I loved my first generation S40. It was a "compact executive car": high quality interior fit-out, drivetrain, and chassis tuning, in a small package. I'm one of those weirdos who would want a Lexus version of a Yaris, now that the Corolla is a huge car)
FIrstly, i hereby register vague interest in trying a small Mitsubishi with a Volvo whiteblock in it. Secondly, I get the Lexus point and im sort of permanently disappointed by the coulda-beens of the HS250h which was a small car (Scion TC sedan, ish) with a Camry hybrid powertrain and an excellent Lexus interior. The main problem is that it had the wrong Camry hybrid powertrain, as the first gen of that powertrain was pretty underwhelming in both power and mpg. The 2nd gen Camry hybrid powertrain in the HS would have been a high 14 second car AND got 45mpg. The CT200h was even slower, but it used the Prius powertrain and there still has yet to be a Prius that was any kind of quick, sadly.
The current Corolla is actually smaller than the previous several generations! From sitting in it (havent driven one) i basically consider it subcompact. It's no roomier than my brother's 09 Accent.
It could be worse, since the US Yaris is dead it might be an awesome 1.6L 3-Cylinder packaged into a CH-R. I believe the rear suspension in the GR Yaris is taken from that.
I don't think that would be ALL terrible. I think the CH-R is better looking by a mile than any Yaris ever has been (unless you want to include my unpopular opinion about certain Echo sedans looking good and technically being a Yaris). The thing about the CH-R is that it's already 3200+ lbs. That would take the edge off the GR powertrain and make it more similar to a Juke Nismo RS in performance than to a Veloster N, CTR, or WRX, and nobody cares about those.
the gr yaris is the only sports car that is solely there's and that is because it was the presidents pet project. the 86 is mostly subaru, the supra is a reskined bmw.
If it weren't for having the president they have, they probably wouldnt have ANY sports cars. Sports cars were one of his stated goals for the company. I still think it's sad that people don't consider the LC500 when they think about Toyota's 'failure' to deliver homebrewed sporty cars. That thing gets a LOT right and even before that, people glowed about the last GS-F as well. Those are expensive and heavy, but in my mind they prove that Toyota knows how to make sporty cars enthusiasts would love. Anecdotally it just looks like Toyota doesn't think they can make money developing 'cheap' sports cars, and the Yaris GR being a money loser to sell sure doesn't disprove that notion. In my mind they could have altered the body less than they did to make it cheaper since it's still ugly as hell anyway, but I guess it was designed around some kind of race series and that may have played some part in making a Yaris unnecessarily more expensive while largely looking the same.