With more torque, revised handling and tweaked looks, the more practical of Toyota’s hot hatchbacks is better, faster and easier to drive than ever.
2025 Toyota GR Corolla
The Toyota GR Corolla hit Australian roads two years ago, mixing the smaller GR Yaris’s rally-bred DNA and turbo three-cylinder heart with more doors, more interior space, and less day-to-day compromise.
Now it’s been treated to an update, adding a restyled front end, a little more torque, new features, and the option of an automatic transmission for the first time.
The price has climbed to match, and a top-of-the-range automatic now pushes past $75,000 drive-away – uncharted territory for the Corolla name.
But the updated model is arguably the best all-round example of the breed yet. Read on to find out why.
How much is a Toyota GR Corolla?
The GR Corolla is available in a single specification grade, the GTS, priced from $67,990 plus on-road costs with a six-speed manual transmission – $3800 more than before – or $70,490 plus on-roads with the new eight-speed automatic.
Only the automatic was available to test on this preview drive. Glacier White is the only free colour; Ebony (black), Feverish Red and Liquid Mercury (silver) add $575 to the bill.
According to the Toyota website, drive-away prices for a metro Sydney customer start from $73,535 for the manual, and $76,160 for the auto.
The GR Corolla automatic carries a near-identical RRP to its closest rival, the auto-only Volkswagen Golf R, which lists for $70,990 in its latest form.
Other automatic competitors include the three prestige Germans – the Audi S3 Sportback ($78,800), BMW M135 xDrive ($83,600) and Mercedes-AMG A35 ($89,700) – while the only comparable manual, all-wheel-drive rival is the Subaru WRX RS sedan ($52,990).
Settle for front-wheel drive, and there’s the Hyundai i30 N manual or auto hatch (from $50,000 plus on-roads), Honda Civic Type R manual ($74,100 drive-away) and Volkswagen Golf GTI ($58,990 plus on-roads).
New for 2025 is a restyled front fascia with a larger grille for increased cooling – including an automatic transmission fluid cooler – and better aerodynamics around its edges.
Now standard for 2025 is a carbon-fibre roof – previously exclusive to the now-defunct, two-seat Morizo edition – alongside wireless/wired Android Auto, previously wired-only, and active noise cancellation.
Carryover standard features include 18-inch alloy wheels with Yokohama tyres, front and rear limited-slip differentials, performance brakes with red calipers, a vented bonnet, low-rise rear spoiler, and dusk-sensing LED headlights.
It also offers an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and satellite navigation, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, suede and leather-accented upholstery, heated front sports seats, a heated steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry and start, a head-up display, an eight-speaker JBL stereo, and a full suite of advanced safety technology.
| Key details | 2025 Toyota GR Corolla |
| Price | GTS manual – $67,990 plus on-road costs GTS auto – $70,490 plus on-road costs |
| Available colours | Glacier White – no cost Ebony – $575 extra Feverish Red – $575 extra Liquid Mercury – $575 extra |
| Rivals | Volkswagen Golf R | Honda Civic Type R | BMW M135 |
Toyota GR Corolla best deals
The updated GR Corolla has only just arrived, but as cars reach dealers, they will join used examples already for sale on Drive Marketplace.
Find your nearest Toyota dealer here to check out the GR Corolla in the metal.
If you’re looking for more pricing, specifications, and latest offers on the Toyota Corolla range, GR or otherwise, click here.
How big is a Toyota GR Corolla?
The Toyota GR Corolla is the roomier, more practical sibling to the GR Yaris, but it’s not the last word in cabin space or appointments compared to its five-door rivals.
The fundamentals of a good performance-car interior are covered off.
The front sports seats are comfortable yet supportive for fast driving, with supple suede and leather-accented upholstery, GR branding, red stitching and heating, but some may lament the lack of power adjustment.
Drivers sit suitably low in the car – though they could go even lower for our tastes – with good forward and rearward vision. It’s easy enough to find a comfortable driving position with the right sequence of seat and steering column lever pulls.
The heated steering wheel is small and feels great in the hand – with clicky (plastic) paddles behind it in the automatic – and the alloy pedals are well placed for big feet. The automatic gear shifter looks generic, but the red stitching is a nice touch, and it does the job.
