Everyone’s attention is on the two facelifted GR hot hatches at the Toyota Gazoo Racing Season 7 finale, happening at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit now, but there’s another car on stage, one that’s a fair bit more attainable.
The 2025 Toyota Corolla GR Sport is the sportiest variant of the local civilian Corolla range, and it’s aimed at young drivers, even those with a family, who want a sporty sedan for everyday driving (UMW Toyota Motor’s words).
“Unlike ‘sporty variants’ of some other models in the market, the Corolla GR Sport does not merely have sportier looks but also genuinely improved driving performance, particularly in the area of handling,” the company says.
The 2025 car replaces the Corolla GR Sport that debut in August 2023, and the sedan gets revised exterior features, improved performance from a new ’10-speed transmission’ (more on this later), GR Sport leather and suede seats and an upgraded infotainment display.
We’ll start with the gearbox, which UMWT calls a 10-speed Sport Sequential Shiftmatic. Replacing the standard CVT with seven virtual ratios (it’s still a CVT), the ‘box here has more ratios that ‘allows for smoother transitions’ and each ratio has been ‘optimised for optimum performance’. The manual mode has enhanced response time and there are steering paddle shifters too, of course. UMWT has done this ’10-speed trick’ before with the 2020 Vios GR-S.
No change to the output of the 2ZR-FE 1.8-litre Dual VVT-i engine, which remains at 139 PS and 172 Nm, but UMWT says that revised ECU programming adds responsiveness. When in Sport mode, there’s ‘Auto Brake Downshifting and Cornering Gear Fix Control’ that aims to provide better throttle control when exiting a corner.
There’s more under the hood. The electric power steering’s ECU has been optimised for smoother steering during multi-turn manoeuvres, such as driving along a twisty road. “Being able to feel the torque more directly gives the driver a better feel of what the front wheels are doing. Together with better straightline stability, the driver will have more confidence at high speed,” UMWT says.
Like the old Vios GR-S and outgoing Corolla GR Sport, the 2025 car gets sharper handling than the 1.8 G thanks to retuned shock absorbers, rear coil springs and stabilisers. The result is reduced roll, pitch and bouncing, but the firmer damping and improvements to driving dynamics have not caused a loss of ride comfort, UMWT claims.
Exterior changes include a redesigned front bumper and lower grille, which is much more in line with the look of the full bore GR cars. A more square lower grille, basically. The ‘mouth’ is covered with a G-shaped mesh. The rear end is enhanced with a boot lid spoiler and lower spoiler, while the tail lamps have a darkened ‘smoked’ effect. UMWT says that aerodynamic performance has been improved.
To garnish, the 2025 Corolla GR Sport has a new two-tone body colour with a black roof. The three colour options are Red Mica Metallic, Platinum White Pearl Mica and Attitude Black Mica – the latter won’t be two-tone, of course. There should be no change to the wheels, which are 18-inch items paired with 225/40 tyres.
Inside, the black-themed cabin with red stitching gets new GR Sport Design front seats upholstered with leather and suede. Other notable points are a GR emblem for the sports steering wheel (start button too), red seatbelts and smoked silver metallic trim. A non-sporty but good upgrade is the larger 10-inch touchscreen infotainment with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The full Toyota Safety Sense suite of active safety systems is included, along with a security system with immobiliser, ultrasonic cabin sensor and glass breakage sensor. UMWT’s usual vehicle telematics system, too. The 2025 Toyota Corolla GR Sport is priced at RM149,800 on-the-road excluding insurance and the transferable factory warranty is five years with unlimited mileage.
GALLERY: 2025 Toyota Corolla GR Sport
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
This or civic RS?
Anytime Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
In my opinion the Mazda 3 full spec 2.0 will be a better option if to answer your question CIVIC RS.
This or civic RS
What is this crap? 2010 called.
still trying to milk from a outdated model and ask for premium. it’s digital age now and less uncles and aunties buying cars. wake up toyota!
I will have more fun with my Toyota Mark X 2.5 V6..
A lot of words about performance but there is no performance with a 10 ratio CVT and stiffer springs.
(Like) Proton S70 and Mazda 3
(Dislike) Corolla Altis
What not bring in the HEV version that Thailand already have?
a bit lazy to simply install a rear bumper skirt instead of a completely new ‘GR’ rear bumper innit ? they did it for the front but stopped at the rear ? why even lol.
that being said this is perhaps one of those cars no one asked for. but if they launched the hybrid Corolla instead, then that may be a different story.
Oy! Negara maju lain lama dah dapat Dynamic Force Engine dalam Corolla. CVT pun dah tak sama. Depa dpt CVT with actual launch gear lg. Malaysia bila lg?
139ps car need tuned suspension??
and then there’s Myvi owners tuned their car like boyracer with ah beng exhaust.
Poor car, 30years tech CVT and 1.8 VVTI still remain here, Toyota is really shit car
the downside is that it is only a 1.8 for RM150k. it should be the 2.0 version to give Honda a run for their money.
it’s aimed at young drivers, even those with a family, who want a sporty sedan for everyday driving (UMW Toyota Motor’s words)
the clarification by the author! LOL!! it shows how delusional toyota is today, for everyday driving in city, ev is a no brainer, 172nm torque is like turtle off the line, what gr sport? lmao
Do not talk bs EV here. Nobody cares about ev especially car enthusiasts. I rather take the old, reliable Corolla engine than any EV on the road. Give me any petrols cars than ev
Come on Toyota where is the Dynamic Force Engine which was released since 2018 don’t keep on dumping old tech to Malaysia.
Confusing. Toyota GR Sport and Toyota GR Corolla are two very different cars.
Corolla is no longer Corolla Altis ?
If they bring in the HEV variant with pricing around RM120k, then can go head one with others.
Then again, why UMW Toyota always give us the out-of-date version cars? Still 1.8 and not 2.0 at least?
CVT again… Toyota not moving forward at all ..
I am quite shallow. What’s wrong with CVT?
this is what i need from the TNGA Double Wishbone Corolla GR-S with the 10 speed CVT.
bcuz the 1.8 aluminium dual-vvti is robust,
performance is easy to be plug and play tuned or even bolt on turbo.
Horrible Dashboard
It’s really hard for me to relate CVT with GR…
What’s the difference between the Corolla and the Altis? I’m currently driving a Vios.