2025 Toyota GR Corolla Track Drive: I'll Have Six, Not Eight

Is the Toyota GR Corolla Good on the Track?

• Generally speaking, yes. It comes out of the box with moderately track-focused brakes, tires and a configurable all-wheel-drive system, but we’d highly recommend going for the manual transmission rather than the new eight-speed automatic.

What Does the Toyota GR Corolla Compete With?

• Toyota’s lone hot hatch competes with the cluster of other ones that are available, including the Honda Civic Type R and Volkswagen Golf GTI and Golf R, as well as the Hyundai Elantra N sedan. Out of all of those, expect the GR Corolla to be more capable and raw than the VWs, but a bit less hardcore than the scalpel-like Civic Type R.

Listen, I know a good chunk of y’all are ready to hate the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla’s new optional automatic transmission before you even read past the headline. I get it — but I also don’t, since Volkswagen and Hyundai have long since proved you don’t have to have three pedals to have a hoot in a hatch. I’m fresh back from a few hours on the track with Toyota’s latest self-shifting pocket rocket, so at least give me the chance to set the record straight.

The record, in its straightest configuration: If I were planning to purchase a 2025 GR Corolla and knew with near certainty that I’d be taking it to the track with some frequency, I’d not opt for the new eight-speed automatic transmission.

Related: 2025 Toyota GR Corolla Expands Appeal With Available Automatic Transmission

Should I Get the Automatic Transmission in the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla?

Yup! A bit of a switcheroo there, but roughly 15 laps of Eagles Canyon Raceway in Decatur, Texas, revealed you’re giving up not just performance, but a whole heap of character with the loss of the GR Corolla’s third pedal. This isn’t coming from some inherent bias against automatic transmissions, either; I firmly believe a bad manual is worse than a good automatic, and when it came time to source a daily driver, I chose a small SUV with a continuously variable automatic transmission in place of something like a Honda Civic Si.

Navigating Los Angeles traffic in a manual-transmission car sucks. Had the seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf GTI still been in production at the time of my purchase, I’d have likely sprung for one in dual-clutch automatic form — ditto the Hyundai Veloster N. Alas, the eighth-generation Golf GTI had already arrived and the Veloster had already given way to the Elantra N, with my deal breakers being the touch-sensitive controls in the former and the, ah, challenging styling of the latter.

Unlike the dual-clutch transmissions in the hot VeeDubs and spicy Hyundais, the GR Corolla’s new transmission is a traditional automatic, seemingly a detriment until you remember that many of the industry’s finest performance transmissions are traditional automatics — like the current Toyota GR Supra’s ZF-sourced eight-speed auto. In the GR Corolla, shift speed and logic isn’t the real problem even in a track environment; it executes both upshifts and downshifts with passable speed, allowing for redline pulls and sustained high revs regardless of pace.

Is the GR Corolla’s New Automatic Transmission Worth It?

Don’t mistake this for a passing grade. It’s not the slowest-shifting traditional automatic I’ve driven, but it sure ain’t the quickest. I’d say this also applies rather neatly to the automatic GR Corolla’s general performance on the circuit — likely quicker than a GTI, but also a darn sight slower than a Golf R or Civic Type R. All conjecture, but it feels slower in every metric when driven back to back with the manual-transmission GR Corolla, particularly in straight-line pace. The automatic GR Corolla feels down some 30-odd horsepower when you properly pin it. (The car’s turbocharged three-cylinder engine is rated at 300 hp regardless of transmission.)

Whether due to how the all-wheel-drive system chats with the new automatic or outright vampirism from the new driveline, the automatic GR isn’t as much of a hoot as the manual. And in all fairness, it’s not like the six-speed stick shift is a back-straight stunner, but it’s how the power is delivered rather than the meted end result.

Still, if you plan on operating the GR Corolla exclusively within the bounds of a choked urban maze or are limited by mobility challenges, the automatic GR still makes all the right noises, grips like a micro Nissan GT-R and packs (almost) the same amount of surprise-and-delight hot-hatchery hardware that makes the manual car one of our favorite budget performance cars.

How Does the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla Drive?

As before, the manual GR remains a joy. The selectable torque-split AWD system works with either transmission, offering a standard bias of 60/40, front-to-rear; 50/50 for gravel roads and up to 30/70 for track work. Other than a few slightly drifty moments using the mode that offers the 30/70 split, I generally left it in 50/50 mode so it could be the mature heir to the throne vacated by the Mitsubishi Evolution and Subaru WRX STI.

The GR Corolla is a sporty, grippy little thing no matter how you spec it. Understeer was only a distant threat during severe maltreatment, with slightly laggy and bursty power delivery that has a fine low end, meaty midrange and sustained upper range that’ll have you burying the accelerator pedal at every stoplight, on-ramp, driveway, valet stand and, ah, wherever.

Steering is as granular and well weighted, falling somewhere between the VWs’ numbness and the Civic Type R’s razor precision. Ditto on the general tactility of the GR, which has more outright capability and track-ready hardware than the overdigitized VWs but lacks the shocking capability, confidence and impressively finespun feel of the Honda.

If I lived anywhere else but metro Los Angeles or New York, the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla would be my preferred daily driver, no doubt about it. I’ll have mine in Premium trim, drenched in Supersonic Red — and with the manual transmission, for goodness’ sake.

More From Cars.com:

• 2025 Toyota GR Corolla Up Close: Minor Tweaks, Just Like We Like It
• Improved 2025 Toyota GR Corolla Jumps $2,800, Now Priced From $39,995
• Which New Cars Have Manual Transmissions?
• Shop for a 2025 Toyota GR Corolla Near You

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