2025 Toyota GR Corolla 8DAT First Drive: Hot Hatch Populist

You can brag about all the heel-toe downshifts and perfect launches and driver engagement you want, but it’s difficult to deny the convenience of a decent automatic transmission for all but the most strident Luddites. Luckily, modern slushboxes aren’t necessarily slushy anymore, being far more responsive and enjoyable than their ancestors that earned the nickname. So much so, in fact, that some performance-car manufacturers are switching from manuals and dual-clutch gearboxes to torque-converter automatics. Today, we’re talking about the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla.

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Meet the 2025 GR Corolla

The 2025 Toyota GR Corolla joins the group by way of an optional Gazoo Racing–tuned eight-speed automatic transmission. Although expected to only account for about 20 percent of GR Corolla sales—a six-speed stick remains standard—the automatic should help steal some sales away from the dual-clutch–equipped Volkswagen Golf R, provided it doesn’t lose the raucous sportiness that makes Toyota’s hot hatch so appealing. To learn how the “GR Direct Automatic Transmission”—or DAT, as it’s also known—performs in a sporty setting, the automaker invited us to North Carolina’s Charlotte Motor Speedway to sample it on the track’s famous roval layout that features tight hairpins, chicanes, long sweepers, and even some time on the NASCAR banking.

The experience also helped us feel out some of the mechanical changes that come to all 2025 Toyota GR Corollas, including retuned rear springs and anti-roll bars, extra rebound springs front and rear, and a raised rear trailing link to provide greater stability and wheel control. And while horsepower from the turbocharged 1.6-liter I-3 engine remains at 300, torque increases from 273 to 295 lb-ft.

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Snappy Transmission

The extra torque is well-matched to the eight-speed auto’s gear ratios. Second, third, and fourth gears are shorter than their manual-transmission equivalents, giving the latest GR Corolla excellent throttle response and mid-range acceleration both around town and on the track. Such decent engineering would be wasted if the automatic-equipped GR Corolla didn’t swap gears crisply, but it does. Shifts are quick and precise, and the transmission responds well to the steering-wheel paddles’ commands. The engine will even rev into its fuel cutoff if the driver waits too long before shifting, a nice concession for clutch-accustomed control freaks.

Left in pure automatic mode, the gearbox downshifts during hard braking to assist in deceleration, but unfortunately it has a nasty habit of changing gears mid-corner, even if you aren’t applying brake or throttle. To its credit, the GR Corolla downshifts quickly when it’s time to accelerate past the apex, but it would be much nicer if the transmission held gears longer when the car is in Track mode.

Driven back-to-back with a manual-transmission model, the automatic-equipped GR Corolla feels a bit punchier on launch, which could just be the impression of extra gear changes since Toyota claims an identical 0–60-mph run of 4.9 seconds regardless of gearbox. Finely calibrated butt dynos may, however, notice the extra 45 pounds of fat the automatic version must carry around, much of it over the front wheels.

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What Else?

Turn-in is sharper in the manual-transmission GR Corolla, if only just. Apart from the gearbox change, it was difficult to parse out exactly how different the slightly reworked 2025 model handles relative to its immediate predecessor. However, with plenty of all-wheel-drive grip, reasonably neutral handling that allows some oversteer during trail braking, and a quick-revving and novel-sounding engine under the hood, the Toyota hot hatch is still good fun. Whether you’re on a track or a freeway cloverleaf, the updated GR Corolla is engaging and exciting, with tons of personality to back up its commendable mechanicals.

Designed to Drive

Toyota also made some improvements to the 2025 GR Corolla’s cooling system, with a reshaped front bumper that sends air to both the conventional radiator and a supplemental sub-radiator located on the car’s passenger side; a cooler for the automatic transmission fluid lives behind the vent on the left side. There’s also a passive cooling duct in the undertray, reducing engine bay temperatures.

The car’s GR-Four all-wheel-drive system gets a new controller as well. The outgoing GR Corolla had three modes that fixed the front-rear torque split at 60:40, 50:50, or 30:70, while the 2025 model replaces the former two with Normal and Gravel settings. Track mode now features a variable, computer-controlled split varying between 60:40 and 30:70, prioritizing more front-axle torque for stability in high-speed corners and more rear-wheel action for nimbleness at lower speeds.

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Altered State

Unfortunately, Toyota didn’t make many changes to the 2025 GR Corolla to combat its cheap-feeling interior. There’s a gummy-feeling “soft-touch” coating on the door handles and steering wheel spokes, but the hatch’s interior feels a step down from the handsome Honda Civic Type R’s. We could excuse that foible last year in exchange for the GR’s reasonably low starting price of $36,500, less than any of its rivals save the front-wheel-drive, slightly less powerful Hyundai Elantra N.

But for 2025, the starting price increases by $2,360 for the Core model, and if you want an automatic transmission, add $2,000 to that sum. The Premium is up to $41,440 with the manual or $43,440 with the auto, while the Premium Plus costs $45,515 and $47,515, respectively. Our advice: Either save your cash and stick with the GR Corolla Core or pony up $44,795 for the nicer-feeling Civic Type R.

Still, we set out to learn if Toyota tuned its automatic transmission to suit the GR Corolla’s character, and it mostly can—save for holding gears for too long, which needs to be improved. Otherwise, the eight-speed is smoother and easier to drive around town, and the hot hatch is nearly as responsive and involving as its manual sibling during hard driving. Luddites (like this author) still prefer the six-speed handshake but thank goodness the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla hasn’t stopped being snappy just because it lacks a clutch pedal.