About

In recent years, Gazoo Racing has revolutionized the automotive industry, fueled by the visionary leadership of Akio Toyoda. The company’s trajectory in motorsports is nothing short of promising. Toyota’s unveiling of the GR Supra and GR Yaris has solidified their position as pioneers in performance engineering. Now, with the introduction of the formidable GR Corolla, Toyota ventures into uncharted territory. This powerhouse inherits the turbocharged 1.6-liter engine from the GR Yaris, but it’s been elevated to a staggering 300 horsepower. Combined with a precise 6-speed manual transmission and an advanced AWD system, the GR Corolla emerges as a true rally legend in the making.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Renndvous Team was granted an exclusive opportunity to intimately explore the GR Corolla at this year’s New York International Auto Show. Our time spent up close with the GR Corolla unveiled a range of intriguing details – some impressive, others less so, and a few that left us wanting more. Let’s delve into our findings.

The Good

You can’t ignore the insane 187.5 hp per liter this engine puts down to all four wheels. Toyota has made an engineering marvel, straying away from the hybrid trend most other manufacturers have utilized with their 3-cylinder engines. Even better, the GR Corolla is only planning to be offered in a 6-speed manual.

Along with having only three cylinders under the hood, the GR Corolla features a triple exit exhaust, one for each cylinder, and no metal was wasted in this process. Each pipe comes directly from the cylinder itself, allowing for minimal backpressure and maximum power.

The GR Corolla does showcase some details that had us nervous until we dug deeper and scouted some answers. On the prototype unit staged at the New York International Auto Show, the roof of the car is wrapped to mimic forged carbon, although we were informed the production version will offer true forged carbon to help minimize weight. The prototype GR Corolla also sports an analog gauge cluster, as well as a much smaller infotainment screen than previously advertised. Speaking with a Toyota representative, we were informed the production GR Corolla will not have an analog cluster at all, instead opting to go for a fully digital dash. As for the MMI, the GR Corolla will only offer the larger central touchscreen, which we prefer. The headlights shown on the GR Corolla are just standard Corolla headlights, which will be replaced with GR-specific headlights.

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The Bad

While it has been true for some other features to be different on the press vehicle than the production unit as listed above, the seats will likely be manually controlled, as nothing has been said about powered seats. Although the manual seats will reduce weight, we are slightly disappointed that a car with a potential MSRP of $30,000 – 40,000 does not offer power seats.

The Ugly

Another detail we weren’t entirely fans of is the plastic rear wing, which feels and looks cheap, but does add aggression. Although the wing looks mighty, with it being unpainted, up close it felt like a cheap auto parts store add-on, and we wish it was either painted body color or gloss black to match with the other panels of the car.

Specs

• 1.6L 3-cylinder turbo
• 300 HP @ 6500 RPM
• 273 lb.-ft. @ 3000-5550 RPM
• 10.5:1 Compression Ratio
• Curb Weight of 3249 lb.
• AWD
• 6-speed Manual Transmission
• 18-inch wheels
• Michelin Pilot Sport 4 Tires

Specs Source: Toyota