TOYOTA JUST KILLED THE COMPETITION

When I say Corolla, you think of an appliance. The definition of an anti-enthusiast. The actual polar opposite of fun. But Toyota's Gazoo Racing team just put the pedal to the metal and cranked things up to 11. With a fender flared, air scooped, 6-speed manual only, all-wheel drive hot hatch that was put on a Jenny Craig diet, and only 6,600 enthusiasts will be lucky enough to enjoy it in its first year of production. Now, taking a boring vanilla commuter and turning it into Ben & Jerry's half-baked apex killer isn't something new. Honda did it with the Civic and morphed it into the Civic Type R, and Hyundai with the Veloster N, and even Ford with the Focus RS. But the actual focus of this blinker fluid is Toyota. Because although they didn't reinvent the wheel, this one hits differently. And it just killed its competition. And I'm going to give you a very specific reason why. Let's go! Believe it or not, this isn't the first time that Toyota has spiced up the Corolla. Remember the 80s? Freddy, the 80s are over. Well, you probably weren't born then, but Toyota took an otherwise boring two-door Corolla 11 and created the AE86. It's now a drifter's delight that was first made famous by Initial D. Its classic and simple front-engine, right-wheel drive layout made it so any Joe Schmo could feel what it would be like to be Keiichi Tsuchiya behind the wheel. And yes, just like Keiichi, the AE86 was so damn legendary. And this new GR Corolla takes that exciting DNA from the 80s and brings it into the 21st century. What we got, and I cannot believe that I'm saying this in 2022, is this little hot hatch that burns fossil fuels. And not an Energizer bunny-powered EV that doesn't make all the right snorts and snarls us enthusiasts love. As my mom says, good things come in small packages. The little engine that could is a wonderful 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine. Yes, a three-cylinder engine putting out an amped up 300 horsepower and 273 foot-pounds of torque. Toyota instantly won us over as enthusiasts because, well, there's a lot to love, and it wasn't something we knew we even needed until we saw it. Features that really stick out like a sore thumb are, well, the GR4 all-wheel drive that gives three different power plays to the front and rear wheels, a shifter with a third pedal, which is an endangered species these days. You got fender flares, huge brakes, and dual exhaust, all in a little hot hatch package. Now, you can get the quote-unquote base core trim, or you can up the ante to the circuit edition, which supposedly is only coming out for the first year. Either way, getting your hands on one of these things is going to be trying to say the least. It's not because of the price, though, because, well, the GR Corolla will start at around $40,000, with the circuit edition adding another $5,000 at $45,000, which, honestly, the average new car price today is $47,000, so that seems pretty reasonable. Plus, given the amount of performance in this package, I'd kind of say it's a steal of a deal. I'm poor. The problem is that the GR Corolla hot hatch is going to be in short supply around the world. Every car nerd that I know wants one. For the first year of production, Toyota's going to build a little over 8,500 examples, with roughly 6,600 of them coming to the USA. Now, that's awesome that the majority are coming here, but let's put things into perspective for just a second. You see, one of the GR Corolla's main competitors, the Civic Type R, was introduced back in 2017, and globally, they've made over 46,000 of them in the last five model years. Here's an article from 2017, the first year of the Civic Type R, and dealers were demanding prices as high as $20,000 to $25,000 over the car's $35,000 MSRP. Now, it's hard to think that today Toyota is going to be able to produce anywhere near the 46,000 CTRs that Honda did, as if you do the math, 46,000 divided by 8,600, well, that means that it'll take about five model years for the GR Corolla to hit that number, and it's really kind of hard to imagine that this internal combustion antiquated platform won't have been pushed out by some sort of EV replacement by then. And Toyota isn't developing new technology, rather repurposing the last of their tried and true technology that they've already developed, which is a way cheaper way to do it, and then they're just pushing the limits. Case in point with the G16E GTS motor, it was plucked right out of the beautiful and itty bitty Yaris GR. Yes, it is a little bit more souped up, running over 22 pounds of boost on a street motor, but after all, it is a Toyota, and it was built to handle way more of that, so it's going to be fine, right? Yeah, it'll be fine. And I think we all know this is a final hurrah for all automakers pushing the boundaries of what internal combustion can do. Otherwise, why would we have a 4.4 liter twin turbo V8 and BMWs coaxing out 617 horsepower, or a 702 horsepower Hellcat motor in a Dodge pickup, or a mind blowing 670 horsepower out of a naturally aspirated V8 in a new Z06? You know, the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 ever shoehorned in a production car? Yeah, boys and girls, this right here today is the golden era of burning hydrocarbons. And honestly, I think we're all better for it, but it's not going to last forever. And that's why we must cherish the moments when manufacturers fight the norms and build us a limited run gas burning pocket rocket like the GR Corolla. In fact, we just did a video on a direct competitor of the GR Corolla, the Subaru WRX, and how they axed the STI version to instead focus on building an EV car for the future, which unfortunately makes sense. Plain and simple, mass produced EVs are what make manufacturers money. That helps their bottom line, not limited production, highly engaging cars catered towards enthusiasts like you and me. And when you take a step back from all of this, that's why the Toyota GR Corolla blindsided its competition, because when it was finally announced, no one really believed them. You see, the plain Jane Corolla is a perfect example of what you'd expect to see next to the definition of Toyota in the dictionary. Yeah, they do have the Mark 5 Supra, but that was a collaboration with BMW. And I don't know if we're over calling it a BMW Supra yet, are we? And you know, Toyota also teamed up with Subaru to create the FR-S or BR-Z, but that's still not totally Toyota DNA in a fun to drive sports car. But the GR Corolla, it has 100% Toyota DNA, and it's really shining a light on what Toyota stands for today. I think when you look at this tuner hot hatch, you can tell it was built by people that have a passion for motorsports with a ton of inspiration borrowed from rally culture, including aerodynamic design language, race-tuned suspension for the harshest road conditions, and a manual parking brake really to promote the perfect power slides time and time again. This was a car that was built, purposely built to bring a smile to your face. And I can't believe what I was just talking about is a Corolla, yeah, Toyota Corolla. And I think Gazoo Racing put everyone in the industry on alert when they showed what they were really capable of when they put their heart and soul into something. It was so unexpected that it was ever even built. And the fact that they were able to create such a masterpiece, well, if there was one manufacturer that I wouldn't bet against to create something special out of nothing, it would be Toyota. I mean, after all, they built the Lexus LFA out of thin air, and it is one of the most misunderstood supercars ever built. So if you enjoyed this video, you're going to love this overdrive video about the Lexus LFA here. I'm Brad, and this, like the GR Corolla, is ideal. And thank you for watching. And promise me one thing, keep living the ideal lifestyle.