Purists might lament the fact that Toyota is developing an 8-speed automatic (8AT) for the GR Yaris but then again, if purists dictated the direction of the automotive industry, we wouldn’t even have power steering.

An automatic option increases the appeal to a wider target market, which means more money to be earned and that leads to the possibility of developing more enthusiast-focused cars.

Anyway, the development team behind the 8AT GR Yaris invited Japanese publication BestCarWeb to get their first impressions of the car. The good news is the automatic transmission hasn’t blunted the stout acceleration of the GR Yaris.

BestCarWeb highlights that the transmission feels direct and its shift mapping is intuitive when driven hard. It has a manual override option for the driver to shift via the paddles or shift lever, but the Japanese publication says that it’s still fun when left to its own device.

For mere mortals who aren’t of Tommi Makinen’s calibre, the automatic transmission frees up more mental capacity to focus on steering, braking, and accelerating. Rather than being occupied by which gear to be in, drivers can concentrate on car control.

However, BestCarWeb did mention that there are some occasions in which the automatic transmission refuses to downshift into first gear and it’s one of the issues Toyota aims to resolve before it’s put on the market.

Also read: You might want to sit down for this because Toyota’s developing an automatic GR Yaris

No specifics were given for the engine, hence likely to remain as before – with a 1.6-litre turbocharged 3-cylinder engine that makes 261 PS/360 Nm (for our Malaysian and European market).

Photo credit: BestCarWeb

Also read: Video Review: Toyota GR Yaris - let us show you how to drive it!