GR Corolla vs Focus RS vs Kona N – Waking the Dead | Everyday Driver TV

[Music] thank you [Applause] [Music] this is the most anticipated car of the year I also feel like it may be the most anticipated car in the history of this show the lowly Corolla has now become the gr Corolla and this is the car everyone wants it's because it's so aspirational it's so attainable 300 horsepower 273 pound-feet of torque a six-speed manual all-wheel drive hatchback this is a recipe that just doesn't get made anymore and most of all it has rally breeding the cars that really brought us rally breeding and Motorsports breeding are dead the WRX STI the Evo 10 even the Golf R which we look forward to matching up against this one didn't ever really have rally breeding the last one of those that existed was the Focus RS [Music] yeah this one has rally breeding too you remember when Ford gave one of these to Ken Block it was sort of fun at all costs it still is it's still a worthy aspirational car the faster you drive this car the tighter it gets the more Nimble it gets [Music] the Focus RS was kind of the last gasp of an era at Ford where they were making an Enthusiast card pretty much every price point and this one came out in the Forty thousand dollar range was only made for a couple of years this is a 2017 right in the middle of the Run they made it 2016 to 2018 with this 2.3 liter engine which was in the EcoBoost Mustang here it's making 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque which makes it far more powerful than both the other cars here and this one has had three owners currently has over a hundred thousand miles and still drives pretty great [Music] foreign I remember when the Focus RS was the hot thing everyone wanted this car and then Ford stopped building it it went away it died and so we celebrated the next thing with Motorsports breeding the Veloster end we love the Veloster Inn it's one of our very favorite modern hatchbacks but it's dead too yep Hyundai is killing the Veloster in and they were replacing it with this essentially it's the Kona Inn the Kona is a small compact CUV from Hyundai and it now has the Veloster and drivetrain the good thing is Hyundai is investing in the rally reading and WRC breeding too with pretty much everything they build and this is it the end version of the Kona let's not call them hatchbacks though let's call them cuvs yeah that's it even though it pretty much looks like a tall hatchback it is a hatchback it is true that what most manufacturers want to make right now is SUVs because what most people want to buy right now is SUVs there's a lot of Manufacturers selling these hatchbacks slightly lifted calling them cuvs and finding sales success I mean the Subaru Crosstrek is one the Mercedes GLA is another heck the Porsche Macan is one so here this is in a strange category of is it a CUV is it an SUV is it a hatchback I'll tell you it's a hatchback on a lift kit Great Cars Great roads and all the reasons we love to drive TV web and podcast this is everyday driver [Music] so into this Market where cuvs are all that matter and nobody's buying an all-wheel drive hatchback anymore Toyota decides to make an all-wheel drive hatchback [Music] but it's not just like any all-wheel drive it's driver selectable yes other cars have that too I'm not even in sport mode yet let's go to Sport Club and then right down here this dial just behind the gear shift lever you can increase the torque to the back of the car I can do a 60 40 split and then throw 70 percent of the torque to the rear you can change it to track mode which is 50 50 split remember your STI going along those lines the difference is subtle it's there but it's subtle you don't feel like amazing difference in the way the car drives it is quite similar to the way in the old STIs you could dial front to back a little bit you could feel the difference but it wasn't like it became a different car all of a sudden the core starts at thirty five thousand nine hundred dollars the circuit is 42.9 and then the mariso Edition goes all the way up to 49 000 almost 50 Grand there's also differences between these three flavors the core version has an open diff now you can order the LSD front and rear on the core version your price goes up you might say 300 horsepower it's okay it's not a lot it's unbelievable amounts of power in this car this car jumps it moves got to pass this logging truck if I can yes I can only need to break sir I got you uh that shifter's good it's it's really light it's more along the economy car line than it is on like the new manual Supra which is very exact in fuel sports car but this is precise and very easy to use and it's satisfying to have a six-speed in a little hatchback and just be like I could use that I could enjoy that I am enjoying that foreign turn on intelligent manual transmission that will actually give you rev match we have it off in this car right now I enjoy a six-speed I like to heel toe I wish I were better at it but it is something that I thoroughly enjoy working on it's no shame to use this it just makes you go faster and Toyota has built these for track use they took the gr Yaris engine and made it more powerful and it's got triple pipes at high RPMs that Center pipe pretty much just opens straight up to give it better breathing that's what this car needed it needed to breathe it needed to run [Applause] three cylinder is unique and cool it gives it a unique little sound and I love that since we North Americans didn't get the gr Yaris we're getting this one this was really a high water mark in hot hatchbacks in many ways certainly a high water mark for Ford hatchbacks the RS had never been sold in America before and this one with 350 horsepower and torque is intended to be as hardcore as possible the suspension is way too hard for most Street driving