A drag race and brake test comparison reveals a lot about the all-wheel-drive Yaris and its 3-cylinder engine, as it takes on the mighty Civic Type R.

Here’s a drag race between two Japanese hot hatches – the Honda Civic Type R and the Toyota GR Yaris. Although they are both performance cars and both from the same country, their execution is pretty different as they feature different drivetrains and are different sizes and weights.

It isn’t immediately clear who will win, and to make things interesting the duo get pitched against each other in a series of different races and a brake test to calculate accelerative/braking superiority.

CarWow’s YouTube channel once again delivers with its inimitable blend of humor and automotive entertainment as we wonder which of these modern icons will be the victor in the cold light of day on the UK airstrip.

The Honda Civic Type R VS The Toyota GR Yaris

It’s power versus lightness and traction, with the Civic Type R being more powerful but heavier than the GR Yaris, as well as having front-wheel-drive versus the all-wheel-drive system in the Yaris.

The Toyota GR Yaris comes with a tiny 1.6-liter turbocharged 3-cylinder engine that sends power to all four wheels via a manual 6-speed transmission, while the Honda Civic Type R comes with a 2-liter, 4-cylinder turbocharged engine and a 6-speed manual, but with power going to the front wheels only.

There is also a disparity in their respective power outputs – the Yaris makes 257 hp and 266 lb-ft against the Type R’s 315 hp and 310 lb-ft. Unladen mass is in the Yaris’ favor though at 2800 lbs versus 3150 lbs for the Civic. It’s 53 hp down but 350 lbs lighter. It’s anyone’s race.

For A Bargain Compact Performance Car, It’s Hard To Beat The YarisToyota GR Yaris, front quarter viewVia: ToyotaToyota’s Yaris got known around the world for being an affordable, economical and reliable city car, but with the GR makeover it became a performance car icon.

Still, the Civic Type R is the long-standing legend in the hot hatch segment, and it only continues to get better – you can buy one from Honda in 2023 starting at $43,000.

While you can’t get the Yaris GR in the US, its equivalent price in the UK is also around $43,000 with the circuit pack which this car packs in the video.

After some chit-chat, the cars head off on a drag race from a dig, and the Yaris pulls away with a good start, covering the quarter mile first, but there isn’t much in it.

It seems both cars are pretty evenly matched, so they take on a series of rolling-start races where the Civic Type R’s stronger acceleration once off the line enables it to take the win – but there still isn’t much difference between both cars.

A brake test reveals that both cars can stop from 100 mph in almost exactly the same distance, with the Honda stopping a foot sooner.