2023 Toyota GR Corolla Hot Hatch Amazes With Cool Looks, 300 HP, GR-Four AWD

Right now, the motorsport-prone division has no less than four bespoke models: the GR Yaris pocket rocket, the affordable GR86, the legendary GR Supra, and the new Hot Hatch five-door kid on the block, GR Corolla. As per the numerous teasers and the recent pre-official leak, the latter is everything promised... and then some more.

In a sea of crossovers, SUVs, and trucks - and mind you, Toyota has great ones as well (RAV4, 4Runner, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra, to name a few) - the Japanese automaker takes ample strides to show that passenger cars are not yet ready to be dismissed as “yesterday’s news.” And while slowly falling out of favor with other carmakers, the maker’s iconic Corolla line has just revealed something to make your stomach flutter.

Claiming it brings “heat for the streets!” Toyota has just officially released their first-ever (and hopefully not the last) GR Corolla five-door hatchback and brings to the brand a Hot Hatch to sell in North America after an awfully long and arduous wait. Even better for the carmaker, there is little to no competition as rivals are slowly yet steadily abandoning passenger cars in the chase for high-riding profits.

The Japanese automaker promises this is the real deal, a “genuine sportscar, precision built at the GR Factory at Toyota’s Motomachi Plant” in Japan, and for the moment, there is virtually no reason to consider it otherwise. It carries the smaller GR Yaris sibling’s rally racing ethos and will even hone the skills of its drivers with a “complimentary one-year membership to the National Auto Sport Association, featuring a High-Performance Driving Event.”

Two grades will soon become available: Core (later this year) with white, black, and Supersonic Red paints, wide-fender flares, and GR fabric sport seats; as well as Circuit Edition (from 2023, limited edition, “launch-year-exclusive”) in white, Supersonic Red, and Heavy Metal. There are also GR-Four side rockers, wide fenders, and on top of Core, it brings a forged carbon-fiber roof, vented hood, rear spoiler, Brin Naub suede-accented sport seats with red details, as well as an exclusive Morizo-signed shift knob.

Pricing will be announced later this year (hopefully, it will be more competitive than GR Supra’s), and Toyota also introduces the 2023 GR Corolla to its all-new touchscreen Toyota Audio Multimedia system. But enough with the trifle stuff because what we need to talk about are numbers and codes, starting with a simple reference: G16E-GTS. This is where GR Yaris enthusiasts are having a moment of epiphany since it is the very same light, compact, powerful turbo three-cylinder engine.

Only this time around, the GR folks did not forget to offset the inherently higher weight, and inside the GR Corolla, it develops 300 horsepower and 273 lb. ft. (370 Nm) of torque. There are no performance measurements just yet, but (WRC) purists will surely rejoice. They will do so at the sight of a six-speed manual transmission and knowing that under the body lies a GR-Four all-wheel-drive drivetrain with “a choice of 60-40, 50-50 or 30-70 power distribution between the front and rear wheels.”