Upgraded Toyota GR Corolla sharper than ever

TOYOTA Gazoo Racing has honed its manic GR Corolla to be even sharper for 2026, claiming to have used learnings from its motorsport involvement to improve the car’s performance at the limit.

The hottest of hot hatch models from Toyota and its Gazoo Racing performance arm will land on local soil in early 2026, but pricing is yet to be revealed.

Current generation GR Corolla pricing starts from $72,718 driveaway for the manual and $75,293 for the automatic, putting it at the premium end of the hot hatch market to compete with models like the Honda Civic Type R ($79,000 driveaway) and Volkswagen Golf R ($70,990 plus on-road costs).

The new model ups the performance ante, with changes Toyota says came from its involvement in Japan’s Super Taikyu Series, tweaking both chassis stiffness and engine cooling.

Toyota claims to have added 74 per cent more structural adhesive throughout the chassis, totalling 32.7m in total, with the majority added throughout the underbody and rear wheel wells.

The reason for this, according to Toyota, is to allow the car to better handle “intense vertical and lateral G-forces” generated when driving in anger.

Another motorsport takeaway was the need for improved cooling, so Toyota has added a new cool air duct to the secondary air intake which opens at high RPM to bring intake temps down.

Toyota says these changes offer improved driveability and cooling when driving the car “at its limits”, hinting at owners’ likelihood to hit the racetrack.

At the heart of the GR Corolla is the same G16E-GTS three-cylinder turbocharged engine, producing an unchanged 221kW/400Nm, mated to either a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic transmission.

In addition to the functional performance upgrades, the new model now gets a subwoofer in the boot to take its sound system to nine speakers in total (up from eight), and the Active Noise Control has been tuned to reduce “unwanted engine noise” in the cabin.

For those who want more engine noise, Toyota has incorporated its Active Sound Control system into the new model, which alters the sound of the GR Corolla’s engine note based on throttle input.

The new faux engine noise system offers three sound patterns with three volume options, but owners wanting the real thing can turn it off.