The updated Toyota GR Corolla will land in Australian showrooms in “early 2026”, but the company has yet announce pricing.
Revealed in Japan in the middle of September, the revised GR Corolla is indistinguishable from the model currently in showrooms with all the changes centred on making the body stiffer, keeping engine performance constant during hard driving sessions, and improving the sound system.
In order to increase body rigidity without increasing weight too much, Toyota has applied an extra 13.9 metres of structural adhesive throughout the body, bringing the total amount to 32.7 metres. Most of the new glue has been applied to the underbody and rear wheel wells to deal with the forces felt during hard driving.
Quite how much more rigid the body is Toyota isn’t saying yet, but the automaker claims the GR Corolla will feel even more intimate to drive, whether during daily trips or spirited runs.
CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal.
Output from the 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine is unchanged at 221kW and 400Nm, but there’s a new cool air duct for the secondary intake. It opens automatically at high engine speeds to draw air from the front of the grille. This is said to keep motor output steady even under sustained hard use.
As before, the 1.6-litre engine drives all four wheels with the aid of two limited slip differentials, and either a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic transmission.
The GR Corolla’s standard JBL sound system now has nine speakers with the addition of a subwoofer. It also gains Active Noise Control, which plays inverted-phase sound waves to reduce unwanted engine and other noises.
There’s also a new Active Sound Control system that “augments” the engine note based on throttle position and driving inputs. The driver can select from three sound patterns and three volume settings, or turn it off entirely.
At the GR Corolla’s Japanese launch, Toyota announced it was working on an optional, extra-cost software update for earlier models with 370Nm engines. Not only would the update bump torque output up to 400Nm, it will also alter the torque split settings, with the Race mode going from a fixed 50:50 front-to-rear setup to a user-adjustable setting that spans 60:40 to 30:70.
Still no word yet on whether this firmware upgrade will be made available in Australia.
