Toyota GR Yaris versus Honda Civic Type R (FL5). 23 points of retained value between them.
The GR Yaris costs nearly £17,000 less than the FL5 Type R new, yet the gap in experience isn't remotely proportional to the gap in price. At £115 per horsepower new, it undercuts the Type R's £149 handsomely, and today's auction pricing suggests it hasn't moved far from its original sticker — the available data is thin, so treat that figure loosely, but the direction is telling. Cars that refuse to depreciate are usually cars people refuse to let go of. At 1,280 kg with four-wheel drive and a fizzing three-cylinder engine that sounds like nothing else on sale, the GR Yaris has the kind of concentrated, purposeful character that makes owners deeply reluctant to sell. The Type R is, objectively, the more complete machine. The FL5 is faster in real-world use, more practical, better equipped, and more composed at the limit — reviewers consistently call it one of the finest all-round performance cars built in the last decade. Its chassis balance is remarkable for a front-wheel-drive car, and it will comfortably humiliate more expensive machinery on a circuit. At £149 per horsepower, it isn't outrageously priced for what it delivers. But value isn't just cost per horsepower — it's what the money feels like in the seat. The GR Yaris costs less, holds its price, and delivers an intensity the Type R simply doesn't replicate. It feels like an event every time. Buy the Yaris.