7 Of The Best Looking Toyota Hatchbacks Ever Designed

Toyota has become one of the world's most ubiquitous automakers. Well-known for catering to just about every part of the car buying world, the brand has become synonymous for extremely durable and reliable no-nonsense cars. Even with the advent of brands like Tesla, it's still one of the most successful car brands today, and that's completely justified.

However, one thing Toyota perhaps isn't all that well known for is design. It's not that its cars are truly ugly, but they don't manage to stir the soul all that much either. Basically, Toyota's mentality has always prioritized function over form.

Despite that, there are a few Toyota hatchback models that we can comfortably place on the other side of that spectrum. Even if good styling wasn't something the designers were necessarily going for, these Toyota hatches are proof that sometimes form doesn't have to suffer for function to flourish, after all.

Thanks to the "Initial D" manga and anime series, the Toyota Sprinter Trueno became a JDM legend. The regular Sprinter was a pretty standard FWD compact car, but the Sprinter Trueno was a totally different story. For starters, it was offered exclusively as a three-door liftback or two-door notchback coupe.

More importantly, the Trueno was also RWD, which is what made it such a drift icon. For all intents and purposes, the Trueno was the same as the GR86 is today in Toyota's lineup: the entry level RWD coupe. Unlike a lot of Japanese legends, the Trueno was actually sold globally, carrying the Corolla GT-S badge in North America.

The design of the AE86 is instantly recognizable. The super boxy lines, the characteristic shape of the liftback models, the pop-up headlights on the Trueno, but also the fixed ones on the Levin models. It was functional, but it was also a joy to look at. Even without its iconic black and white paint scheme and Fujiwara Tofu Shop written out across the driver's side door, the Trueno AE86 is an iconic vehicle in Toyota's history, and it definitely looks the part.

One step up from the Sprinter Trueno in Toyota's lineup was the Celica, the brand's flagship coupe. Beginning in 1978, a new trim level would be introduced to the Celica lineup which would go on to define an entire generation of Japanese sports cars: Supra.

Believe it or not, like with a lot of other great cars, the Supra started out as a trim level for the Celica. While the Supra is considered a sports car nowadays, the Celica Supra was considered a personal luxury car, and it was only available with six-cylinder engines.

Being based on the A40 Celica, the Celica Supra was quite the looker. That reverse wedge shape was very contemporary, but the proportions and signature touches like the rear window louvers made it a real looker. This one missed out on pop-up headlights, but with the rest of the styling being so good, we're willing to overlook it

By the early 1980s, the Toyota Celica Supra was a well-established model, but the regular Celica still carried on. The A60 generation arrived in 1981, and it introduced something for which the Celica would become known in later years: pop-up headlights.

While this generation did have a Celica Supra, the flared fenders made it look a little busy. Meanwhile, the regular Celica was much cleaner, and overall just a stunning car. The proportions are just right, and it looks great irrespective of the body style. The liftback is definitely more distinctive ,with its massive rear quarter window, but the notchback is a looker too. Did we mention the pop-up headlights? And those oh-so-1980s alloy wheels looked great, too.

Being a regular Celica, there was never a six-cylinder engine on offer. A whole bunch of four-cylinders were offered on the regular Celica, but some of them still had the performance to back up the sports car looks. This generation of the Celica Supra was also a very likeable car.

If there was a most controversial Toyota model throughout history, it was definitely the Prius. Launched in the late 90s in Japan as one of the first ever mass market cars with a hybrid powertrain, the Prius became a huge topic of discussion for both the right and the wrong reasons. On one hand, it was a genuinely impressive car with proper eco credentials, and it was the must-have car for the Hollywood jet set.

On the other hand, it was mostly frowned upon by car enthusiasts and the general public. The words "tree hugger" were used a lot when talking about the Prius, and nobody was particularly fond of its aerodynamic and purely functional styling. Until the current generation, that is.

Toyota clearly took the criticism to heart, which is why the latest Prius is a radical departure from its predecessors in terms of styling. Actually, it's a pretty radical departure from most other Toyota vehicles. It finally looks good, not just for a Prius, but in general. The supremely low roofline and the overall assertive styling mean that being seen in a Prius is no longer a bad thing. Plus, the Prius now also has the performance to back it up.

The world of rally racing has long abandoned the concept of a homologation special, but Toyota decided to cook one up anyway, despite not needing to. The Yaris hasn't always had the greatest reputation, being a reliable and relatively practical form of transport, but otherwise a bit uncool. The GR Yaris challenges that notion.

For one thing, it has a bespoke three-door body, which you can't otherwise get on the Yaris. Toyota's designers then flared out the fenders, gave it a really aggressive front end with massive and functional cooling ducts, along with a rear diffuser and dual exhausts, with gunmetal multi-spoke alloy wheels sealing the deal.

While the current Yaris looks nice and well put together, the GR Yaris makes it abundantly clear that it means business. We wouldn't exactly call it beautiful, but it's certainly very distinctive, and you can make no mistake that you're looking at the 300 hp, AWD version of the Yaris. Plus, we have to applaud the engineers for engineering a three-door body just for this small volume version of the Yaris. A true testament to dedication.

For as cool as the GR Yaris is, and it is very cool, there's one problem with it: It's never been sold in North America. Thankfully, Toyota prepared a consolation prize in the form of the GR Corolla. The principles are nearly identical, but the Corolla is used as a starting point, and it didn't receive any bespoke bodywork.

That's not to say the GR Corolla is any sort of slouch, however. Like the Yaris, the GR Corolla has huge flared fenders, massive cooling ducts in the front end, and not just two exhausts, but three! That's one exhaust per cylinder, and of course, one of them is placed right in the center of the rear diffuser.

While it may have five doors, the GR Corolla compensates for that with something even more insane: The Morizo Edition removes the rear seats completely, saving some weight and making the car a bit less practical, but a bit more of a track monster. With a 300 hp turbo three-cylinder and the same GR-FOUR AWD system, the GR Corolla set a new standard for hot hatches.

Technically, this one is a crossover, but we'll count it as a hatchback due to its appearance and how low to the ground it is. A couple of years ago, Toyota committed to reviving the Crown nameplate and turning it into its own separate brand. North America got the Crossover, which is really a lifted sedan, and the Signia SUV, but it missed out on the Sport.

The Sport is also a crossover... much like the other two (it doesn't make sense to us either). The Sport, as the name implies, is a sportier take on the compact SUV, as evident in all of the aerodynamic dress-up, the large black alloy wheels, and its louder exterior colors like this red.

Some people have said that it resembles the Ferrari Purosangue to a certain extent, and if you squint, it actually does. Only if you squint, though. It also goes to show that just because something is a compact crossover with a hybrid powertrain doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be boring or look unwieldy. The Crown Sport is actually a pretty good exercise in exterior design, and it definitely grabs your attention.