Toyota GR Corolla review - why the GR Yaris’s big brother will be worth the wait
It's been on sale for three years and until now only in select markets, but now it's built in Britain it's coming to the UK. We're just waiting for Toyota to say officially.
Save for the odd sports saloon from Cadillac and one or two Corvettes from the back catalogue, we’ve never felt too hard done-by when it comes to missing out on performance cars sold in the US market. From hot hatches to fast wagons and lightweight roadsters, we’ve done rather nicely with what we have, thank you.
One conspicuous entrant on the shortlist though is the Toyota GR Corolla, sister car to the GR Yaris. While not a homologation special like its more compact counterpart, the Corolla transplants the supermini’s turbo triple and rallying inspiration into its larger shell, functioning as more of a Civic Type R challenger, or if you like, a spiritual replacement for the third-generation Ford Focus RS.
If there’s any consolation it’s that US folks have been denied the Yaris, so we’ve all been staring over 2500-odd miles of ocean wishing we had the neighbouring kid’s toys. As you’re reading this however, Toyota is now building the GR Corolla at its Burnaston plant in Derbyshire, the first facility outside of Japan to make a GR model.
Here’s the bad news: despite every GR Corolla now literally rolling from the factory onto UK soil, and the factory already making regular right-hand drive Corollas, there are still no plans (at least none we’re being told) to sell the GR here. Toyota knows there’s a market for it, as the UK loves a hot hatch and the GR Yaris has matched the Tamagotchi for cult appeal, but the UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle mandate levies huge fines when EV targets aren’t met, which means high demand for the GR would actually be worse for Toyota’s bottom line. Yes, the world is completely daft.
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The good news is, we’ve finally had a go. Toyota flew in a bunch of US journalists to see where their hot Corolla’s now being built and to try the forbidden fruit GR Yaris (which unsurprisingly went down rather well), and invited evo along to dangle the GR Corolla under our noses and have a drive at Brands Hatch.
The mechanicals are familiar territory: it’s a 1618cc, three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine sending power through a permanent four-wheel drive system with an electronic coupling to divert power to one end or the other according to different drive modes (generally in a range between 60:40 front to rear, to 30:70 in Track mode where most power goes to the rear), and a Torsen limited-slip diff at each axle.
The Corolla’s more powerful than even the updated GR Yaris, making a burbly 300bhp at 6500rpm (the Yaris manages a pleasingly 1990s grey import 276bhp), and 295lb ft from 3250rpm. Gearboxes are a choice of a six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic, with Toyota USA claiming 4.9 seconds to 60mph for the manual (the Yaris gets to 62mph in 5.2 seconds) and an electronically limited 143mph top speed.
The auto lacks the snappiness of a DCT and the polish of say, a ZF 8-speed, and even in manual mode it’s too easy to activate the kickdown switch and have it slur into a lower gear rather than drive out of a corner on the torque of the engine. The manual’s extra control and positive feel make it our choice, though it too is imperfect: the iMT auto rev-matching is essential here as the pedal spacing isn’t great for heel and toe.
Driven back to back with the Yaris, the smaller car has the more immediate turn-in (possibly its shorter wheelbase, possibly its lower weight of 1280kg vs 1495kg), but the Corolla has better mid-corner balance, stays more settled over kerbs, and is less inclined to push its nose wide under power. Even in the rear-biased track mode, both work their front tyres pretty hard and lose bite after some hard lapping, though considering all the test cars spent pretty much all day on track, they felt no worse for wear by the end of the day, and I never had any unpleasant surprises under braking either.
My back would be a different story after a full day in the Corolla: the seats appear built for… larger frames than those of the Yaris, so aren’t nearly as supportive in fast cornering. Subjectively, the Corolla’s otherwise smart cabin is a bit dull too compared to the no-nonsense slab of dash in the Yaris, and outside I still prefer the pugnacious homologation special with its purpose-designed body to the Corolla’s more “aftermarket” appearance and workaday five-door shell.
Not that Toyota shouldn’t reconsider selling the GR Corolla here, though. Larger and more practical than the Yaris and just as good to drive it’d undoubtedly find fans, and as it’s now built right here in the UK, it has the potential to be very competitively priced, too.
