They did it. Toyota called our bluff. The marque built a Corolla with 300 horsepower, all-wheel drive, brakes that could stop an airliner and a seriously tweaked chassis.
It’s the kind of car you doubtlessly sketched in a middle school notebook when you should have been paying attention to a lecture on the Magna Carta but were letting your mind …
So it sounds like if you really enjoy that old-school, kick-in-the-pants turbo boost, this is the one for you–but if you hate turbo lag, you should probably look elsewhere.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Having driven one, they're extremely responsive. No discernable turbo lag. That motor likes to rev, too.
For that much money I think I would rather build out my 2002 Bug Eye Wrx wagon. After 18 years it's still a lot of fun. I'm an old fart that is not enamored with all these modern electronics.
I shopped GR Corollas. I live in the snow, but work at a lower elevation. AWD would be nice. Toyota has been putting out some great drivers cars
BUT - I'm not paying over MSRP. I'm hesitant to buy *ANY* Toyota or Honda now. And if I do, I'll likely travel over 200 miles to the few dealerships that put me on the MSRP waitlist. $10k over on an Si, $20k over on a CTR?! $15k over on a GRC. I understand supply & demand, I understand free market, but I won't forget how smug and condescending those Sales Persons & Managers were.
In reply to thashane : Couldn't have said it better myself. I also live at altitude and work down below. This car seems to check all the boxes, but I won't pay over MSRP either. We'll see if the market calms down.
Did you guys have any trouble with the diffs over heating during your track time? Is the online chatter blowing it out of proportion? Or is it a legitimate issue?
dstn2bdoa said:Did you guys have any trouble with the diffs over heating during your track time? Is the online chatter blowing it out of proportion? Or is it a legitimate issue?
i was going to ask the same question, i'm curious to know if it can manage heat well enough to drive a full session especially if you uprate to a stickier 200tw
So, if you had $40k to spend (assuming that is about what MSRP is for a Core with the Performance Package) would you drop your cash on a GR or the best 911 you could get? Assuming it would be kept as a fun street car that occasionally gets used for autocross and/or track fun (so no gutted interior and caged "fake" street car).
dstn2bdoa said:Did you guys have any trouble with the diffs over heating during your track time? Is the online chatter blowing it out of proportion? Or is it a legitimate issue?
1. No
2. Probably not
3. Maybe?
Our sessions tend to be pretty short. I rarely do more than 2 hot laps back to back, especilly with tall, FWD or AWD cars, mostly to preserve tires. We really don;t want to give press loaners back with chunked-out tires, so part of the methodology is in place to preserve the rubber and hardware.
Likewise, at the press launch in Utah in 2022, the hot laps were all single-lap standaing starts. Basically like a track sprint. And there were no cars being taken out of circulation due to overheating diffs there.
All that said, anecdotally we hear about a lot of owners reporting drivetrain heat issues during sessions over 10-15 minutes. Anecdotes are not data, but there's enough chatter out there to make me believe there's an issue. Although it sounds like the kind of issue that the aftermarket should salve pretty easily. Some sort of fluid cooler or enhanced airflow management or something should be in development since this appears to be a real thing.
I wish we got the Yaris GR....but once these have been around awhile, they'll definitely be on my radar.
Glad Toyota produced this car even though I'll likely never have one. Sure wish Mazda hadn't abandoned the segment. The 3 had potential, would have loved to see something developed from their aborted TCR car. Anyway, thanks Toyota.
True, a modern Mazdaspeed3 would have been cool. We have the turbo/AWD Mazda3, but it lacks the snap of its predecessors.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
The current 3 remains a really nice car as designed for its intended purpose.
David S. Wallens said:True, a modern Mazdaspeed3 would have been cool. We have the turbo/AWD Mazda3, but it lacks the snap of its predecessors.
I'm seriously considering purchasing one this summer. It ticks all of my boxes.
