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Toyota GR Corolla AutoMatic Review: Automatic for the People
10K views
Mar 29, 2025
As soon as the Toyota GR Corolla came out, we fell in love with it. It was raw, mechanical, and barrel full of fun. The adjustable all-wheel drive system, six-speed manual transmission, double limited slip differentials, and quick connected steering made us claim the new GR Corolla as a modern, more sophisticated Subaru WRX STI. This year Toyota is looking to expand the appeal of the car by adding an eight-speed automatic transmission option. Does a traditional automatic ruin the fun of the car? Or is it an intriguing option for those who don't want to row their own.
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0:00
Last year, the GR Corolla quickly became one of our favorite cars to drive at the AutoGuide office
0:10
It had so much personality and power and handling that were very approachable and kind of rally-like
0:17
I know this wasn't an actual rally car, but you could feel its influence. In fact, I even called it a modern-day, slightly more sophisticated WRX STI
0:25
This year Toyota is trying to expand the appeal of the GR Corolla by giving it a
0:29
eight-speed automatic. That could be a bit of a deal breaker in a car like this
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but you know what? I'm gonna keep an open mind, get behind the wheel, and see what it's actually like
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It's possible to get the automatic transmission on different trim levels in the US, but in
1:08
Canada, it's a standalone option. And it's basically the premium plus in the US, which is the fully loaded model
1:15
On the outside, it doesn't differ at all. I have the supersonic red paint, which looks fantastic on this car, the carbon fiber roof
1:22
the matte black 18-inch wheels, and there's a black spoiler as well. The Premium Plus also adds
1:30
those functional hood vents, which just kind of finish off the overall rally car look. I know
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the GR Corolla isn't the basis for Toyota's rally car, but they've really taken a lot of the Yaris
1:41
wide-body blocky look and applied it to this GR Corolla. I've only ever driven entry-level versions
1:47
of the GR Corolla previously, and I've commented more than once about how the interior is pretty
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cheap. Now, the Premium Plus addresses that to a degree. I wouldn't say it completely transforms it
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but it does raise it a level or two. So I have soft touch materials on the dash and on top of
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the doors, and these synthetic leather seats with their sort of ultra suede-like inserts are really
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comfortable and supportive. There's accent red stitching to add a little bit of flare, I guess
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to the inside. And as much as I complain about piano black plastic due to fingerprints and basically never possibly keeping it clean it does sort of tie in the rest of this interior Option like I said before almost everything I need or want is in
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here. I got heated seats and a heated steering wheel. I got a wireless phone charger. The 8-inch
2:36
infotainment screen is big enough for this small car. Although it's not the best software because
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I only have a volume knob, I'm getting used to how to use it. It has wireless Apple CarPlay and
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wireless Android Auto. And like I said, there's a wireless phone charger, but it doesn't really
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work at least with my phone it would never keep a charge going more than a couple seconds and
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I find that in a lot of cars it's just not a technology that's been perfected yet. The only
3:00
real differences inside this car that lets you know it's the automatic versus the six-speed is
3:05
obviously the gear shifter I have a traditional gear shifter for an automatic and my aluminum
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sport pedals I only have two instead of three otherwise it's basically the exact same in here
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and speaking of the same well mechanically there isn't a lot different either let's start with the
3:18
engine so there's still the 1.6 liter turbocharged three-cylinder that makes 300 horsepower and 295
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pound-feet of torque which is still pretty incredible out of a three-cylinder that's almost
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200 horsepower per liter which is healthy and the best thing is although there is some turbo leg i
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mean it's just going to be natural when you're dealing with an engine that size making that much
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power it's very minimal and the rpms build real quick up to the 7200 rpm redline even with the
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automatic. There's no sort of delay in the engine building power. Now I didn't get to test it but the
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top speed is 143 miles per hour according to Toyota and I'm pretty confident this A-speed would pull
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all the way there. Being the premium plus I get the sub-radiator up front to help with engine cooling
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although I'm not really sure if the automatic GR Corollas are going to be lapped or tracked that
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much but there's a chance some will so it's nice to have and even on a hot day if you're really just
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aggressively driving it's always nice to have that little extra reassurance. Well I guess I've
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drag this on long enough, let's talk about how the transmission actually operates. Unlike a lot of
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Toyota and Lexus products that have a manual mode in their automatics, this one in sport mode will
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actually hold the gears. None of that, I have it in fourth gear, but if the engine wants to, it'll
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downshift to second or third for me. The other nice thing when you're in sport mode is if you
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hammer the accelerator, it won't automatically downshift either. So it's a true full manual
