2025 Toyota GR Corolla GTS automatic review

It’s no secret that consumer appetite for hot hatches is weak in 2025. With prices rising and fewer options on the market, it can be challenging for a car enthusiast to get their hot hatch kicks.

But there are some brands out there that are still keen to sell sporty yet practical hatchbacks. Toyota’s GR sub-brand caters to hot hatch fanatics with its GR Yaris and GR Corolla twins, with the latest tweaks introducing an automatic transmission among other subtle updates.

The GR Corolla is arguably the more practical of the two, featuring four doors and marginally more interior and boot space. Along with the new automatic transmission, this is the most practical Toyota performance car in a long time.

But is that what hot hatch owners want? I’ve spent some time behind the wheel to find out.

Toyota’s GR performance sub-brand is starting to look very well-rounded. Not only are there two distinct hot hatches to choose from, but there’s a GR Supra sports car and the GR86 also found under the one roof.

The GR Corolla sits higher on the price spectrum than most, costing $67,990 plus on-roads with a six-speed manual and $70,490 with the new eight-speed automatic. This review concerns the latter. If you’re interested in what it’s like to drive a manual version, read our comparison with the Honda Civic Type R.

No additional options are available for the GR Corolla apart from optional paint finishes like the Feverish Red shown here, which costs $595 extra.

The only pricier Toyota sports car is the Toyota Supra and its $86,295 base price.

Elsewhere in the performance hatch realm, there’s the Volkswagen Golf R priced from $70,990 in its auto-only form, or the manual-only Honda Civic Type R ($74,100 drive-away).

It’s difficult to pick a 2025 car aside from the pre-update GR Corolla, but trainspotters may notice the new-design front end with enhanced cooling, plus a carbon-fibre roof that was previously reserved for the two-seat GR Corolla Morizo edition.

The powertrain is largely unchanged, save for a 30Nm boost to its torque figure. Power output remains at 221kW fed to all four wheels. The infotainment system has been updated to include wireless Android Auto in addition to wireless Apple CarPlay.

The car is $3800 more expensive because of these developments.

Certain features are retained for the updated version, including a set of 18-inch alloy wheels running Yokohama Advan Apex tyres, performance brakes with red calipers, front and rear limited-slip differentials, and the same-sized 8.0-inch touchscreen as before.

The GR Corolla is now on sale in Australia in its facelifted guise, but used examples can be found on Drive Marketplace too.

This generation of Toyota Corolla has been in service since 2018 with minimal updates, so you’d be forgiven for thinking the design is starting to date. At least, that was my impression after popping my head inside the cabin.

The cabin is small and the ergonomics are intimate. The steering wheel is the right distance from the driver and the driving position is bang-on. But, it’s obvious that the Corolla’s interior is dated when you spy the tiny 8.0-inch screen on the dash and a physical handbrake to secure the car.

That said, most surfaces are covered in leather-look or suede-effect trim – it means your bum is tightly gripped between the bolsters and fabric when rocketing around corners and coming to a quick stop.

There are alloy pedals in the footwell and plastic paddles behind the steering wheel for changing gears. Both are fair inclusions and don’t feel overly flimsy.

It’s a shame to see Toyota get rid of dedicated storage areas with lids – there are no spots where you could stow a wallet or keys out of sight. At least it comes with a wireless smartphone charger.

It would be a dark cabin if not for the integrated LED door lights – there is little in the way of contrasting trims or design inlays, though the seats are trimmed with red stitching.

Some nice-to-haves include seat and steering wheel heating, keyless entry, USB-C power ports, dual-zone climate control, and a head-up display for the driver.

I did say that the GR Corolla is marginally more practical than the GR Yaris, but there’s a strong emphasis on the 'marginally'. The second row of the Corolla is extremely tight, no matter how tall you are.

There’s barely any space for your legs, and the tapering rear roof line cuts into head room.

Limited storage options are on offer in the second row, and the cupholders are mounted weirdly in the door card, which doesn’t help leg space. 

The story doesn’t get much better inside the boot – there’s only 213 litres of stowage capacity, which means it’s better at catering to day bags and backpacks than suitcases. Shame too, the GR Corolla only gets a tyre repair kit, so no spare wheel.

Considering the GR Corolla barely ups the practicality stakes, perhaps it’s a better option to just give up and get a GR Yaris – at least you wouldn’t be trying to fool yourself.

Toyota’s latest multimedia software does service in the GR Corolla, and it now includes wireless Android Auto; however, it’s viewed on a small 8.0-inch screen.

This is small by 2025 standards, particularly when you’ve got such a large 12.3-inch digital cluster in front of the driver. It feels as though these two displays should be swapped around.

In any case, the functionality within is decent. There’s integrated satellite navigation and digital radio to play with, but I spent the majority of my time using wireless Apple CarPlay.

There’s relatively little to play with… Although there’s a Custom drive mode that you configure through the touchscreen, but it can only tweak the air conditioning, powertrain, and steering response.

It's more entertaining to cycle across to the digital cluster to perfect your preferred gauges and displays – there’s a boost gauge, traction meters, fuel data, g-meters, and engine temperature displays to choose from.

There’s also a racetrack view that shows revs in a linear format – my favourite between that and a traditional dial display.

A 12-speaker JBL sound system provides enough oomph to ensure tunes are rendered faithfully, though it’s not the last word in definition.

