One of my mates sold his heavily modified, circa 500bhp audi s3 saloon for a Yaris gr and has had it about 6 months now, and, in his opinion its one of the quickest cars a to b on twisty b roads.
Even though its way down on power from his audi.
Haven't driven his Yaris gr yet, but sounds like it drives well in the twisties.
As said, Byron (beedub) had a decent test drive of a Yaris Gr and didn't take to it, but then, he does have a very nice Supercharged M Roadster that he's owned for years so I can imagine that would take some beating, in feel, etc.
Certainly worth getting an extended, as long as possible, test drive in a Gr Yaris and make your own mind up on some b roads op

Good luck with your choices, the Lotus exige's are very good to drive too, but I've only ever driven on a track and not a road, so you'd be best getting as many test drives in as possible, which you'll probably be planning anyway.
Happy hunting op