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control of the automatic. I'd put it in a sort of average to above average category
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in terms of response It doesn roll into gears like some sloppier automatics but it isn as crisp with the upshifts and downshifts that say a BMW eight speed Acceleration two I wouldn say is quite as frantic
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as it is with the manual. That's probably partially because you're doing more
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while changing gears and there's a bit more of a delay between the gear changes. So the car really catches the next gear
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and kind of launches you back. This does it to a degree as well, but it's just a little smoother
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and a little more sophisticated. Here, I'll show you what I mean
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So, overall, I wouldn't say the 8-speed kills the fun in the GR Corolla
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I mean, there's so much fun baked into this car. That'd be pretty hard to do
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But it does dilute it a bit. I'd be really interested to see a 6-speed manual and an 8-speed automatic drag race side-by-side
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to see what the acceleration difference is. because like I said, it doesn't feel as crazy in here
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I think that's sort of the first gear delay. But once it gets going, it's so quick to change gears
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It may make up some of the time. I don't know. One thing the automatic hasn't diluted is engine noise
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You can hear it bellowing out of the triple exhaust in the back. And if you put it in sport mode, more sound is piped into the cabin
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If you have passengers, it might get a little annoying. but in normal mode it's okay. I mean this is a high powered curl on steroids so you can't expect
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it to be completely civil when you want it to be. It's always got that little edge to it
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And speaking of edge you can definitely feel it in the chassis. It's got the same McPherson strut
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up front and double wishbone in the rear setup that GR has tuned and they have tuned it stiff
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Some roads that you might think are kind of bumpy in this car are crazy bumpy and when you hit those
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big expansion joints or even small potholes on the road, it feels like the whole car is just gonna
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rip the wheels off of the frame. It doesn't happen but it's definitely one of these stiffer cars out
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there. The automatic thankfully retains the programmable center differential so you can have
7:00
it in normal mode which is 60% power to the front 40 to the rear. You can have it in gravel mode
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which splits power 50 50 or there's track mode which can adjust the power 60 to 30% up front
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and 40 to 70 in the rear Not all cars retain a differential like that when you switch transmission so it good the Toyota kept it even with the 8 auto The GR Corolla with the automatic also retains the Torsen differentials front and rear which is great to have real mechanical differentials front and rear
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Very few cars offer that anymore, so that's a nice bonus. And although this weighs over 3,300 pounds, it's just kind of heavy for the size of the vehicle
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the center differential the front rear differential the 235 wide tires even though mine are winter
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all work together to really make this thing handle well which has been part of the gr corolla's charm
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since the day we drove it i mean having that frantic 300 horsepower engine is cool but it would
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mean nothing if the chassis didn't back it up and as i said at the intro this reminded me of a modern
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day sti and with the automatic i mean there was never an automatic sti and this is a better overall
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package and say an automatic WRX. The real question is how does it compare to a Volkswagen Golf R
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DSG or even the old Lancer Evo and I would say it's a step behind both of those because it is
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regular auto versus DSG but it's pretty close and it's probably way more livable because you don't
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have to deal with the DSG drawbacks like the herky-jerky motions in the city that can upset
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passengers and sometimes even the driver. The 8-speed automatic adds $2,000 to the price of the GR Corolla
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So this fully loaded premium plus comes in at $49,125, including destination charges
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In Canada, as I said, it's a standalone model and the automatic GR Corolla is also fully loaded
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and it runs just under $61,000 once again, including destination. But back to the main question, does the automatic kill the fun of the GR Corolla
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Well, like I said before, it kind of dilutes it, but it doesn't kill it
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This car is still a lot of fun. In fact, I've had so much fun and didn't even bother to clean it for this closing shop because
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I just want to get back on the road. I still definitely prefer the six speed manual
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It's just sort of the whole personality of these pseudo rally cars that need that clutch
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and roll your own gears. But this is still a ton of fun. And if you don't know how to drive manual or you just don't care to drive manual, you're
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still gonna get a lot of smiles behind the wheel of the GR Corolla Auto
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