The Toyota GR Yaris has an older brother that only a few Danes know about: the GR Corolla. Bilbasen has tested the unusual Corolla in California.
VIDEO AND PHOTO Morten Beck
The little GR Yaris is the best example that Toyota can do anything, as long as Toyota thinks it serves a purpose. How else can you explain that the Japanese make extremely sensible cars – and that they can also make a minicar that has sensational driving characteristics and wild technology?
The employees of Toyota Gazoo Racing, who take care of everything motorsport-related in the group, produce the GR Yaris in a small number per day, but at the same place they also produce a larger GR model that few Danes know: the GR Corolla.
In Canada, Japan and the USA, the fiery Corolla is sold, which, like the GR Yaris, has very little in common with the original model. A GR Corolla is much, much more than just a Corolla with a hot engine. But it is hot, because the three-cylinder 1.6 has 304 horsepower.
Already updated several times
Bilbasen has tested the wild Corolla in the USA. On the roads to, from and around Big Bear Lake, then on busy highways to desolate mountain roads, the GR Corolla steps in with manual variable four-wheel drive, manual transmission and pure entertainment.
In the USA, the GR Corolla costs from approximately DKK 255,000, but we have the special Circuit Edition, which comes in a limited edition of 1,600 copies, which costs approximately DKK 322,000. Will the GR Corolla ever come to Denmark? – Nothing further, there is no sign of it, but recently the GR Corolla has been spotted with light camouflage on the Nürburgring, so maybe there is hope.
If it comes, it will be in an updated version with a number of changes in the chassis, cooling and many other parts. The latest update, the second major since the model’s introduction, brings the option of the eight-speed automatic gearbox, which is now also an option in its little brother, the GR Yaris.
SPECIFICATIONS
Toyota GR Corolla Circuit Edition
Motor: R4, 1,618 cm3
Performance: 304 hp/370 newton meters
0-100 km/h: About 5 seconds
Top speed: 229 km/h
Consumption: Not disclosed
CO2 emissions: Not disclosed
Goal: 441/185/148 cm
Trunk: Not disclosed
Curb weight: 1,480 kilos
Towing capacity: 0 kilos
Price in the US: DKK 322,000
