2023 GR Toyota Corolla: The World's Most Dependable Economy Car Gone Super Saiyan

Toyota was out in force at this year's 2022 New York International Auto Show. They had this luxury thanks to new guidelines for this year's show limiting the number of manufacturers present for 2022.

A result of mandates in place regarding the ongoing global health crisis. Whatever the cause, the Gazoo Racing Corolla was the crown jewel of Toyota's exhibit at the Jacob K Javits Center in midtown Manhattan.

When approaching the GR Corolla at this year's New York Show, walking up to its front dead-center, there's not much sense you're looking at anything more than a silhouette of a standard twelfth-generation E210 Corolla Hatchback. It's a mirage (Mitsubishi pun not-intended) that's pretty easy to keep up considering the Corolla's reputation as the official car of " I don't give a rat's you-know-what about cars or having fun driving them."

It was a rouse that lasted no longer than seconds more. Because with each passing step, clues of the beast within emerged. Not the least of which was the shin-high glass-protected podium on which the world's most special production Corolla holds court to its royal subjects in the kingdom that is arguably the largest automaker of any kind in the world.

For those not in the loop, Gazoo Racing is a bit like what SRT is to Chrysler/Mopar or what M is to BMW. It's not a strict apples-to-apples comparison, especially with AMG and SRT technically being altogether separate brands at points. But what matters to us is that performance is the name of the game. No fancy window dressing and no BS either. Just pure, unadulterated track-attacking amazingness.

Of course, an automaker's approach to how they wield their horsepower will largely depend on its national origin. The Americans traditionally used raw displacement and little else to make big power. Europeans opt for more modestly sized but peppier turbocharged engines more suited to the cramped mountainous continents they're spawned from.

In Japan, you take this and turn it up to the extreme. There's barely enough room for people to walk properly in some parts of this industrious little island with narrow roadways and next to no oil underneath it. It's a place the 1,618 cc G16E-GTS turbo inline-three cylinder engine makes all the sense in the world. When the car is no wider than an old-timey horse-drawn carriage sans-stallion, there's no point in a great thumping V8.

Three hundred rampaging stallions roar out of the sports tunes exhaust of this remarkable little hot hatchback. For some context, a mid-2000s Ford Mustang GT V8 made almost exactly the same power with over twice the cylinders. The advanced all-wheel-drive system unique to the GR series ensures this Corolla would take that Mustang GT to gapplebees while its owner promptly drives it to the junkyard to be turned into something more useful.

No shade to S197 Mustang people, but when a three-cylinder Corolla makes your two-door pony car look like a grandma's car, it's time to admit that engine tech has moved on since then. It can be genuinely difficult to wrap your mind around the power figures jetting out of this puny little engine.

Typically, JDM drivetrains of this caliber don't often make their way to North America. A point driven home by the unobtanium forged GR Yaris exclusive to Asia and Europe. But to our own surprise, the engine in the GR Corolla has 32 horsepower more than its Eastern Hemisphere roaming cousin. Something that's a bit opposite of the norm when it comes to JDM hardware.

But being allowed access to step over the plexiglass barrier to get a closer look at all the muscular, angled bodywork, aggressive grey paint job, rear wing, and striking black alloy wheels right here in the big apple let us know Toyota really does want Americans to take the GR performance division seriously.

Opening the driver's side door reveals a cockpit you wouldn't mind sitting in while the 40/60 split power between the front and rear wheels effortlessly sends you into a drift. Only the familiar glow of the modern Corolla's instantly recognizable infotainment screen is present to remind you the base model of this car makes in the neighborhood of a third of the power.

The close-ratio six-speed manual transmission and leatherette accented bucket seats must merge this car's driver with the road in a way only elite driver's cars can. The general consensus seems to be that the GR Corolla will start at a price in the low $30,000 range. If that's true, it's got to be one of the greatest performance bargains since the AE86, hands down. We can't wait to see what it's capable of.

Check back soon for more from our live coverage of the 2022 New York International Auto Show right here on autoevolution.