it has a lot of power a lot of Personality this is just out of 10 all the time and screaming I forgot how much power this car makes 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque out of a 2.3 liter turbocharged four this one has the fastest 0-60 running about four and a half seconds in some cases whereas the others are running closer to five what's interesting about the engine is that you're above four 5000 RPM somewhere in there it sounds like you're at about three it's very distant it's muted in a weird way when it was first sold this car again to reputation is being unreliable because some of the engines on the very early run had been built incorrectly with the wrong gasket but here's one with a hundred thousand miles still running great in fact this thing feels really new and it isn't at all I've always thought the focus shifter was a little bit too far to the right you can see actually the drive mode buttons are between the driver and the gear shift knob here I want this to be lined up closer to me whereas on the Corolla it feels a little bit better a shifter in this is longer throws and not quite as satisfying as the one in that Corolla but of course that's better than the Kona which doesn't even offer a manual so pick your poison there it is a hatchback exactly what this is it's just in a different category so you're cool again right no more hatchbacks that's so yesterday's news but it isn't nearly as hardcore as the other two the Blaster always punched well above its weight especially in price and this is almost the exact same horsepower and weight and size and performance as the other two cars this has a 0-60 of less than five seconds it weighs right between the other two cars at about 3 300 pounds it feels like the Tasmanian devil of the bunch it feels like it could just bite you at any moment so it's the same 2-liter turbo engine that we found in the Veloster in 286 horsepower 289 pound-feet of torque that is actually more horsepower and torque than it had when it was in the Veloster end and that comes down to overboost you notice the steering wheel it's got two giant end buttons which means you can customize what you want the car to do and that's been the Hallmark of end version cars you can change so many things to tailor it to what you're doing and then there's a bright red button down here it is the in Gs button the in grin shift you feel better you feel special yeah that's your overboost you hit that so there it goes [Music] okay we 've found the torque now it feels like it's given me the power the other two cars do and that's it for now grin shift that's really you couldn't have just said over boost or extra or surprise would have been fine not gonna scream not gonna shift in grin shift okay and it's quick but the issue here is it's not offered with all-wheel drive [Music] everyday driver is brought to you by covercraft use the code every day 22 for 10 off your order experience better when it was the Veloster in I like this kind of performance better when I'm sitting lower to the ground not this very abrupt school bus I'm hooning a van again that's what this feels like [Music] it just hesitates when you Chuck it into a corner in a way the other two cars don't do it's almost there and I like that we have this as comparison because this is the hatchback equivalent for Hyundai it's not as hardcore even though you can feel people from Motorsports develop this they wanted their little SUV to do things it shouldn't and they achieved their goal the handling of the Kona is very front wheel drive you can tell it's doing a lot of pulling up front and the back's kind of hanging on for dear life you can drive the other two and wonder if you need all-wheel drive you drive this and you know that you do this Kona end is like fun with body roll and it is genuinely fun but there's a lot of body roll because it's Tipsy because it's jacked up on its suspension it's a snorty little beast so agitated and I like that nature of the car but it's almost ill-suited to a tall SUV like this even though it's just a tall hatchback this is juvenile in a fantastic way it doesn't have a sophisticated ride it doesn't have a sophisticated feel it feels like a teenager feels like a teenager who just discovered espresso this has a few settings one is normal one is Sport what it needs is one that's calmed down it needs a calm down setting because this ride is jittery the extra ride height that you have to make it a CUV means that it's just kind of Buzzy and up on its toes now that can be really fun but it also can be quite bumpy it sits too high it's the amount of performance and the Twitchy turbocharged nature of it it's a little too much I want this car to be lower on its suspension [Music] [Applause] [Music] this one you sit even lower than you do in the Corolla this definitely has a sit on the floorboard sensation and a hatchback this is the exact opposite of that Kona as far as sitting deep in the cabin Ford through all the trickery possible at this yes it's all-wheel drive but you can change what the power is doing in fact there's even a drift mode drift mode on this car was always a little bit strange because of course this is a front wheel drive chassis masquerading as a drift mobile this has more of an all the power all the time to all the wheels feel than the Corolla [Applause] it's still very relevant it seems like such an old news kind of a car but the driving Dynamics are hard to beat oh little squeal a little Screech I like that yeah you just want to go find the limits I still feel like I'm piloting a heavier car just more B car and I want something really Nimble and light this electric steering rack actually feels more analog than the one on the Corolla I'm talking about slight amounts here but this has an incredible dive off center there's no slack in this steering