The GR swaps the regular Corolla’s electric parking brake for a manual lever, which in controlled conditions – such as the damp skidpan Toyota let us loose on during the media preview – will disengage drive to the rear axle when pulled for easy slides. It’s not something you should ever attempt on public roads, however.
The rest of the interior is pure Corolla, which is solid for the small-car class – but not standout.
There are some soft-touch materials on the dashboard and door panels, but plastics elsewhere are scratchy, and the cabin is generally quite dark, with little in the way of colour or material contrast.
Unlike a GR Yaris, the door armrests are at least soft, though the manual handbrake means there’s no centre armrest – and just a generic open space for placing items, rather than an enclosed storage box.
Storage is otherwise limited – there are two cupholders, decent-sized door pockets, and a glovebox, but none are cavernous – and while there’s a wireless charger for your phone, it’s not rubberised, so your device will lose electrical contact with the pad at the sight of the first turn.
Amenities include dual-zone climate control, keyless entry and start, and a USB-C charging port on the dashboard, plus another USB-C port and a 12-volt socket more easily accessible to rear passengers than those up front.
Space in the rear is adequate for a 186cm (6ft 1in) tall passenger behind a similarly sized driver, but only just. At that height, I found only a few centimetres of knee room, ample toe room, and the tips of my hair brushing the roof.
There are three seating positions, unlike a Civic Type R, but there’s a sizeable hump in the floor for the middle passenger to straddle, the manual handbrake means no air vents, and the USB-C port on the front centre console isn’t particularly easy to access.
It’s a dark space in the back too, with a sloping door aperture, and there are only bottle holders in the doors – not full door pockets – though there is a fold-down armrest with two more cupholders. There are ISOFIX anchors for the outboard seats, as well as top tethers for all three positions, if you have young kids.
Boot space is more generous than the GR Yaris, but not by much. Toyota quotes a tiny 213 litres, which would be easier to accept if there were a spare wheel under the floor – but there isn’t, only a tyre repair kit.
It will struggle with much more than a few carry-on suitcases, unless the 60:40 split fold in the rear seat bench is called upon.
There is no load lip, and there’s some underfloor storage – plus space on the side of the cargo area for small items, plus a light and bag hooks – but if boot volume is a priority, a Civic Type R or Golf R would be a better bet.
| 2025 Toyota GR Corolla | |
| Seats | Five |
| Boot volume | 213L |
| Length | 4408mm |
| Width | 1851mm |
| Height | 1479mm |
| Wheelbase | 2640mm |
Does the Toyota GR Corolla have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto?
Standard in the GR Corolla is an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, which gains wireless Android Auto for 2025 – on top of its existing wired iteration, wireless/wired Apple CarPlay, satellite navigation, Bluetooth, and AM, FM and DAB+ digital radio.
It is a small screen by modern standards, but it runs Toyota’s latest multimedia software so it’s reasonably quick to respond, and operates without much fuss – though the structure of the menus is confusing, and some of the icons are a bit small.
Wireless Apple CarPlay worked faultlessly on test, though as is common in Toyotas, some of the system’s functions cannot be operated while on the move. A good safety feature for the driver, but plain infuriating for the passenger.
It’s linked with an eight-speaker JBL sound system, which delivers acceptable audio quality, but is not standout.
The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster ahead of the driver offers myriad views – including a racetrack mode with a horizontal tachometer – and includes three customisable ‘pods’ that can show the current gear, turbo boost, G-force, power distribution and other metrics.
It can be fussy to switch between views, as it requires a few presses of the steering wheel buttons, but you can save your preferred layout to three presets that are easier to flick between.
A head-up display sits further ahead of the driver, projecting vehicle speed and other information onto the windscreen.
Toyota Connected Services is included in the purchase price, with lifetime access to an SOS emergency call, automatic collision notification and ‘essential vehicle insights’ through the myToyota app – plus a year of free access to stolen vehicle tracking, remote multimedia access and other functions, after which time a subscription fee is charged.
Is the Toyota GR Corolla a safe car?
No model in the Toyota Corolla range is covered by an ANCAP rating, as the five-star score from 2018 testing for the standard versions expired at the end of 2024 – and it was never extended to the GR in the first place.
It is therefore considered ‘unrated’.
| 2025 Toyota GR Corolla | |
| ANCAP rating | Unrated |
What safety technology does the Toyota GR Corolla have?
