Now it’s the Toyota Rush coming to the Gazoo Racing stable

It seems like Toyota is playing fast and loose with its Gazoo Racing motorsports arm in an effort to promote it, not just among long-time fans but to a new generation of customers too. The Toyota Rush gets its own sprinkling of the GR fairy dust in Indonesia, transforming the small SUV into the Rush GR Sport.

Even the Rush gets the GR makeover in Indonesia

As what we’ve come to expect on other releases that flash the GR Sport badge, the new variant relies solely on external tweaks to convey a somewhat athletic look. It does carry the dubious assumption that the Rush in stock form doesn’t look sporty or rugged enough, but we digress.

The Rush GR Sport retains the grille and headlamp clusters of the standard version. However, the front bumper is a little more overt in its appearance, bulging at the corners with recessed housings for the fog lamps on either side of the blacked-out skid plate.

The new fog lamp housings look better than before

There’s also the usual black body cladding, but compared to what we’re used to seeing on the standard release, the Rush GR Sport adds door mouldings and rain visors as standard. An overrider and diffuser are the latest additions to the rear bumper, and there are generous helpings of the GR Sport badge throughout the vehicle’s exterior.

A two-tone black and cream cabin continues to be the default offering, carrying over accommodations for up to seven occupants plus automatic climate control. Toyota says it revised the instrument cluster, as well as the touchscreen infotainment system which still pumps out aural bliss through eight speakers.

The new range-topping Rush gets a revised touchscreen head unit

The same 1.5-liter Dual VVT-i gasoline engine provides 104 hp and 136 Nm of torque to propel the Rush GR Sport forward, sending power to the rear wheels using either a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic gearbox. What’s new this time is an idle start/stop that should help save fuel when you find yourself caught up in extended stops, such as Rush-hour traffic (see what we did there?)

In terms of pricing, the Toyota Rush GR Sport starts at 256,600,000 rupiah (around Php 899,000) for the 5-speed manual, going up to 266,200,000 rupiah (Php 931,650) for the 4-speed automatic. Do you think Toyota should give more of its models the GR treatment, or would that risk diluting the image of performance that the sub brand brings?  

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