Toyota GR Corolla 2025 Automatic Review

Boo! Toyota, you should be ashamed! Stop this sort of thing, and so on.

Honestly, did you imagine Toyota’s Gazoo Racing arm would simply fit a soft automatic gearbox to its hugely popular hot hatch and leave it at that? Take our word for it: it is far more committed to raising the GR Corolla’s performance benchmark than any onlooker, and every 2025 update is intended to refine an already successful formula. That includes the fresh eight-speed automatic transmission, engineered around performance from the outset. To be blunt, it changes gear better than you do.

Oof. But I’m brilliant at driving and all that!

Absolutely! Toyota has considered all your considerable talents at the wheel while creating a transmission designed to make you better still. Known as the GR-DAT – Gazoo Racing Direct Automatic Transmission – it is an eight-speed unit developed for exceptionally rapid downshifts, working with software intended to anticipate your next action.

Using your braking and throttle inputs, programming developed through extensive circuit and rally testing selects a gear almost ahead of your next move, ensuring the ideal ratio is already engaged when required. In essence, it allows ordinary drivers to shift as quickly as professionals – and perhaps even more quickly in some situations.

GR Corolla 2025 upgrades beyond the gearbox

The GR Corolla benefits from several modest revisions intended to make the whole package more enjoyable. First, the turbocharged 1.6-litre three-cylinder engine, which produces 300hp, sees torque rise from 273lb ft to 295lb ft. That higher output had previously been exclusive to the Morizo special-edition model when it launched. Cooling has also been enhanced, while automatic models receive dedicated channels to improve transmission-fluid cooling. Numerous suspension changes have been introduced too, including thicker bolts in certain areas.

On the software front, the all-wheel-drive mode selector has been revised to suit a broader range of conditions. Previously, drivers could choose a front-biased setting, a rear-biased setting or a 50:50 split for circuit use. The revised settings work like this: Normal maintains the front-led 60:40 distribution, while the 50:50 split is now assigned to Gravel mode, reflecting the GR’s development time on loose surfaces. Track mode now varies its split according to conditions, moving between 60:40 and 30:70 when it detects that either arrangement is needed.

Fine, but what if I still want a manual GR Corolla?

There is no need for concern: the manual GR Corolla is staying. Every upgrade listed above that is not exclusive to the automatic also appears on the stick-shift model. Indeed, the manual has received revisions of its own. Toyota says its clutch now returns more sharply, creating a more responsive sensation. Toyota states that both versions can still manage 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds and reach 143 mph, so choosing the manual does not mean drawing the short end of the… stick.

So how do the two versions compare?

They feel unexpectedly different. In many cars, changing from an automatic to a manual is not especially meaningful. Usually, it amounts to ‘X car but now with Y gearbox’, with the cars otherwise feeling almost identical apart from your personal preferences regarding the transmissions. With the GR Corolla, however, we were somewhat surprised to find that this was not the case.

Let us address the eight-speed elephant in the room first: what is the automatic like? Good. Very good, in fact. Extensively tested and calibrated, the transmission is tough enough to withstand all the punishment you can inflict on a circuit, to the extent that it supports a launch-control procedure. When left to operate alone, it is unusual to encounter a situation in which the gearbox is not preparing you for success, and you would need to be wilfully snobbish to dismiss its decisions.

Freed from that mental burden, you can concentrate on aiming the GR Corolla where you want it to go and getting it there as rapidly as possible. Sending power to all four wheels, the hatchback clings affectionately to the tarmac, even with traction control disabled and torque occasionally biased towards the rear. Will it rotate? Yes, especially under braking, but when it comes to outright pace and efficiency, the GR’s new automatic is excellent at producing smooth, quick and repeatable lap times.

For anyone feeling excluded, paddle shifters provide manual control, and using them alters the driving experience rather substantially. The automatic still handles the hard work, but it lets you make the decisions, for better or worse. The paddles come remarkably close to allowing you to attempt to break the car. Hold a low gear and the automatic will genuinely permit it to hit the redline. Brake late into a corner and select a lower ratio than necessary, and the transmission will probably comply. Even so, reaching the more slide-friendly gears is now simpler because there are fewer stages involved: brake, flick, turn in, apply power, smile.

Speaking of smiles, the manual GR Corolla remains the more entertaining car to play with. The automatic may be superb for lap times, while the accommodating paddle operation stops the AT from becoming entirely serious, but the MT model feels comparatively mischievous. Toyota referred to clutch improvements, yet we are convinced further revisions were made, as the new manual gearbox feels more forceful and more substantial than we recall.

Beyond the different ways the two transmissions operate, the manual GR Corolla felt noticeably lighter than the firm, securely planted automatic-equipped hatchback. “What’s the weight difference between them?” we hear you ask. 45 pounds. One plate, in gym terms. It is not a meaningful amount, yet the MT GR Corolla’s corners appeared to rise just slightly more as it rounded a bend. An odd observation, perhaps, but it only reinforced this version’s more playful character.

Nice. What does it cost?

You will pay a little extra for the automatic’s capabilities. Among the three grades, the entry-level Core GR Corolla costs $40,860 with the AT, compared with the MT’s $38,860 starting price. Pricing rises for the Premium trim, which brings a JBL stereo, parking sensors, several interior conveniences and gloss exterior details.

At the top of the range, Premium Plus costs $47,515. That buys the new automatic transmission, a carbon-fibre roof and a bulge in your roof to match the one in your, er, wallet.

What is the verdict, then?

It is encouraging that Toyota has not become complacent following the GR Corolla’s first, hugely successful spell on sale. Alongside a collection of incremental refinements, the new automatic gearbox represents a considerable enhancement of the car’s strengths. The model is now easier to access than ever, yet it is far from a simple concession for people unable to change their own gears: it is a seriously credible choice that should make drivers at every ability level consider their own priorities.

It would be a pity to deny yourself performance because of unreturned loyalty to a single car component. Overall, the new GR Corolla makes rapid driving easier and more enjoyable, which is everything we ever wanted.