The GR Corolla is equipped with nearly every safety feature Toyota can throw it it, aside from smaller items such as a driver attention monitor and the most advanced blind-spot collision prevention systems.
Adaptive cruise control is standard across the range, but only the automatic can bring the car to a full stop, as the car can’t dip the clutch pedal in the manual to prevent a stall.
Automatic GR Corollas also gain a low-speed autonomous emergency braking system known as Parking Support Brake, for use in car parks.
None of the safety systems proved intrusive in our testing – with well-calibrated adaptive cruise control and lane-centring functions – though we spent time on quieter rural roads, not busy city traffic.
| Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) | Yes | Includes pedestrian/daytime cyclist detection and intersection awareness, plus low-speed front/rear AEB on automatic |
| Adaptive Cruise Control | Yes | High-speed (above 30km/h) on manual, full-speed on automatic |
| Blind Spot Alert | Yes | Alert only |
| Rear Cross-Traffic Alert | Yes | Alert only |
| Lane Assistance | Yes | Lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, lane-centring assist |
| Road Sign Recognition | Yes | Speed signs only |
| Driver Attention Warning | No | |
| Cameras & Sensors | Yes | Front and rear sensors, rear camera |
How much does the Toyota GR Corolla cost to service?
The Toyota GR Corolla is covered by the same five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty as the rest of the company’s range.
There is no defined warranty coverage for non-competitive use on racetracks akin to a Hyundai N car, rather Toyota has historically said it would assess warranty claims derived from track use on a case-by-case basis.
All GR Corollas call for servicing every six months or 10,000km, whichever comes first – particularly short when most rivals carry 12-month/10,000km to 15,000km intervals.
Servicing pricing for the auto version is yet to be confirmed, but the manual is quoted at $1860 to maintain over three years/60,000km, after which time the capped-price program ends and the five-year/100,000km cost comes to a rather pricey $4206.61.
It is comparable to a 2025 Volkswagen Golf R ($4202 over five years/75,000km at 12-month/15,000km intervals), though it is rare for a Toyota to cost as much as a VW to maintain.
A Honda Civic Type R costs just $995 over five years/50,000km, while a Hyundai i30 N manual hatch is quoted as $1885 over the same period.
| At a glance | 2025 Toyota GR Corolla |
| Warranty | Five years, unlimited km |
| Service intervals | Six months or 10,000km |
| Servicing costs | $1860 (3 years) $4206.61 (5 years) |
Is the Toyota GR Corolla fuel-efficient?
Toyota quotes fuel consumption of 8.4 litres per 100 kilometres for the manual GR Corolla, and 9.5/100km for the automatic.
After a day of driving through Victoria’s High Country – cruising on rural roads, to a spirited drive to the top of the Falls Creek mountain ski resort, then the same back down again – the GR Corolla auto we tested displayed a high but understandable 13.9L/100km.
The trip computer soared as high as 16.3L/100km at other times, which is, again, high but to be expected for a car with this much power being driven in a quick manner.
A longer test through the Drive garage of the pre-update GR Corolla manual – with the same fuel-use claim as the 2025 version – has returned a more reasonable 8.9L/100km.
Toyota’s hottest Corolla demands the highest-quality fuel, with no concession listed for 95-octane premium unleaded should the petrol station run out of, or not serve, 98.
| Fuel efficiency | 2025 Toyota GR Corolla manual | 2025 Toyota GR Corolla auto |
| Fuel cons. (claimed) | 8.4L/100km | 9.5L/100km |
| Fuel cons. (on test) | N/A | 13.9L/100km |
| Fuel type | 98-octane premium unleaded | 98-octane premium unleaded |
| Fuel tank size | 50L | 50L |
What is the Toyota GR Corolla like to drive?
Mechanical changes for the 2025 GR Corolla aren’t as significant as its smaller GR Yaris sibling, but that’s no bad thing, because it was already a brilliantly fast and fun hot hatch.
The 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine continues to produce 221kW, but torque has been bumped from 370Nm to 400Nm, matching the defunct two-seat Morizo special edition.
It’s a powerhouse of an engine, with a rorty but pleasant note – augmented by turbo blow-off noises on the overrun – plenty of mid-range grunt, and a love for revs.
The star of the show is the new eight-speed automatic transmission option – and while it may be a torque converter, it’s about as good as they come.
