6 Reasons to Buy a 2024 Toyota GR Corolla (What’s New)

[Music] the Toyota gr Corolla is an excellent homage to the now late Street goinging rally cars today I'll show you why I'll go over its good and bad attributes and what's new for 2024 to start things off there were quite a few small changes for the new model year we have subtle tweaks to the aerody ducts up front along with some aluminum sheets put around the front and rear bumper to improve air flow and stability I asked Toyota this was not to help vent the rear clutch pack they also messed with the mounting bolts for the steering rear suspension and battery ground all extremely subtle changes but I'm happy to see the effort the trims see a more thorough treatment the base core trim now offers only the performance package if you want stuff like the mid JBL sound system or heated front seats you're going to have to step up to the new premium trim which equips the gr with all of the previously optional packages the premium gets rid of a little hard touch plastic and adds new parking sensors and the ultra suede and leatherette trimmed seats of the circuit Edition it's not cheap but it really makes the circuit Edition kind of a hard sell as that model is now like 46 Grand but it too does see a few changes one you can only get it in the white or the new blue color on the inside blue accents replace the old red ones and there's some new forged BBS wheels and while the marizo trim is done Toyota now allows you to accessorize performance shocks and lowering springs along with the circuit Edition spoiler the ladder comes at a very reasonable price and I may buy one myself as this is my own personal car and after driving mine for over 8,000 M I have some strong opinions on this thing so let's get into the good stuff first one of the things that I appreciate the most about this is the powertrain so it is Toyota's g16 1.6 L inline 3 that's been boosted into the year 3000 it makes 300 horsepower it sounds like an inline six with a speech impediment and it also makes a lot of Bros on the internet very anxious for you as they'll tell you it's going to blow up and this is under too much pressure how will it ever handle the power of a cold air intake in stickers Jokes Aside if you want a car that's easiest to tune something like a golf r or Subaru Rex would probably be a better route though people overseas have gotten these things to 400 horsepower without destroying them in the gr yarus contrary to what a lot of people believe they can be modified this is a purpose-built Performance Engine manufactured by one of the most trustworthy companies out there before I jump on their throat I'm going to let them prove themselves and you know what I don't really have a big desire to modify it I've gotten this from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds flat without 1ft roll out using the industry standard that is 4.7 seconds part of this is the gearing of the standard six-speed manual transmission you're going to have to shift a lot but it allows you to stay in the nice meaty Power Band of the three-cylinder the shifter also makes it easy to snap through the gears while there is some turbo lag it's not too egregious and it doesn't feel dead when you're just driving it around town or on the highway and when you do open it up it pulls all the way up to that 7,000 RPM Red Line I would like the shifter to feel a little bit more mechanical it's very easy to operate but you're only going to feel the vibrations of the engine when you're at high RPM the same goes for the clutch which is a little on the light side but it's easy to modulate it's linear it's an approachable car to drive near or at its limits just not the most fun gearbox to operate another big perk is the handling like a performance car should it has quick steering the steering also has a nice weight to it when it's in sport mode and it builds up all right as you're going through corners not the most communicative out there but there's some life to it and with the suspension when you're on the track or really pushing it there's going to be a little bit of body roll but I think it's perfect for back road driving as it keeps the thing glued to the ground it feels highly poised and it's something that just feels confident on any type of row the giant brakes with the two-piece rotors up front bite hard yet they're still pretty easy to modulate and if you have big feet you can heal to downshift as well though some people find it difficult to do so with the gr so it's nice that this also comes with auto rev matching of course a differentiating factor from this to the Elantra n and Civic type art is all-wheel drive so this is a gr exclusive drivetrain power is always going to go up front but you have three different modes to more or less tell it what to prioritize you can send up to 70% of torque to the rear in some scenarios it can actually disconnect the rear wheels something that I've never even noticed it do it's always got traction though don't expected to be a drift monster you really have to drive like an idiot to get the tail end out but this does actually rotate really nicely under the brakes which is something that I should add there for the handling optional on the core standard on everything else is the performance package which gives you the limited slip front and rear differentials along with painted calipers I found this thing to really claw its way through anything even snow it performed really really well I've also come to appreciate the features so stuff like that auto rev matching is helpful but also the anti-stall it gives you a little bit of throttle as you're releasing the clutch which helps beginners and makes it a little bit less fatiguing in stop and go traffic plus despite it being a manual transmission you have adaptive cruise control with Lane centering and it works better here than in most other cars that I test with that lane tracing off it's never bothered me on Corners either on the highway it's accurate and smooth it's Toyota's latest safety sense 3.0 that gets over the a updates and I know some of you are screaming in the comment section I don't want any of this in my performance car you don't need to use adaptive cruise or Lane centering and if you put it in sport and hold the traction control button you can shut everything off and go into what Toyota calls expert mode Toyota also implemented an actual handbrake they don't offer that on the regular Corolla and it's not just mechanical it also disconnects the rear axle so that you don't damage it if you pull it while you're driving which is kind of an unexpected move by Toyota but don't don't expect them to pay your insurance deductible I'm not sure how many people who are buying $40,000 hatchbacks are going to rip that thing so that may be a feature best left to the fourth owner on top of the driver related features you also have a couple amenities on the inside that I wouldn't expect to see like the available heated steering wheel and heated seats the crispy customizable full digital gauge cluster Toyota's smart proximity key on all specs and the Wireless Apple carplay and Android auto and you know what while we're talking about