The 2025 Toyota GR Corolla Is Still the AWD Hot Hatch King

With subtle, nerdy updates for 2025, the GR Corolla remains the king of sport compact charisma.

Photo by: Motor1.com

Chris Rosales

By: Chris Rosales

Feb 15, 2025 at 10:00am ET

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Toyota treats the GR Corolla like its favorite kid. Every year so far, there’s been a tiny update that guarantees a minuscule increase in performance, and for 2025, it’s another brace of subtle changes that add up to make a tiny difference. Oh, and there’s a new front fascia that looks like Shredder.

For 2024, the GRC got nerdy stuff like reshaped air curtain ducts and strips of aluminum tape behind the front bumper to increase aerodynamic efficiency by reducing static discharge. And it’s a similar story for 2025–a slight increase in rear anti-squat helps increase rear stiffness, rebound springs in the dampers improve overall traction, and a retuning of the clutch pedal makes the clutch engagement more positive and springier.

The only significant changes are a bump in torque: 295 pound-feet from 273, thanks to the ECU tune from the Morizo edition, and an optional automatic gearbox that I didn’t get to test. Yet.

What do you think?

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Of the three modern sport compacts–Hyundai Elantra N, Honda Civic Type R, and GRC–the GRC was always the most charismatic of the bunch, and the least apologetic. There was always something to the three-cylinder rumble, the slight dinkiness to the interior, and the lovely steering calibration that made it easy to fall in love.

Luckily, that is still true of the 2025 GRC. You’ll just have to watch our latest YouTube video to find out why.