For a moment there, things were looking bleak. Affordable all-wheel-drive performance cars went from numerous to endangered; The Subaru WRX STI as we knew it was officially done; The VW Golf R just barely toes the line of affordability; Focus RS and Mitsubishi’s Evo? Long gone. Then came the rumors insinuating something fresh yet familiar was to come. News of the Toyota GR Corolla brought reasonable skepticism, but also the promise of a return to our hot hatch heydey. So we bit our fingernails and waited as teasers and details trickled across the Pacific.
Until one day in late August, the waiting was done. We hammered on a handful of GR Corollas at Utah Motorsport Park that fateful day. It was a hot day, the track was packed with over-eager car writers amped on the chance to drive the long-awaited hatchback. Good news? The cars performed all day long, without hesitation. Best news? It is with joy that I induct Toyota’s GR Corolla into hot hatch royalty from day one.
Let’s start off with a refresher on what makes a hot hatch great. There are a few core factors: performance, practicality and affordability. The GR Corolla nails all three.
This Toyota is quick enough to be respected in this arena. In the Core- and Circuit-level cars, the 300-horsepower 3-cylinder engine is a hot hatch chef’s kiss. With a 0-60 of 4.99 seconds, The Corolla is quick, but won’t reach felony speeds if you hammer on the engine for a few seconds. Between 3000 and 5500 rpm, the three-cylinder produces 273 lb-ft of torque. Then power begins to fade out. It's not overly boosty in character—once the turbo kicks in, it has a reasonably linear powerband—but it feels way more peppy when compared to the new WRX, for example. The Corolla’s mill falls well short of the DSG Golf R’s 3.9-second 0-60 time, though. On the course we tested on, bouncing from corner to corner using almost all of third gear, that top-end dropoff felt noticeable in the non-Morizo cars, but it didn’t take away from on-track enjoyment.
The baseline speed you can extract from the Corolla GR is respectable, but like all quality performance cars of the modern era, Toyota also offers an in-house upgrade. The Morizo, with its lower curb weight, tighter gearing, and added torque, makes up for some of the GR Corolla’s acceleration shortcomings. The difference isn’t massive, but it’s noticeable on track.
The GR Corolla’s manual-transmission-only policy is worthy of note (and of our respect). While the GR Corolla is quick enough, this car catered more to connection with its driver than outright g forces. It’s what makes the GR fun, not just fast. Between each gear, the clutch feels well-weighted but still easy to use. There’s minimal rev-hang programmed into the dance between cogs too. The shift lever’s throws are somewhat notchy to navigate, just slightly more mechanical feeling than in its sibling, the GR86. But it’s not as satisfying as the shifter in the new Supra. The Corolla’s hilarious, eye-grabbing, color-changing shift light on the gauge cluster screen is another great touch.
Then there are the Corolla’s differentials. Many modern performance cars chasing outright numbers opt for variable torque splits. The car’s computer manages how much power goes to each wheel in order to produce maximum speed, regardless of where the driver might expect that power to be. And while the car’s ECU often knows best, it forces the driver to adapt to the whims of the car. In the Corolla, it’s the other way around. Toyota set this car up with manually-adjustable torque splits. You're who decides how the car drives, how sideways you want to get it in a hairy corner exit.
While all versions of the GR Corolla come with the adjustable torque split, just the Circuit and Morizo packages come with limited-slip differentials standard. In the Core model, those diffs cost an extra $1180, which when ticked, also comes with upgraded brakes. I didn’t get any time with an open-differential-equipped GR Corolla, but the LSD-packed cars were track monsters. I started out with the AWD system locked into track mode, which sets the torque split to an even 50/50 front and rear. That was fine. It made for predictable power placement, and more serious lap times. But the real bliss came when dialing on 30/70 mode.
Increasing the torque sent to the rear makes for hilarious driving antics, with minimal if not zero understeer to be found. Lift-off rotation becomes easier in the 30/70 mode, the car gets a little more squirrely, but is easily reined in. The more I drove it, the more dramatic I was with my inputs, pushing to see if the Corolla would step out on me or bite me back. It didn’t. The diffs are intuitive and smart, but the car still manages to feel very analog. The all-wheel-drive system is well-sorted. Not in a way that's necessarily making up for the driver’s shortcomings or trying to keep the car in line for them, but in the way it responds to driver inputs. The GR Corolla is just an extremely placeable machine, one that’s fun to throw around a race track.
When really moving the GR Corolla’s weight around, the car’s Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires will let out some mild squeals, but it still grips and pulls through the corner without serious front-end push. Outside of the 60/40 AWD split mode, I found no signs of understeer. With rear-bias set, just hucking it into a corner and seeing if it would stick, the hatch would do a little dance, carrying a little squiggle to get around a corner. It's not the fastest way around a track, but it is fun to feel the car dig for traction. Messing with the Corolla’s rotation-happy chassis is nothing short of addictive.
The GR Corolla’s steering, suspension and brakes complement the rest of the car. Its front MacPherson struts and rear double wishbone setup keep the 3252-lb hatch planted through rough corners with minimal body roll. Though we didn’t get any real-world road testing in, the GR Corolla seemed complacent over bumps on the track’s makeshift autocross course. Its ride is far from bone-shattering, which is exactly what we’d want in a daily driver that lacks adjustable suspension. Unfortunately, its electric power steering setup, as we’ve come to expect, provides less-than-optimal amounts of steering feedback, but is at least quick and direct. As for its brakes, they seemed to hold up to hardcore track beating all day long. No complaints here.
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With a starting price of $37,000, nothing else touches this thing in the all-wheel-drive ring. The GR Corolla delivers everything you could want out of a small performance car. It’s quick, tossable, easy to drive, and has enough room to toss your buddies and a friendly dog in the back. It’s the car every teenage enthusiast dreams are owning but definitely shouldn't. The car those with serious FOMO from the Focus RS, Evo, and Celica GT-Four days should be ecstatic over. It’s the car everyone who begged for a GR Yaris should be running to dealers to buy. Despite the heightened anticipation, it doesn’t disappoint.
A native of the famously car-loving city of New York, Road & Track’s digital director is constantly surrounded by beat-up old project cars. Brown’s daily driver is a problematic manual-swapped 1991 BMW 325i sedan, but for special occasions he pulls out his E34 M5 of the same vintage. Before R&T, Brown worked at Jalopnik, The Drive, and Business Insider, starting in the industry in 2015.
