This hot hatch boasts bold styling, all-wheel drive, and the automaker’s latest safety features
By Jeff S. Bartlett
Toyota is getting wild with some of its latest models, starting with the engaging Supra, the bargain-priced GR86 sports coupe, and now the GR Corolla. This latest creation from the in-house motor sports group known as Gazoo Racing pushes the Corolla hatchback to rally extremes, with 300-hp, all-wheel drive, and a brash body kit.
It is essentially a factory-bred tuner car, aimed at drivers weaned on PlayStation Gran Turismo video games and educated by World Rally Championship races. It targets the robust enthusiast culture centered around modifying compact cars—elevating their performance and customizing their appearance.
Rather than a random assemblage of go-fast parts, the GR Corolla is a crafted sports car, backed by a traditional three-year, 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and a five-year, 60,000-mile powertrain warranty. And it can be bought, financed, and serviced at your local Toyota dealership, where owners will appreciate the two years of free maintenance.
Plus, buyers receive a free one-year membership to the National Auto Sport Association, a motor sports organization that is focused on driving education, along with expert driving instruction at a high-performance driving event.
The GR Corolla is a turnkey dream machine for driving enthusiasts, developed by race engineers at Toyota and blessed by Akio Toyoda, the company’s namesake president who is known for his driving prowess.
If you’re a Consumer Reports member, our initial expert assessment of the Toyota GR Corolla is available to you below.
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What we rented: 2023 Toyota GR Corolla Circuit Edition
Powertrain: 300-hp, 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine; six-speed manual transmission; all-wheel drive
MSRP: $42,900
Options: Heavy Metal paint, $425
Destination fee: $1,095
Total cost: $44,420
The GR Corolla is made for fun. And it is well-suited for donut runs.
Photo: Toyota
CR's Take
The GR Corolla joins the Honda Civic Type R, Mini Cooper John Cooper Works, Subaru WRX, and Volkswagen Golf R as extreme compacts that aim to foster the next generation of car enthusiasts.
In this grouping, the GR Corolla provides a great starting point for a budding sport compact car enthusiast, with all the prerequisite styling, exotic power, and tenacious grip to stand out on the street, track, and automotive gatherings.
The performance upgrade over the Corolla hatchback is dramatic and thorough. Weight savings; an extra 131 hp; all-wheel drive; a wider, stiffer body; and wide tires conspire to deliver thrills in a way never before associated with the Corolla name. We appreciate the purity of it being available only with a manual transmission, although that choice does stand out in today’s automatic-focused market. And we applaud Toyota for making its latest and most advanced suite of active safety features standard equipment.
The result is a car that is great fun to drive hard. Our testers praised its predictable, easy-to-control nature, although some question whether experienced performance drivers might outgrow its capabilities, craving the more daring performance in cars like the Civic Type R and Golf R. Others said at the heady price, the GR Corolla buyer could cross shop far more brutal machines, like the new Ford Mustang and Nissan Z, let alone a more challenging pure sports car like the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GR86 twins, with money left over for replacement tires.
No matter the perspective, Toyota is to be applauded for crafting such an extreme machine. Enthusiasts should appreciate that the automaker offers such a turnkey performance car, with the visual and mechanical excitement associated with tuner cars seen in magazines, on Instagram, and at major car shows. No independent shop or DIY enthusiast combining various aftermarket parts could assemble a machine as well-sorted. Toyota spent millions of dollars developing and honing this machine, and it shows. The buyer is the true beneficiary. Just make sure you won’t outgrow it too soon.
The large rear wing helps distinguish the Circuit Edition, shown here in Heavy Metal paint.
Photo: John Powers/Consumer Reports
What We Like
Engine: The GR Corolla uses a version of the engine used in the GR Yaris in other markets, the turbocharged G16E-GTS. It is a small engine, with just 1.6 liters of displacement from a three-cylinder block, but motor-sports-honed techniques squeeze 300 hp from it. Consequently, this hot hatch is quite zippy, with good midrange power. We were hoping for more low-end punch. The torque is a bit soft at low rpm, but this isn’t surprising, given the tiny engine. Put in the work to keep the revs high and you will be rewarded. From about 3,000 rpm to redline, the engine is quite responsive, making it easy to push on curvy roads or a track. It is interesting that the engine needs to warm up before full power is available, as indicated on the instrument panel. This measure helps protect the engine, which relies heavily on boost of pressure from its turbocharger . . . and the Toyota brand’s reliability record.
Transmission: That power is sent exclusively through a six-speed manual transmission, with rev-matching to help smooth downshifts (activated by pressing the i-MT button). There is no automatic transmission offered. The easy-to-reach shifter feels crisp, with short throws through well-defined gates. The clutch pedal is light and simple to modulate. Combined, the clutch and shifter are a breeze to operate with urgency. But it’s also easy to drive at slower speeds. Our team did say the pedal spacing felt off for heel-toe driving, a technique racers and skilled enthusiasts use to optimize downshifts, but the rev matching allows for rapid shifts without such tap dancing.
The driver can stir up excitement with the stick shift, then tailor the drive mode and distribution traction as needed.
Photo: John Powers/Consumer Reports
All-wheel drive: Key to delivering all of this power to the pavement is Toyota’s first performance all-wheel-drive system in over two decades. This AWD setup was developed by the factory World Rally Championship team. It is engineered for racing, capable of providing optimized traction in wet weather, race tracks, and dirt roads. It has several driver-selectable settings to balance the power distribution: 60/40 (front/rear), 50/50, and 30/70. The GR still operates primarily as a front-wheel-drive vehicle, with a computer-controlled clutch. We favored the 30/70, which directs most of the power to the rear.
