Last week, Toyota Great Britain announced the addition of the Yaris SR 1.8 to the top of the division's Yaris lineup. With its 130-horsepower Dual VVT-i powerplant, it immediately becomes the spunkiest Yaris, capable of a 0-100 km/h (62 mph) run in 9.3 seconds while managing over 39 miles per gallon in the combined cycle. Not bad at all, especially when you consider that we can only get the Yaris with a 106-horse 1.5L engine.

The SR trim level adds 17" alloys and nice visual touches like foglights, a trailing-edge roof spoiler, sport seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and aluminum interior trim. Also note the better-looking Euro taillights. Shoppers desiring for the car's sporty looks but not the more high-zoot motor can opt for the SR trimmings on cars equipped with the 1.3L VVT-i (87 hp) and 1.4L D-4D diesel (90 hp). It's available in both three and five-door hatchback bodystyes, and the Yaris SR 1.8 is offered in continental Europe as the Yaris TS. Again, the people across the pond win. We get the impossibly heinous Yaris 4-door sedan with the smaller engine in the US market, while they get the much-better-looking 5-door hatch and a new topline powerplant? Sheesh.

Source: [url=http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/20/toyota-gb-launches-yaris-sr-1-8/]Autoblog[/url]