I drive a lot of different cars in a year sometimes they start to blend together but occasionally one comes along that wakes you up and reminds you why you love doing what you do most recently for me that car has been the gr Corolla it feels like a homologated rally special it has a trick all-wheel drive system and an entertaining turbo 3-cylinder engine up until now it was also special in that it was only offered with a manual gearbox that changes for 2025 as Toyota is adding an automatic equipped version into the mix
I'll be honest my first reaction to this news was that it dampens the Special nature of the vehicle but then I got my head out of my ass and realized that offering a two-pedal version just opens the door to allow more people to experience the joy that this car delivers additionally it's not like the manual version is going away Toyota will offer both which means the row atyour yourself crowd still has a shot at this wonderful machine
but back to the automatic for a moment it's an 8-speed automatic Toyota calls it a direct automatic and it's supposed to be akin to Porsche's own pdk in that it works with you to keep you moving as quickly as possible also it adds launch control system to the gr Corolla party the gearbox pays attention to throttle and break inputs and anticipates how hard you're applying either this means it will hold gears longer if you're going flat and RI down through the gears if you're hard on the brakes
I know you're saying that sounds like a normal automatic but the difference here is based on the speed with which it responds to things and how it does so in a sporty focused manner like Porsche's aformentioned pdk how close it actually feels to the brilliant Porsche gearbox remains to be seen but it sounds better than your standard 8-speed Auto even better the car actually gets a slight power bump upgraded suspension tuning and improved body language to Aid in cooling air flow
the 1.6 L turbocharged 3-cylinder engine still makes 300 horsepower but now its torque rises from 273 lb feet to 295 chassis wise Toyota Engineers have upgraded the front and rear suspension to prevent wheel lift during aggressive quartering while this looks cool in photos and videos you really want to keep as much rubber on the road as possible and help with squat under acceleration and cornering balance
the trailing arms have been tweaked to keep things flatter one change I'm less excited about is the adjustment to the torque vectoring setup of the GR4 all-wheel drive system previously you could choose 6040 50/50 or 3070 and you locked it in where you wanted it now Toyota sets 60/40 for normal 50/50 for gravel but track is a variable setup that alters between 60/40 and 3070 as the computers deem necessary
I get that this is probably a faster design for track purposes but I really like the ability to just lock in 3070 back to a good change though is 2025 gr Corollas will all come standard with front and rear torson limited slip differentials previously this was standard on top speec models and required an upgrade on Lower trim versions
speaking of trims the lineup is now core premium and premium plus core is pretty self-explanatory as the base but again it's awesome that it gets the front and rear diffs right out of the gate premium adds a better stereo Dual Zone climate control heated seats and steering wheel and a few other goodies
Premium Plus which is new is now where you'll find that forged carbon roof those hood vents and a head-up display as well it also gets an additional radiator for added cooling as standard but this bit of Kit is available as an option on other trims finally all gr Corolla buyers get a one-year complimentary membership to the National Autos sport Association and one free high performance driving event through the NASA organization if you buy one of these please take advantage of that
and if you are thinking of buying one there's no word on pricing yet but I'd expect a minor price bump the 2025 gr Corolla will land on dealer Lots sometime this winter
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI drive a lot of different cars in a year sometimes they start to blend together but occasionally one comes along that wakes you up and reminds you why you love doing what you do most recently for me that car has been the gr Corolla it feels like a homologated rally special it has a trick all-wheel drive system and an entertaining turbo 3-cylinder engine up until now it was also special in that it was only offered with a manual gearbox that changes for 2025 as Toyota is adding an automatic equipped version into the mix I'll be honest my first reaction to this news was that it dampens the Special nature of the vehicle but then I got my head out of my ass and realized that offering a two-pedal version just opens the door to allow more people to experience the joy that this car delivers additionally it's not like the manual version is going away Toyota will offer both which means the row atyour yourself crowd still has a shot at this wonderful machine but back to the automatic for a moment it's an 8-speed automatic Toyota calls it a direct automatic and it's supposed to be akin to Porsche's own pdk in that it works with you to keep you moving as quickly as possible also it adds launch control system to the gr Corolla party the gearbox pays attention to throttle and break inputs and anticipates how hard you're applying either this means it will hold gears longer if you're going flat and RI down through the gears if you're hard on the brakes I know you're saying that sounds like a normal automatic but the difference here is based on the speed with which it responds to things and how it does so in a sporty focused manner like Porsche's aformentioned pdk how close it actually feels to the brilliant Porsche gearbox remains to be seen but it sounds better than your standard 8-speed Auto even better the car actually gets a slight power bump upgraded suspension tuning and improved body language to Aid in cooling air flow the 1.6 L turbocharged 3-cylinder engine still makes 300 