This made the car quite entertaining around CR’s track, but some drivers longed for more throttle-on oversteer for sliding shenanigans, as is the case with the VW Golf R and the departed Ford Focus RS. We appreciated the added traction when driving in the rain.
Handling: The steering is sharp, body roll is limited, and grip is tenacious, even with stability control off. The AWD system and Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires make for a grippy combination. The car is quite easy to push hard, being more forgiving than other sports cars at that price. For this reason, the GR Corolla has unique appeal for untrained drivers who would benefit from a greater margin of safety. The system, combined with the Circuit Edition’s standard limited-slip front and rear differentials, added a huge sense of confidence when driving quickly on our track in the rain.
Brakes: When it comes to braking, you have to respect the massive 14-inch discs up front. They do their job brilliantly, without fade. And they are striking to look at, as they seemingly fill the 18-inch wheels. The pedal is firm and easy to modulate, with short, linear travel.
Styling: This is a wild thing to come from a factory, especially from an automaker known for restraint, as regularly exhibited by beige Camrys. It is a Corolla hatchback with an extroverted body kit that features air ducts to cool the engine and brakes, skirts that announce that it has AWD, and bold fender flares to shroud the wide tires. An aluminum hood and front door panels help offset some of the additional weight of the all-wheel-drive system. To handle the rigors of racing and high-performance driving, the body was stiffened with more structural adhesive compared with the regular Corolla and more weld points were used. The outlandish rear spoiler turns heads, and the three exhaust outlets are musical conversation starters. Further adding to the exotic credentials, our Circuit Edition car had a matte black carbon-fiber roof.
The interior is similar to that of the regular Corolla hatchback, with the key exception of the digital instrument cluster and assorted sporty trim details.
Photo: John Powers/Consumer Reports
What We Don't Like
Boy racer looks: Buyers can choose mild or wild with the GR Corolla. The Circuit Edition we sampled is a bit outlandish, making a Subaru WRX and VW Golf GTI look tame by comparison. However, the base Core trim that starts at $35,900 has a slightly more restrained appearance for those who don’t wish to attract attention. Ultimately, this type of car relishes excess, and it has the performance to back the looks.
Interior: The basic cabin arrangement is similar to the regular Corolla hatchback’s. The most notable difference is that the analog gauges have been replaced with a 12.3-inch display. This is used to indicate boost levels for the turbocharger, gear position, tachometer, and the AWD mode. It sounds cooler than it looks. Like the displays in the GR86, this feels a bit low-resolution and, daresay, nostalgic. The 8-inch infotainment screen seems a bit small—an impression amplified by the recessed bezel that surrounds it, which appears to be designed for a larger display.
The base Core trim has cloth seats with gray stitching (boring!). The swankier Circuit Edition features suede-trimmed seats with red accents, and it adds red trim details to the door handles, center console, steering wheel, and side air vents. It comes with automatic climate control, one-touch up/down power windows, and heated seats and steering wheel. The embellishments on the Circuit Edition are tastefully executed, but there is no escaping that this is the interior from a $20,000 car and that storage is limited. (Pro tip: Travel light and wear cargo pants.)
The sloping rear design limits the cargo space.
Photo: John Powers/Consumer Reports
Cargo area and back seat: These areas mimic the regular Corolla hatchback. They are worth noting in this context because some buyers may be looking to justify buying the GR Corolla over a coupe, but the limited function for both the cargo area and back seat temper them as selling points. The sloped rear styling severely hampers the ability to carry boxy items, and taller backseat passengers will be cramped, if they fit at all. The boxier Volkswagen GTI/Golf R and larger Honda Civic Si/Type R are more practical in this regard.
Ride: It is a given that this type of car is going to have a stiff ride. During playtime, the ride is fine. But for commuting, the frequent, short, quick pitches and periodic thuds from traveling over a road seam or even an ant can be tiresome. Most of our drivers considered it a fair trade-off, but buyers should take note.
Value: This makes for an interesting debate, and ultimately, only you can decide whether this is a value for your needs and budget. This is a Corolla priced in the mid-$40,000s. That said, Toyota crafted this small-displacement beast from bumper to bumper to be a blast to drive. Mission accomplished. The thorough modifications are extensive (translation: expensive), and it has been well-sorted-out by Toyota’s engineers. Factor in a low sales volume (meaning few cars to amortize development costs across) and that adds up to a premium price, plain and simple.
The GR Corolla makes monster power from a small, 1.6-liter three-cylinder engine.
Photo: Toyota
Safety and Driver Assistance Systems
The Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 (aka TSS 3.0) suite is standard equipment on all GR Corollas, packing the latest active safety features from the automaker. It includes all the common features, with many boasting enhancements. For example, the automatic emergency braking system can detect pedestrians, motorcycles, and even some guard rails. At an intersection, the car can detect cross traffic and provide both warnings and active braking.
The GR Corolla also includes blind spot warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control, and rear cross traffic warning. The rear seat reminder is door activated; if the rear door is opened within 10 minutes of a trip, the driver will be reminded to check the back seat when the car is turned off.
The GR Corolla comes with a one-year trial subscription to Toyota Safety Connect, a telematics service that can summon emergency assistance automatically or at the press of a button, and serve as a stolen vehicle locator.
Below, we present the ratings for the regular Toyota Corolla hatchback.
2023 Toyota Corolla Hatchback
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