In this episode, we take a deep dive into the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla, a car that turns the notion of the standard Corolla on its head. Richard shares his experience of driving this invigorating hot hatch, equipped with a 1.6-liter three-cylinder turbo and four-wheel drive, making it a true contender in the sports car market. From manual transmission rarity to its real-world applications on Colorado roads, explore why this model earns high marks not only for performance but also practicality. We cover both the strengths and areas for improvement of the GR Corolla, examining aspects such as its
We are back that time of the week where we throw a car review in, sort of do a drive radio slash Rush to Reason segment. We’ll play this again on Saturday as well. Richard, what have you driven lately?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, Dad, so one of my more favorite cars of the year, and I’m currently kind of finishing it off right now, and that is a 2025 Toyota Corolla, but this is the GR Corolla, which basically, outside of the name Corolla, this is nothing that you would expect of a Corolla. And I mean that in a good way. This is a hot hatch, Dad, right? And for folks that don’t know, there’s a segment of sedans out there that are, you know, Hatch, right? You know, kind of hatchback cars. And they’re hot hatches because they put some extra horsepower and stuff underneath the hood, and they make it a really fun drive. And, Dad, with this vehicle, they have done just that. And to amplify it, it’s got a six-speed manual transmission, which makes it that much more fun, and you can’t hardly find it. anymore in today’s world and you and i have talked about that many times i know i know some of your some of the cars you’ve even looked at you haven’t bought because you can’t find right that manual piece of it but again this is a premium plus model it’s got a 1.6 liter three-cylinder turbo underneath the hood that’s 300 horsepower 295 pounds feet of torque i mentioned the manual transmission also dad This is, which makes sense, four-wheel drive here in Colorado. And obviously, that’s for performance, right? You know, for gravel roads, dirt, whatever it might be. But here in Colorado, for a snow dad, it’s something, again, not the tires that are on this thing right now. But you get some good snow tires on it, you could absolutely drive this vehicle around. The nice thing about this, Dad, I will say, is it’s not so overpowering that you feel like you can’t ever… you know, get on the gas without doing it. You really, this car loves to live in second and third gear in those higher RPMs, right? That’s where this thing thrives and it does a great job at it. Is it the biggest car? No. You’ve got to put the first two rows up, or I should say the front row up a little bit more for the for the kids in the second row it’s got some strut supports in the back um you know in the hatch portion of it decent storage nothing crazy it’s got a fun functional hood that’s got some air vents on the front of it which works great um and so for folks if you’re curious you’re like richard what car are you talking about look it up and see because the pictures on this car are phenomenal Yeah, fuel economy, Dan, 21 and 28 for an average of 24. Price on this is $48,323 as listed, but you can get the core version of this car for just over $40,000. I would say maybe the only couple negatives I have, Dad, are small fuel tank, which is to be expected, right, on a vehicle like this. You’re not expecting a big fuel tank. I just know that I’m able to basically get about 200 to 250 miles on a full tank of fuel. So just take that for what it’s worth. The other thing, and some complaints, but again, for the price points, and some of you are going to maybe disagree with me here, It’s a little noisy on the interior, dad, especially at highway speeds. Is that something that would prevent me from buying this car? No, I just want you to know what you’re getting into because to me, that’s something that is, again, just I want to know, right? Especially if I’m going to spend almost $50,000 on a car. outside of that dad it is one of my more favorite cars that we’ve driven this year and i did not expect that honestly i had no idea what to expect when i got this vehicle and i got into it and i have just had an absolute blast and obviously you’re seeing pictures of it kind of first impressions kind of a pretty sort of and correct me if i’m wrong but it’s sort of the answer to a subaru sti am i thinking correctly wrx sti Yeah, this is definitely in that same realm. I know Volkswagen’s had their Golf, right? Their Golf R in a lot of ways. And yes, again, this segment’s getting a little bit more busy in a lot of ways. And overall… I think this is a really good entrance into the market for Toyota because it just it works well. The 300 horsepower is not so crazy. It’s got a three tip exhaust on it, which is a fun little thing, kind of attractive. Honestly, the car itself is really attractive car and really something that I would encourage folks to get out. And if you’re just looking kind of for a fun car to tool around in that, just have a hard time kind of finding something else that you can compete with.
SPEAKER 01 :
No, and again, folks, looking at the car, if you’re into that sort of – well, let me just say it this way, Richard. If somebody’s looking for an entry-level sports car that you can still drive on an everyday basis, it’s probably not going to be the family truckster. It’s most likely going to be a single or a two-person type vehicle, plenty of room in the back for storage and all of that. But the reality is if you want a really fun performance car – Can’t really maybe afford to step up into, you know, the real, you know, solid, you know, sports cars like, you know, we’ve talked about in the past and even driven some of those. But to have that ability to buy that car for under 40 grand when most everything else is going to be a minimum 20K higher, that’s why they’ll sell them.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and again, this segment, this hot hatch segment continues to do well and continues to succeed. And I would absolutely, and again, I keep going back to this. For our altitude dad, and you mentioned kind of Subaru, that’s why they’ve done so well, right? Because they do have the all-wheel drive system. That’s something out here that does matter, right? It’s not a front-wheel drive vehicle. and this is something that you could drive up to the mountains. You could drive over the passes, right? Now, are you going to go through eight inches of snow in this thing? Probably not. You’re going to be a snowplow at that point in time. But is it something, like you said, where you could do a car like this and have some fun with it? In between $40,000 to $50,000, depending on how you… And like I said, the one that we drove is the Premium Plus, Dad. It is kind of the creme de la creme of this model. Okay. You’ve got a forged carbon fiber roof. There’s all sorts of stuff on here. Do you necessarily need all that? Maybe or maybe not. So, folks, just know when we’re talking about this, we’re not necessarily saying you have to do the very top of the line. But absolutely, Dad, like you said, for the value, this is a really competitive car, in my opinion. I love the way it looks. I love the way it drives. It was really, really a fun car to drive. to handle for a week and honestly got a lot of good compliments about it. So for folks that want to learn more about it, head to a local Toyota dealer, test drive it, get themselves in it, and when they do that, let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent them.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is John Rush from Rush to Reason and Drive Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Check out more of our podcasts at RushToReason.com or Drive-Radio.com.