It is not as quick to shift as a dual-clutch (DCT) VW or Hyundai – and can be doughy at low revs around town – but it’s not far off in terms of responses, and it does so without the annoying hesitation off the mark common to DCTs.
In the right mode it’s willing to downshift aggressively under braking, responds to pulls of the paddles – or a bump of the gear stick, forward to downshift or backward to upshift, like a race car – with reasonable urgency, and doesn’t hold the car’s performance back as some torque-converter autos might.
On the racetrack we left it to its own devices, and never found ourselves bashing heads with the transmission’s choice of gear – though Winton Raceway where we tested the car is admittedly a tight track that doesn’t require many gear changes.
A six-speed manual is also available, which our past experience – and recent testing in the latest GR Yaris – shows offers a short throw, notchy (if not as slick as it could be) feel, and a clutch that’s not too heavy. It includes a rev-matching feature that works seamlessly.
For 2025, there’s a revised clutch claimed to deliver greater feel and feedback.
Suspension is another area that has been tweaked for 2025, with revised dampers, reworked rear geometry with a 30mm-higher trailing arm mounting to reduce squat under hard acceleration, and retuned rear springs and anti-roll bar for greater control in corners.
The modifications don’t seem to have spoiled the GR Corolla’s ride, which is firm – as you’d expect of a performance car – but absorbs rough roads and sharper bumps well enough to suggest it would be as compliant to live with day-to-day as its predecessor.
The electric power steering is quick and direct, but isn’t the last word in road feel, and is a little too heavy for our liking in Sport mode. It’s better in Eco or Normal modes, or with the steering and powertrain set as you want them in Custom.
Tweaked for 2025 is the GR-Four all-wheel-drive system, which continues with Normal mode (60:40 front-to-rear torque split), but swaps Sport (30:70) for Gravel mode (50:50), while Track – previously 50:50 – has switched to a variable where between 40 and 70 per cent of torque can be sent to the rear axle at any time.
The combination of Track mode, grippy Yokohama tyres and standard limited-slip front and rear differentials gives GR Corolla drivers options in the bends.
Enter slowly and rely on the diffs to claw the car out; brake hard and late, let Track mode shuffle power around, and feel the rear axle rotating the car on exit; or dial down the drive modes to give the front axle more to do.
The Yokohama tyres can be overwhelmed on the track, and it doesn’t feel quite as agile and playful as the smaller, lighter GR Yaris.
But it lends the ‘Rolla a more secure feel, and no matter the setting, the GR Corolla is a safe and composed performance car that flatters drivers of varying skill levels.
Other points: the brake pedal is reassuringly firm when you get into it, with strong stopping power from the 356mm four-piston front and 297mm two-piston rear brakes – shared with the GR Yaris.
Tyre noise is not so rosy. A standard Corolla on Dunlop tyres already has plenty of it, so it’s no surprise it overwhelms the cabin experience in the GR. An active noise-cancellation feature has been added for 2025, but it’s still not a quiet car.
| Key details | 2025 Toyota GR Corolla manual | 2025 Toyota GR Corolla auto |
| Engine | 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol | 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol |
| Power | 221kW @ 6500rpm | 221kW @ 6500rpm |
| Torque | 400Nm @ 3250–4600rpm | 400Nm @ 3250–4600rpm |
| Drive type | All-wheel drive | All-wheel drive |
| Transmission | 6-speed manual | 8-speed torque converter automatic |
| Power-to-weight ratio | 148.3kW/t | 146.4kW/t |
| Weight | 1490kg | 1510kg |
| Spare tyre type | Tyre repair kit | Tyre repair kit |
| Payload | 425kg | 405kg |
| Turning circle | 10.98m (kerb) 11.56m (body) |
10.98m (kerb) 11.56m (body) |
Should I buy a Toyota GR Corolla?
The Toyota GR Corolla’s first major update has done little to mess with the recipe. Phew.
The three-cylinder engine is a ripper, the all-wheel-drive system adds confidence and adjustability in equal measures, there’s no shortage of mechanical grip, and the slick new eight-speed auto option is a credible alternative to the old-school manual.
The cabin is well equipped, and it’s spacious enough to make use of its five seats, though it’s far from the last word in interior appointments, technology and, in particular, boot space.
But it represents an outstanding example of a dying breed – and one of the best hot hatchbacks out there today.
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