the interior I've actually on the seats while they lack lumbar control to be supportive enough for long Journeys even at 63 the bolstering is good for twisty roads but I'd probably think about replacing them if I was tracking the car regularly the materials are cheap but the circuit and premiums Spruce it up with a little less hard touch Plastics and the back seat while it's tight has been big enough for my friends to deal with if they need to probably not something I'd recommend as a primary family vehicle but it can do some work if it needs to and you know what actually let's make that another reason that the gr Corolla is a standout that is its size so we have a lot of bloated cars these days and to a lot of people in the United States this is actually going to be a downside but for me I like that it's truly a compact car I love its short proportions in contrast with its big wide stance it also I'm sure helps it be efficient on the highway I can get like 33 m to the gallon it's approachable in a parking lot or any tight roads it helps it feel a little more playful and again if you're willing to compromise it can work for passengers and the seats do fold down flat and since it's a hatchback it actually was a big help when I was moving out of my old apartment the last reason is the biggest differentiating factor of the GRC and that's the rally car personality it seems like a lot of people are hoping that this is going to be an all-wheel drive Civic Type R and it's just not it's not that kind of track weapon in fact alantra end will come close to it in that setting while this is capable it's more about bringing you an experience it's a super easy car to trust on any road it has enough traction to be Spider-Man it's abusive it's under high boost the interior feels cheap it's small and nothing else on the market can quite capture the spirit of the old Ford Focus RS Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution or sub WRXSTI like the new gr Corolla but all that comes at a cost now before I start talking about the downsides I also want to bring up reliability this is a new model but the gr yars has been out for a a little bit now and I'm not reading any big common issues for that thing again this is an engine that's built to be abused it also has direct and port fuel injection to help keep the intake valves clean there's an old school vacuum operated wastegate which gives me hopes that Toyota did still build this with longevity in mind obviously it's going to be more expensive to maintain than your regular cars but when it comes to common issues the only things people have run into really so far would be things like interior rattles which I actually experienced myself and fixed by putting some killmat in the door some people also get annoyed by how the brakes squeak a little bit as you're coming to a stop that's more or less just a downside with performance breakes some also report unrefined powertrain noises which is something I noticed too it can kind of grumble a little bit as you're going through gears but it's more or less just how it is now after digging through some forums I also heard some people report a random misfire under hard acceleration that spurred on engine codes but then seemingly resolved itself apparently it's ECU related but overall after almost a year of being out nothing here has been worrisome and the grars which has been out for a little while now follows sou time is going to have to tell before I can add this to the reasons to buy a gr Corolla but now let's get into the reasons to run away and the biggest one is hands down the markup not the price the price is actually reasonable I mean yeah $40,000 for a Corolla for that money 0 to 60 and 5 seconds flat quar Mile in the low to mid 13s it's super confident it handles well it still has four doors in a hatch this is not any more expensive expensive in fact it's cheaper than the old Lance Evolution or Focus RS when you adjust for inflation but it becomes horrible after the market adjustments that have thankfully gone down I'm starting to see more people even getting them for MSRP depending on the region or how long they waited but still it's not an easy car to buy if that's what you're looking for something like a Hyundai Elantra n or especially the Subaru WRX would be better I think the only competitor that fares worse is the Civic Type R but when it comes to issues with the actual car the cargo area when you have the seats up is very short the interior quality is aono box to a te interior storage is limited as there's no center console something that takes a little getting used to and in the core grades there's very little flare there's also a considerable amount of road noise especially from the performance tires while I find it smooth enough on the highway the ride quality on a bad road is not for the faint of heart and some potholes have left scars on my brain you also have the all-wheel drive system which doesn't have a true rear bias and on its own doesn't do a Stellar job at rotating the car a bit of a nitpick as I do still like the setup there's also that gearbox which isn't bad or rubbery it's just not as mechanically satisfying as something that you'd find in a Honda or Mazda and lastly for hard or hot track use the rear clutch pack needs more venting or exhaust wrap in order to not overheat the gr Corolla requires you to make some sacrifices and while some of them I don't think are necessary to achieve the experience the basic idea of turn an Econo box into an absolute monster is alive and well here while this is now more of a personal take of mine I think right now people are obsessed with the money factor they look at it they see the price tag they see what some dealerships are marking it up for and then they see the shitbox interior and Corolla name plate and just dismiss it as a whole but the more that I live with it the more that I realize this cheapness is a part of the personality it also allows this to be built in a special Factory in small numbers and not cost 45 or 50 Grand well I guess if you get the circuit Edition it's never mind I can see it going down in history as a niche Enthusiast icon this kind of performance with this sort of No Frills base Corolla nature is something that I think people are going to lust after in 10 or 15 years when absolutely nothing like it will be available thanks for watching if you enjoyed the video then please leave a like to help me finesse the YouTube algorithm subscribe and hit the notification Bell for more fun detailed car content without fluff check out my patreon for an additional podcast and I'll catch you in the next one

Channel: Realistick

Views: 54,250

Keywords: 2023, vw gti, vw, volkswagen, subaru wrx, GR corolla 0-60, GR Corolla, GR, Corolla, gti, new, new cars, sport compact, hatchbacks, manual, automatic, reliability, 0-60, 0 to 60, wrx, honda, civic si, elantra n, japanese, jdm, golf r, cars, 2023 GR Corolla, hot hatch, 2023 WRX, WRX, Subaru, Awd, 40 grand, 30 grand, Best fun cars, civic type r, ctr, sti, car reviews, performance, GRC, turbo, 2024, miata

Id: fAXnKOdmHHg

Length: 12min 34sec (754 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 14 2023