A Week With The Toyota GR Corolla Could Change The Way You See Daily Drivers

You don't need to have driven supercars and spent your weekends at track days to know that the sports car world takes itself a little too seriously. Turbocharging and, more recently, electrification have made sky-high horsepower numbers shockingly accessible. At the same time, expectations as to what a performance car should be capable of seem more motivated by forum boasting than actually hitting the road for some fun.

The Toyota GR Corolla doesn't have a middle name, as far as I'm aware, but it would probably be the Japanese for "fun" if it did. Launched in 2022 with the handiwork of Toyota's Gazoo Racing — as in, "GR" — division, it quickly gained a reputation as one of the go-to options for speedy drivers who don't enjoy an unlimited budget.

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You could make a very strong argument that the Premium trim is the sweet spot of the 2024 GR Corolla range. Priced from $40,320 before destination and options (and inevitable dealership markups) it's not as cheap as the entry-level Core, from $36,500, true. However, it still gets you the trick Torsen front and rear limited-slip differentials which help distinguish the top-spec Circuit Edition trim, from $45,140.

The thing is, though, most people have the wrong idea about the GR Corolla. It's not just a grand hot hatch: it also makes an unexpectedly capable daily driver.

With its GR sport-tuned suspension — MacPherson strut at the front, and double-wishbone multilink at the back — complete with a rear strut base, it comes as little surprise that the GR Corolla delivers a firm ride. Toyota's budget didn't stretch to adjustable electronic dampers, as more expensive sports cars used to temper their stiffness for everyday use. The engineers had one chance, wisely dialing in a play-friendly standard configuration, and I really wouldn't have it any other way.

That said, it's not too aggressive a tune for use as a daily-driver. You'll want to avoid the potholes, certainly, but then again, that goes for any car with halfway-decent wheels. My testing grounds in Michigan aren't exactly known for their pristine road surfaces, but with the correct degree of attention to the path ahead, that needn't be a spine-shattering dealbreaker.

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It comes with the reminder that a hatchback is charmingly practical, too. Almost 18 cu-ft of trunk space makes the GR86's cargo capacity look miserly, and that's before you drop the GR Corolla's rear seats. No, the rear of the cabin isn't going to be tremendous fun for adults on a road trip, but that's more about the 30-inches of legroom than the actually decent headspace.

Toyota is already on to a good thing, with the manual-as-standard GR Corolla: there's nothing like a stick shift to feel involved. Doing away with a trick automatic transmission also generally means less complexity to wade through when you really want to get down to driving. It's hard not to think about the recent batch of BMW M cars like the X6 M Competition, and their downright fiendish selection of settings, and appreciate the GR Corolla's simplicity a little more.

That's not to say there aren't options, it's just that Toyota boils them down to what's really important. Sport mode, for instance, which makes the powertrain more aggressive and lends weight to the steering, along with the iMT button which toggles the automatic blipping to rev-match on downshifts. Arguably most memorable, though, is the GR-Four power distribution system.

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As standard, the front wheels get 60% of the power. A deft flick of the dial switches that to a 30/70 split, front to rear; press it, and you get a clean 50/50 distribution. There's a dedicated button to switch off the traction control, too.

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It's all super-simple, and frankly that's a welcome change from the increasing complexity of other performance cars. That doesn't mean, of course, that the GR Corolla itself lacks complexity, but quickly flicking into a more amusing configuration when the road ahead turns entertaining is charmingly straightforward.

Much has been made of the GR Corolla's potential for whipping through swooping canyons and along rippling backroads. I can't really argue with that conception, either. With its screaming 1.6-liter three-cylinder engine and charmingly-snickity manual transmission, Toyota's little hot hatch epitomizes the theory that thrashing a relatively low-power car on public roads is far, far more fun than you can generally have from a ridiculously potent supercar.

What makes the GR Corolla such a blast on bone-dry asphalt and under clear blue skies left me madly curious to try it as a winter daily driver, though. I'd swap out the standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4 summer rubber for some proper winter tires, of course, and the 5.3-inches of ground clearance means snow drifts would be sensibly avoided. All the same, the ability to dial in your choice of front-to-rear power distribution gives the Toyota an edge other "enthusiast" models might lack.

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It's reminiscent, indeed, of another "wait, that actually makes for a pretty perfect winter car," namely the Nissan GT-R. That, too, seems like a fair-weather plaything at first, only on the right tires its adjustable AWD makes it a surprisingly capable option outside when the roads get rough. The Toyota, of course, has a much smaller price tag to recommend it.

There are some downsides, of course, though perhaps they're more accurately described as "considerations if you're being entirely sensible." Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 comes standard, including ever-useful blind spot warnings and rear cross-traffic alerts, but adaptive cruise control — which adjusts speed according to the vehicle ahead — in a manual car isn't quite as useful as an automatic on roads with significantly varying speed conditions.

Toyota is, though, making an automatic transmission available on the 2025 GR Corolla, though I'm not sure adaptive cruise is worth the sacrifice in driver involvement. The eight-speed auto will, at least, come with Launch Control, so you can tell your friends that was the real reason you gave up on the stick shift.

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Then there's fuel economy. Tuning the GR Corolla's diminutive engine for maximum fun leaves it significantly thirstier than the regular Corolla Hatchback. That, the EPA says, should do 35 mpg on the combined cycle. Its sporty cousin drops almost a dozen points, to 24 mpg, and that's assuming you're driving sensibly. Somewhat hilariously, a 3.0-liter GR Supra is rated at 26 mpg combined.

If it sounds like I'm scrambling for excuses as to why a GR Corolla isn't a superb daily driver, that's probably because I am, and it is. Toyota doesn't really pitch its hot hatch as the ideal solution for a one-car household, and certainly I'm not going to argue that big families or tradespeople should give up their minivans and pickups. All the same, though enthusiasts love to bemoan the death of "affordable fun" cars, the fact is that this grin-inspiring Toyota lands at around the average new car purchase price in the U.S. right now.

More reassuring still is the fact that, though it can hardly be a volume model for the automaker, Toyota isn't giving up on development. The automatic transmission — which will, manual loyalty set momentarily aside, make the GR Corolla a realistic option for a much wider audience who doesn't want, or know how, to row their own gears — isn't the only change for the 2025 model year. Toyota's engineers have also squeezed 22 lb-ft more torque from the engine, taking it to a giddy 295 lb-ft.

Raw power, though, isn't the real party piece for the GR Corolla. Sure, the dashboard is plasticky in places, and it rides firm and is a little snug inside, but let's not undervalue its ability to put a smile on your face. If the measure of a "good" car is how much you want to actually drive it, then Toyota's charmingly silly hatchback punches well above its price tag.