2022 Toyota GR Corolla comes with sportier offerings and more stylish designs, so it would seem the right time to introduce a hot hatchback Toyota GR Corolla in Toyota showrooms sometime in 2022.
The 2022 Toyota GR Corolla will be a new addition to the Toyota lineup for 2022 and will go up against popular sport compacts such as the Honda Civic Si, Hyundai Veloster N, and the 10Best award-winning Volkswagen Golf GTI and Jetta GLI.
We aren’t sure what standard or optional features Toyota will offer on the GR Corolla, but we expect a starting price of around $30,000. We’ll know more closer to the car’s on-sale date, but one thing we’re hoping to find on the spec sheet is a six-speed manual transmission.
Toyota’s been on a crusade in recent years to add excitement to its lineup with sportier offerings and more stylish designs, so it would seem the right time to introduce a hot hatchback.
ENGINE AND IMPLEMENTATION
Toyota has been mum on details but we’d think the 257-hp turbocharged three-cylinder from the GR Yaris—a hatchback that the Japanese automaker sells in global markets outside of the United States—would drop into the Corolla’s engine bay just fine.
A six-speed manual is usually the transmission of choice in a sport compact car, but an automatic gearbox could be available as well; front-wheel drive would keep the GR Corolla in line with rivals but a modified version of the GR Yaris’s all-wheel-drive system might also be a possibility.
Current examples of the Corolla, even sporty SE, and XSE models, don’t offer particularly racy handling but upgrades to the suspension and chassis could make the GR Corolla a legitimate contender in the sport compact car segment.
ENERGY AND REAL-WORLD MPG
While the current 2022 Toyota GR Corolla is one of the more fuel-efficient options in its class, a high-performance GR variant might not be as impressive in this metric, even with a three-cylinder engine onboard. Still, it should still earn relatively decent EPA fuel economy ratings.
We expect a highway rating of around 30 mpg, which falls right between the Veloster N (29 mpg highway) and the Golf GTI (32 mpg highway). For more information about the GR Corolla’s fuel economy, visit the EPA’s website.
INTERIOR, CONVENIENCE, AND BOOTH
We expect the 2022 Toyota GR Corolla will share most of its cabin with the standard Corolla hatchback, which means good build quality, soft-touch materials, and plenty of features, but with racier trim and sport seats.
Standard equipment is likely to include dual-zone automatic climate control, heated seats, and ambient interior lighting. While we expect the GR Corolla to be offered only as a hatchback, it’s not entirely out of the question that Toyota could build a sedan version to go head-to-head with the Jetta GLI, the Subaru WRX, or the Civic Si sedan.
IN-VEHICLE INFOTAINMENT AND INTERCONNECTIONS
2022 Toyota GR Corolla comes with an 8.0-inch infotainment display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be standard and should also include Amazon Alexa capability and an onboard Wi-Fi hotspot. Navigation should be an option; an eight-speaker JBL stereo is expected to be available as well to replace a standard six-speaker stereo.
PROTECTION AND DRIVER ASSISTANCE ASPECTS
If the current Corolla hatchback is anything to go by, we’re expecting good results. Toyota currently offers much of its driver-assistance technology as standard on most of its lineup and we expect that to continue with the GR Corolla.
For more information about the GR Corolla’s crash-test results, visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) websites.
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