rack whatsoever and the wheel takes more effort and has more feel of the drivetrain [Music] even with a hundred thousand miles on it the tiniest bit of turn in and this car is tracking with you and there's very little body roll now the downside to very little body roll and a very abrupt steering is that this rides terribly it just rides way too rough for most conditions now if you're on a racetrack you're probably going to be pretty happy with it I'm not on a race track any imperfection in the road and I'm kind of hating myself and I even have the suspension set on the softer setting I can set it on the harder setting with the end of the stock and then it's just a comedy routine the all-wheel drive on this car is sort of like the gr Corolla where it distances you from the driving experience but I do like the Focus RS handling better I like how this turns in it seems lighter more delicate more information the Corolla feels more distant [Music] I think almost every gr Corolla owner is going to pick a different setting for which Drive Wheels get how much power and they're going to pick it for very personal reasons but it's at 60 40 you can feel the front half of the car it's just a little bit in charge it's like they have 51 percent of the say in the marriage when you have the 70 30 on you can put the power to it on the back of a corner and it it wants to rotate a little bit like a rear wheel drive it doesn't do it fully but you can feel that the power is going more to the rear wheels and doesn't create as much scrub as you would normally get in a front-wheel drive by his car as precise and interesting as this is it's still a little bit muted by the all-wheel drive system but I'm willing to take that as a trade-off because you think you've come into a corner too fast and you haven't I'm not saying this defies physics but to solve is to add power see you Chuck it into a corner roll back onto the throttle add power and let the car think it's so much fun this has a more compliant ride than the Focus RS but yet it doesn't feel sloppy or have weird dive like I find in the Kona this really is a great middle ground yeah there's a little bit more body roll than I personally like but I do find the Focus RS to be way too aggressive the only problem driving this on the street is you're just going to see Red Mist there isn't a chance you can get in this car and drive normally you're gonna pass everyone you're going to out Corner practically everyone [Applause] this is a car that I need though this is part of a perfect garage you know when you're a kid and you wish for that breakfast cereal that was just marshmallows this is kind of that I mean there's a few little random pieces thrown in that you'll just Chuck out they're not the best but in general it was good that you waited for the box of marshmallows so pass the milk this is where we are [Music] [Applause] yes the car is as good as stats say as a matter of fact I think it's [Music] everyday driver is brought to you by grios garage use the code e driver for 10 off your order I really like the Kona end I really like in designation Hyundais but this is not the one that I want it works for some people and that is excellent and I still want a low to the ground little hatchback driving the Kona in makes me wonder if we're going to look back on this era of cars and wonder why cuvs were all we made I want Hyundai to embrace the hatchback nature of this because that's what it is let's stop calling it SUVs and CVS and we'll have a little hatchback to compete Hyundai's made something really cool with the Kona and I like how playful it is I like driving it I just wish it wasn't trying to be a CV this should just be a hatchback I liked this better when it was called the Veloster end [Music] even though this still looks interesting you have to be a real Enthusiast to really notice or care about the Focus RS anymore if this is one bookend and the Golf R is the other book in the gr Corolla Falls three quarters of the way toward this the driving Dynamics on the Focus RS Ford built them to be so good with Motorsports breeding that this is still valid it's still right driving this again I realize it's every bit as good as I remember it and every bit is stiffly sprung but it also it's disappointing because I wish Ford still sold this car and then I look over and realize the Corolla is the latest and greatest version of this exact idea almost this exact execution I can't believe this car exists and it's placed Toyota in a different category different headspace look at all these gr cars that they're building now Toyota's got sports cars and fun cars and track cars Galore whereas other companies have almost abandoned that kind of thinking and that's a bummer and I think that will only bode well for Toyota Toyota has actually said they're not going to make a ton of these and that's too bad I think it's a missed opportunity this is a car they should make as many as people will line up with money in hand the gr Corolla is built in the same Factory as the Lexus LFA it's hand built it feels very different when you're driving it's not like Toyota took a normal Corolla hatchback and screwed things to it it feels like a body shell on a race car I hate to say this because when I do it's going to add to the people that want to mark up these cars Beyond MSRP don't do that the problem is this is worth the hype it's not as good as all the hype but in this market segment I think this is the one you want [Music]

Channel: EverydayDriver

Views: 816,837

Keywords: Toyota GR Corolla, GR Corolla Review, GR Corolla Comparison, 2023 GR Corolla, Hot Hatchback, Hot Hatches, Best Hot Hatchback, Rally Cars, Ken Block, Straight Pipes, Throttle House, Everyday Driver, GR Corolla Vs

Id: q-qHmVdbH38

Length: 21min 12sec (1272 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2022