Toyota Connected Services can be accessed through the myToyota smartphone app to control various parts of the car remotely. This includes vehicle tracking and diagnostics.

The Toyota Corolla range is unrated by ANCAP. The last time it was tested, in 2018, it achieved a five-star score, but this has since been dropped after ANCAP’s six-year rule elapsed.

As ANCAP advances its test criteria every few years, older test results may not be comparable to more recent ones. This is why ANCAP has introduced a time limit on results.

Safety is seen to by seven airbags and a complement of active safety technologies including high- and low-speed autonomous emergency braking, lane-departure alert with steering assist, lane-centring assist, speed sign assist, all-speed adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert, and a reverse camera.

I didn’t run into issues with any of the above systems, and I particularly like how reactive the car’s adaptive cruise control and lane-centring systems are to other vehicles and bends in the road.

The automatic GR Corolla is fitted with stop-and-go adaptive cruise control that can bring the car to a halt in traffic, then set off again afterwards. The manual version cannot do this.

Toyotas in Australia come with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and the GR Corolla is no different.

When we first drove the GR Corolla Morizo edition, we found that Toyota doesn’t have a specific warranty that covers drivers for warranty claims on a racetrack, like Hyundai does with its N products. However, Toyota will tackle claims on a “case-by-case basis”.

Unfortunately, servicing is called for every 10,000km or six months – this is far shorter than rivals’ offerings.

Toyota doesn’t detail the servicing costs for the automatic variant as yet – this article will be updated with its response – though the manual is priced at $310 for each of the first six services.

It’s more expensive than a Honda Civic Type R, which costs $995 over the first five years/50,000km.

The GR Corolla GTS auto costs bang on $2000 per year to insure based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male driver living in Chatswood, NSW. This is more expensive to insure than we've found for the VW Golf R in the past ($1508) and the Hyundai i30 N ($1334). Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

As with most performance-oriented cars, the Toyota GR Corolla requires 98-octane premium unleaded petrol as a minimum. That’ll drive up the running costs by a fair margin, though it’s fairly standard for a car that’ll go fast.

Toyota says the GR Corolla auto returns a combined consumption of 9.5 litres per 100 kilometres, though I wasn’t able to match this throughout my week.

After some spirited driving, freeway use, suburban running, and bumper-to-bumper traffic, the GR Corolla returned 12.5L/100km during my time with it.

This is far from the Toyota Corolla we know and love. The GR Corolla’s been in market for a few years now, but the premise of a hotted-up version still makes me smile whenever I see one on the road or, in fact, when I’m behind the wheel.

Prod the small 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder into life and you’re rewarded with a surprisingly gruff exhaust note from such a small-capacity unit. The brutish character stays long after you set off, returning a satisfying grumble, especially at subdued revs.

Putting its 221kW/400Nm to the ground, the GR-Four all-wheel-drive system is deftly capable of ensuring all outputs result in swift acceleration. Throughout my week with the car, I never once heard slip from the wheels and was really impressed with the levels of grip on offer.

Don’t forget, the neat little dial on the centre console allows the system to switch between three different torque splits: 60:40 front-to-rear, 30:70 front-to-rear, or 50:50 equal.

You can feel the character and handling qualities of the GR Corolla change as you progress through each of these modes, with the back end pushing out further in the 70 per cent rear-driven split.

It’s about the extent to which you can play with driving modes and car settings – there is a sport mode and an individual setting, though the parameters you can tweak are limited.

The biggest change with this ‘facelift’, in addition to the extra 30Nm of torque, is the addition of the eight-speed automatic transmission. I really like the integration of the automatic – it’s really snappy to change gears and quite engaging when you take things into your own hands using the paddles.

There’s less change with the rest of the car, which is a positive thing. It means the GR Corolla’s steering system feels incisive and direct. Though it’s a lighter-feeling steering, there’s a darty character that allows a sharp turn-in. GR Corollas have four-piston brake calipers up front and two-piston at the rear. What they lack in initial bite, they make up for with strong stopping ability as you start leaning into them more heavily.

The suspension has the bandwidth to handle dynamic driving – keeping the GR Corolla stable through corners and unfazed by mid-corner bumps – while retaining the ability to act comfortably for everyday commuting. Though it’s a single-stage suspension system, the GR Corolla doesn’t exhibit a choppy or bumpy ride over speed humps or road imperfections. A very well-sorted damping set-up.

Toyota has added an active noise-cancellation system to reduce interior road noise for MY25 cars, though it’s had little impact on overall road noise.

Save for the addition of the automatic transmission option, this 2025 GR Corolla is largely unchanged to its pre-update predecessor. This is great news because it remains fast, it’s fun, and it’s arguably even easier to live with every day thanks to the addition of that automatic.

In saying that, GR Corolla buyers don't seem the type to benefit from an automatic transmission. Although it makes the car easier to live with every day, the GR Corolla appeals more to enthusiasts than something like the Volkswagen Golf R.

In any case, the good news is that this new eight-speed auto option hasn't diminished the GR Corolla's driving experience. You might have to live with a small cabin, small interior, and small-screen tech – but the driving experience trade-off is worth it.

Tom started out in the automotive industry by exploiting his photographic skills but quickly learned journalists got the better end of the deal. With tenures at CarAdvice, Wheels Media, and now Drive, Tom's breadth of experience and industry knowledge informs a strong opinion on all things automotive. At Drive, Tom covers automotive news, car reviews, advice, and holds a special interest in long-form feature stories.

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