bigger discs and Brembo calipers.<\/p>\n

Toyota quoted a 0 to 62 mph in 5.75 seconds for its so-called “shopping supercar” and an estimated top speed of 127 mph (204 km\/h). That made it much quicker and faster than the standard Aygo, which completed the sprint in an agonizingly slow 14.2 seconds before maxing out at just 98 mph (157 km\/h).<\/p>\n

The Aygo Crazy was conceived as a fully functional car. We can say the same about the GR Yaris M concept since Toyota president Akio Toyoda will race the mid-engine hot hatch later this year. A production version is unlikely, but the company has been dropping hints about bringing back the Celica and MR2. These cars could have Toyota’s new G20E engine<\/a>, a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder projected to make roughly 400 hp.<\/p>\n

What Is Toyota Up To These Days?<\/h2>\n

Toyota’s New 2.0-Liter Turbo Engine Makes Big Power<\/a>
Toyota Launches Japan’s First Plug-In Hybrid Minivan<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Renault Clio V-6 is the quintessential mid-engine hot hatch, but other brands have also dabbled in turning practical small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1397,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}