Car Review: 2025 Toyota GR Corolla | Reviews

Article content

Webster’s, along with breezy etymologists who generally cultivate alarming facial shrubbery, will tell us the word ‘surprise’ originates from late 14th-century Old French surprendre, a word meaning “to overtake or seize.” And while history suggests it has roots in military campaigns, the term can easily be applied some 500 years later to the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla.

Why is this little white hatchback so surprising, you ask? It’s not because of its effortless deep well of power, though that trait will be surprising to some shoppers. Nor is it because of its price tag, a sum which in reality is bang in line with like-minded hyperactive competitors. No, it’s because the GR Corolla, a machine intended for the track and fettled by Akio Toyoda himself, revealed itself to be, despite a chassis made for fun and an engine wringing 300 horsepower from just three cylinders, one of the better road trip cars we’ve encountered this year.

Heaving off to Newfoundland island for a week was the stage for this discovery, a rock on which we also ended up being surprised by weather patterns, fast-moving wildfires, and an interview with the head of Targa Newfoundland — an event for which the GR Corolla would be uniquely suited.

What engine is in the Toyota GR Corolla?

Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions

View All 6 Photos

1 of 6

All 6 Photos for Gallery

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK

Let’s start with that engine. Do not adjust your sets; those numbers are correct. Engineers at Toyota have managed to squeeze a hundred horsepower per cylinder out of the three-pot mill, whilst also cranking torque to 295 lb-ft for the 2025 model year. The thing revs effortlessly, zinging to its redline whilst egging you on to twist the needle again and again. Premium fuel is a must, according to Toyota and scary-looking stickers near the filler neck.

The engine is smooth at cruising speeds and doesn’t turn at an ear-bleeding rpm, which was our first clue this thing would be better for road trips than first imagined. It’s a different story at idle, where the three-cylinder, an unbalanced configuration by its very nature, snorted and farted like a bear waking from hibernation. An automatic transmission option is new for 2025 but should only be chosen if you don’t have use of your left leg; the spirit and personality of the GR demands a manual box.

Does the GR Corolla have rev matching?

Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions

View All 6 Photos

1 of 6

All 6 Photos for Gallery

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK

It does indeed. For those unfamiliar, the art of gently blipping a car’s throttle to boost engine speed generally helps a manual transmission slip more smoothly into gear whilst downshifting. Absent having three feet or a lot of practice, this can be a tough ask for some drivers. Toyota imbues its six-speed manual in the GR Corolla with a rev matching function which does that dance on its own during a downshift. 

As a driver slots the transmission into a lower gear, computers discern the correct rev range and quickly blips the throttle to that level before the driver has a chance to let the clutch out. Luddites can turn the works of it off via a button ahead of the shifter. It’s worth leaving on for the entertaining three-cylinder noises it evokes through the burbly tri-exit exhaust system. Toyota claims it has fettled the clutch itself for 2025, providing a snappier feel on the return stroke for better controllability. Compared to an example this author drove approximately two years ago, the claims are founded — and made for smoother road tripping.

How much space is in a GR Corolla?

Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions

View All 6 Photos

1 of 6

All 6 Photos for Gallery

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK

Which dovetails into another plus in this car’s corner for road trip duty: its hatchback nature. There is 504 litres (17.8 cubic feet) of cargo space behind the rear seat, all of it usable, expanding to nearly 700 litres with the seats folded down. We had three coolers aboard as part of a test of Canadian-sourced gear because now, more than ever, it is critically important to buy Canadian goods or shop at stores with Canadian roots. The cooler shown in these photos is from Home Hardware, an independent Canuck retailer which should be on everyone’s list of places to patronize these days. Add in a week’s luggage for two, some camera items, plus enough home-grown souvenirs to shake a stick at and it proves what we’ve been saying for years — the hatchback is an incredibly practical body style. Front seat room is more than sufficient but anyone with long legged offspring will want to carefully measure the rear quarters.

Unplanned was hurried packing into the Corolla of family heirlooms and photographs hastily plucked from the wall of my family home as a wildfire bore down on the community. As rural people often do, neighbours hurriedly helped each other that Sunday morning as water bombers roared overhead and the RCMP made its way through the town with their loudspeakers. All hands safely fled to nearby communities while favourable winds and the tireless efforts of firefighters beat back the blaze. Not a single structure was lost.

It’s really a good road tripper, then?

Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions

View All 6 Photos

1 of 6

All 6 Photos for Gallery

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK

One of the only marks against this 2025 Toyota GR Corolla as a road trip warrior is its thimble of a fuel tank. Capped at just 50 litres, indicated driving range on a full tank rarely broached 500 kilometres, meaning some planning was required on long stretches of desolate Newfoundland highway (and Quebec, to be honest, during its transit down east from home base in Montreal). Still, it wasn’t difficult to beat the NRCan highway estimate of 8.3 L/100 km, with one leg returning an indicated 6.9 L/100 km, a figure supported by basic math at the next fill-up when we purchased 21.2 litres after driving 305 kilometres.

So, is it a race car for the street?

Not hardly — and we mean that as a compliment. Cars which truly fall into that category across a wide swath of price points generally do exactly what it says on the can: return blindingly fast lap times in exchange for a shattered spine and bleeding eardrums on the way home. The 2025 Toyota GR Corolla is the rare machine which can do the former without punishing you with the latter. 

In fact, this model would be a great candidate to gear up for the annual Targa Newfoundland road race, a week-long event which attracts top gearheads and world-class machines from all over the planet. We had a sit-down interview with the top brass who explained some of the changes for 2025, so watch this space for that article, coming soon. 

2025 Toyota GR Corolla Canadian pricing

Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions

View All 6 Photos

1 of 6

All 6 Photos for Gallery

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK

This isn’t a cheap vehicle, despite its econocar roots. With plenty of racing research and development plowed into the GR, the company needs to make its money back somehow. Our base model 2025 Toyota Corolla GR Corolla Core with a manual transmission wore a sticker price of $49,775 including freight and air conditioning tax, a sum which didn’t include cabin features like dual climate control or wireless device charging. 

Customers will need to splash out an extra eight grand for those items in a Premium package, which admittedly also brings items like a carbon fibre roof and nostril-ized hood plus a banging sound system. Anyone desiring an automatic transmission will get those features included for a steep $59,997.

Final Thoughts

Don’t get it twisted. Toyota hasn’t neutered the GR Corolla just because it proved an agreeable road trip companion; quite the opposite, in fact, given its newfound torque and better clutch behaviour. But the car knows how to settle down when asked, unlike some of its ADHD addled competitors which are fun for an hour but quickly induce a headache on the way home from a track day.

And as a final surprise, we discovered one detail which cemented the GR’s suitability for road trip usage: that ledge on its centre console is the pitch perfect width for a box of ten Timbits. Job done. 

Pros and cons of the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla

Pros

✔ Far more capable road tripper than expected
✔ Vastly entertaining powertrain
✔ Fun chassis behaves when prompted

Cons

✘ Weed-whacker engine vibrations at idle
✘ Requires premium fuel
✘ Price may require smelling salts

Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on X, Tiktok and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.