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Andrew Hawkins and Powertune Australia worked on a 270-hp Toyota GR Yaris to extract almost double the power output by extensive modifications.

Thanks to the new-age era of turbocharging and tune-in possibilities, achieving the magical power output figures of 400 hp and above has become much easy. Nowadays, you don’t need big-sized V8s or V10s to get higher power outputs, as even a four-cylinder engine can achieve a 400 hp+ power output. The Mercedes-AMG CLA 45S and Volvo S60 T8 Polestar are some fine examples of that.

However, have you heard of a three-cylinder engine pumping out a power output even more than that? In 2021, renowned automobile tuner Andrew Hawkins and Powertune Australia worked on a Toyota GR Yaris and obtained a staggering 475 hp power output. However, at that time, Hawkins claimed that the three-cylinder engine of the GR Yaris has got the potential to cross the 500 hp barrier too. And almost a year later, he proved his words correct, with his Toyota GR Yaris crossing the magical figure of 500 hp. Here’s a detailed story on how Hawkins pushed the benchmark even further.

Related: Proper Rally Car: Toyota GR Yaris Gets Suspension Mods And Track Tested

The brainchild of Toyota’s CEO, Akio Toyoda, the Toyota GR Yaris is not your everyday hatchback. It’s a screamer for its size and price. The Toyota GR Yaris is a proper three-door hot hatch, developed after years of expertise and experience of Toyota in rally circuits.

While the Toyota GR Yaris is a sporty-looking hatchback in the very first place, what grabs your attention the most is its 1.6-liter G16E-GTS three-cylinder turbocharged engine. With a power output of 270 hp and a torque output of 273 lb-ft, it is one of the most powerful hatchbacks in the land of the rising sun.

What makes the enthusiasts crave even more for the car, is the presence of a 6-speed manual gearbox and an all-wheel-drive system. Toyota claims a 0-62mph sprint time of 5.2 seconds and an electronically-restricted top speed of 143 mph.

Before crossing the milestone of 500 hp, Andrew Hawkins achieved a magical figure of 475 hp of power from his Toyota GR Yaris in collaboration with Powertune Australia. For this GR Yaris, Powertune and MoTeC collaborated to make a custom ECU with immense tuning possibilities. This new ECU, along with a custom aftermarket exhaust, gave a boost of 50 hp, not to forget a deeper exhaust note.

The first challenge came in the form of further use of stock valve springs, which led to valve float, early fall-off of power, and a sense of an artificial rev limiter at higher RPMs. To compensate for this, the car received a new set of valve springs, followed by a performance camshaft, which added the advantage of 20 hp. It also received an aftermarket intercooler for more consistent power delivery. Given that the car promises to deliver a higher power output with E85 fuel, the GR Yaris here got aftermarket injectors to suit the fuel, thus further adding 20 hp of power.

All these modifications to the car added up to 100 hp of extra power. The car also received an aftermarket clutch and limited slip differential at the rear to ensure that this extra power goes to the wheels without much of it wasted. However, the team didn’t stop here and went on further by adding an aftermarket turbo kit and fuel lines, with which it managed to cross the 400 hp milestone at the hubs.

Related: We'd Drive The GR Yaris Over Any Of These New Sports Cars

The 1.6-liter G16E-GTS three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine of the Toyota GR Yaris uses direct and port injection for the fuel, with port injectors used only to clean the valves. The fuel system of this car got altered by using those port injectors to supplement the additional fuel quantity at higher RPMs to optimize the power delivery at different stages. The direct injectors are still there for lower RPMs, where they atomize and burn the fuel in the best possible manner.

In addition, the team set the turboboost to 36 psi, using which it maintained a torque output of 368 lb-ft. The members at Powertune limited the torque output of 368 lb-ft through the mid-range to obtain a flatter torque curve, as passing beyond that could have started breaking the engine components.

With all these changes, this heavily-modified Toyota GR Yaris moved to a two-wheel-drive hub dyno, where it touched a magical figure of 511 hp on the dyno hubs. Not only this, but the car also achieved the title of the fastest GR Yaris at a drag strip by setting a record time of 10.8 seconds. As this car runs on E85 fuel, there are no chances of the engine suffering from misfiring or knocks.

So there you have it – a modest 1.6-liter three-cylinder engine producing a bonkers power output of over 500 hp. And these crazy modifications do make a compact car like Toyota GR Yaris an even more hoot to drive.

Hailing from India, Jeo has grown up dreaming about a red-colored Porsche 911. This fascination led him to study more about cars and their functionality in his automotive engineering days from the past. His passion for writing about cars directed him towards blogging, which he has been doing for almost a decade.