Coniglio Rampante said:In reply to David S. Wallens :
The current 3 remains a really nice car as designed for its intended purpose.
It also has honest to God GAUGES.
And it has the ubiquitous big screen in the center of the dash, but you control it with a puck near the shifter that offers tactile feedback, it isn't a touchscreen that you need to reach your arm up and focus on not fat fingering or swiping when you're bouncing down the road.
In short there should have been a GR iA. 
In reply to dstn2bdoa :
Inquiring mind want to know... seriously.
I have not tracked mine, but it's a blast to drive on the street. I have owned essentially the same GRC that is reviewed, a Circuit Edition, for almost a year and 3k miles (not a daily😀). One of my all time favorites in 40+ years of driving manuals.
JG Pasterjak said:dstn2bdoa said:Did you guys have any trouble with the diffs over heating during your track time? Is the online chatter blowing it out of proportion? Or is it a legitimate issue?
1. No
2. Probably not
3. Maybe?
Our sessions tend to be pretty short. I rarely do more than 2 hot laps back to back, especilly with tall, FWD or AWD cars, mostly to preserve tires. We really don;t want to give press loaners back with chunked-out tires, so part of the methodology is in place to preserve the rubber and hardware.
Likewise, at the press launch in Utah in 2022, the hot laps were all single-lap standaing starts. Basically like a track sprint. And there were no cars being taken out of circulation due to overheating diffs there.
All that said, anecdotally we hear about a lot of owners reporting drivetrain heat issues during sessions over 10-15 minutes. Anecdotes are not data, but there's enough chatter out there to make me believe there's an issue. Although it sounds like the kind of issue that the aftermarket should salve pretty easily. Some sort of fluid cooler or enhanced airflow management or something should be in development since this appears to be a real thing.
jg
we figured that about the focus RS too but yet here we are.
I hate fake homologation vehicles that can't even do what they're supposed to do. I just want to know one day I can rally one without having to reinvent the wheel.
I've had my share of fun cars (CTSV Wagon, LS swapped FD, Boosted NA Miatas, etc) and my new GRC Circuit Edition cars is one of my favorite cars to drive of all of them. Modern, but a throwback. I think it's a future classic that we will miss when it's gone.
This says a lot - all time favorite over 40+ years?
In reply to fidelity101 :
A friend who I enduro race with had an RS. He told me he blew the head gasket twice while still under warranty, after the second head gasket he got rid of it. I want to say it might've been flash-tuned, but it couldn't have been anything too aggressive if it still had a warranty.
ClearWaterMS said:dstn2bdoa said:Did you guys have any trouble with the diffs over heating during your track time? Is the online chatter blowing it out of proportion? Or is it a legitimate issue?
i was going to ask the same question, i'm curious to know if it can manage heat well enough to drive a full session especially if you uprate to a stickier 200tw
Just one data point; there was a bunch of Toyotas at Summit Point last weekend (HPDE intro, Toyota's "track day" they include w/ the purchase of a new GR), and at least one of the GR Corollas went into 2wd mode w/ an overheated diff.
It was almost 100 degrees, but this was a single 20-25 minute session with a new driver.
In reply to JG Pasterjak : My HPDE sessions run 20 to 30 minutes. In the middle of the country where ambient temperatures run over 100 degrees. I would think diff overheating that results in the car defaulting to FWD is definitely something worth looking into
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
It would be extremely disappointing to me to spend $40K+ on a "track-capable" car, then have some component overheat after only a few laps. Adding a differential cooler and pump would fix it, but it's still disappointing to spend that much then immediately have to spend more to modify it for its shortcomings, very likely voiding the warranty. Worst of all would be hearing your buddy say, "yeah, you may have beat me on the first two laps, but after that..." And yes, before Keith points out how nearly every car has to be modified for track use, I still think that anything being advertised as track-capable should actually, you know, mean something, but I guess this all comes under the heading, "truth" in advertising.
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