horsepower but now its torque rises from 273 lb feet to 295 chassis wise Toyota Engineers have upgraded the front and rear suspension to prevent wheel lift during aggressive quartering while this looks cool in photos and videos you really want to keep as much rubber on the road as possible and help with squat under acceleration and cornering balance the trailing arms have been tweaked to keep things flatter one change I'm less excited about is the adjustment to the torque vectoring setup of the GR4 all-wheel drive system previously you could choose 6040 50/50 or 3070 and you locked it in where you wanted it now Toyota sets 60/40 for normal 50/50 for gravel but track is a variable setup that alters between 60/40 and 3070 as the computers deem necessary I get that this is probably a faster design for track purposes but I really like the ability to just lock in 3070 back to a good change though is 2025 gr Corollas will all come standard with front and rear torson limited slip differentials previously this was standard on top speec models and required an upgrade on Lower trim versions speaking of trims the lineup is now core premium and premium plus core is pretty self-explanatory as the base but again it's awesome that it gets the front and rear diffs right out of the gate premium adds a better stereo Dual Zone climate control heated seats and steering wheel and a few other goodies Premium Plus which is new is now where you'll find that forged carbon roof those hood vents and a head-up display as well it also gets an additional radiator for added cooling as standard but this bit of Kit is available as an option on other trims finally all gr Corolla buyers get a one-year complimentary membership to the National Autos sport Association and one free high performance driving event through the NASA organization if you buy one of these please take advantage of that and if you are thinking of buying one there's no word on pricing yet but I'd expect a minor price bump the 2025 gr Corolla will land on dealer Lots sometime this winter aI drive a lot of different cars in a year sometimes they start to blend together but occasionally one comes along that wakes you up and reminds you why you love doing what you do most recently for me that car has been the gr Corolla it feels like a homologated rally special it has a trick all-wheel drive system and an entertaining turbo 3-cylinder engine up until now it was also special in that it was only offered with a manual gearbox that changes for 2025 as Toyota is adding an automatic equipped version into the mix I'll be honest my first reaction to this news was that it dampens the Special nature of the vehicle but then I got my head out of my ass and realized that offering a two-pedal version just opens the door to allow more people to experience the joy that this car delivers additionally it's not like the manual version is going away Toyota will offer both which means the row atyour yourself crowd still has a shot at this wonderful machine but back to the automatic for a moment it's an 8-speed automatic Toyota calls it a direct automatic and it's supposed to be akin to Porsche's own pdk in that it works with you to keep you moving as quickly as possible also it adds launch control system to the gr Corolla party the gearbox pays attention to throttle and break inputs and anticipates how hard you're applying either this means it will hold gears longer if you're going flat and RI down through the gears if you're hard on the brakes I know you're saying that sounds like a normal automatic but the difference here is based on the speed with which it responds to things and how it does so in a sporty focused manner like Porsche's aformentioned pdk how close it actually feels to the brilliant Porsche gearbox remains to be seen but it sounds better than your standard 8-speed Auto even better the car actually gets a slight power bump upgraded suspension tuning and improved body language to Aid in cooling air flow the 1.6 L turbocharged 3-cylinder engine still makes 300 horsepower but now its torque rises from 273 lb feet to 295 chassis wise Toyota Engineers have upgraded the front and rear suspension to prevent wheel lift during aggressive quartering while this looks cool in photos and videos you really want to keep as much rubber on the road as possible and help with squat under acceleration and cornering balance the trailing arms have been tweaked to keep things flatter one change I'm less excited about is the adjustment to the torque vectoring setup of the GR4 all-wheel drive system previously you could choose 6040 50/50 or 3070 and you locked it in where you wanted it now Toyota sets 60/40 for normal 50/50 for gravel but track is a variable setup that alters between 60/40 and 3070 as the computers deem necessary I get that this is probably a faster design for track purposes but I really like the ability to just lock in 3070 back to a good change though is 2025 gr Corollas will all come standard with front and rear torson limited slip differentials previously this was standard on top speec models and required an upgrade on Lower trim versions speaking of trims the lineup is now core premium and premium plus core is pretty self-explanatory as the base but again it's awesome that it gets the front and rear diffs right out of the gate premium adds a better stereo Dual Zone climate control heated seats and steering wheel and a few other goodies Premium Plus which is new is now where you'll find that forged carbon roof those hood vents and a head-up display as well it also gets an additional radiator for added cooling as standard but this bit of Kit is available as an option on other trims finally all gr Corolla buyers get a one-year complimentary membership to the National Autos sport Association and one free high performance driving event through the NASA organization if you buy one of these please take advantage of that and if you are thinking of buying one there's no word on pricing yet but I'd expect a minor price bump the 2025 gr Corolla will land on dealer Lots sometime this winter a\n"
