The 2023 Toyota GR Corolla Proves Toyota Isn't Boring

• The 2023 Toyota GR Corolla's I3 sends 300 hp through a six-speed manual transmission to a standard all-wheel-drive system.

• Toyota's GR Corolla starts at $36,995 for its Core Grade but jumps to $43,995 for the Circuit Edition and $50,995 for the ultra-limited Morizo Edition.

• The hot hatch goes on sale later this year.

Toyota has established a reputation for building boring cars. Though, that’s primarily because of an emphasis on pragmatic, reasonable, and reliable cars, likely on the input from their most important critic: the customer. Toyota hasn’t always shuffled front-wheel-drive sedans, minivans, and crossovers into family driveways around the globe. Toyota also used to build wild cars that captured the hearts of the public. It seems like Toyota is content with the former but is looking at its roster to flesh out the latter, which explains the reborn Toyota Supra, the second-generation 86 and, now, the GR Corolla.

Toyota’s GR Corolla is the latest entry in the Gazoo Racing portfolio and gives the American market a taste of the forbidden GR Yaris that Japan, Australia, and other markets outside of the United States get to drive. The GR Corolla uses a derivative of the GR Yaris’s powertrain, which means the fascinating 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder sits under the GR Corolla’s hood. In Corolla trim, this 1.6-liter monster makes 300 hp at 6500 rpm. Now, torque is a different story. The entry-level Core Grade model and the higher-performance Circuit edition see 273 lb-ft of torque from this engine. That torque figure rises for the top-tier Morizo edition to 295 lb-ft.

That power travels through a six-speed transmission feeding the standard all-wheel-drive system, which then pushes power through open differentials on the Core Grade or Torsen Limited-Slip differentials fore and aft on Circuit and Morizo edition cars. Core Grade models can add the limited-slip diffs when checking the reasonably priced Performance Package. Automatic rev-matching is standard across the board, thanks to Toyota’s Intelligent Manual Transmission, but can be flipped off if you’re confident in your heel-toe shifting.