You have to hand it to Toyota. Plenty of automakers would’ve rolled out a niche enthusiast car like the GR Corolla, forgotten about it after two or three years, maybe given it a mid-cycle facelift, and unceremoniously discontinued it. (See: the Focus RS.) But Toyota has continuously upgraded its hot hatch every trip around the sun since it debuted for the 2023 model year. In ’24, the GR received airflow and floor improvements, and in ’25, torque rose by 22 lb-ft, the suspension got better, and customers gained an automatic option. The pace isn’t slowing for 2026, though, unfortunately, all those refinements have had an inverse relationship with the model’s pricing.
We’ll get into the GR Corolla’s improvements for the upcoming model year below, but first, I wanted to call attention to how much more expensive this car has gotten since it burst onto the scene in late 2022. At launch, you could get a base GR Corolla—that was called the “Core” trim at the time—for under $37,000, including destination. The Circuit Edition, which was fully loaded and threw in a forged carbon-fiber roof, started under $44K. Today, the cheapest GR Corolla costs $41,115, and the Circuit equivalent, now called Premium Plus, starts at an eye-watering $47,160.
| 2026 GR Corolla Price | 2023 GR Corolla Price | |
| Base/Core MT | $41,115 | $36,995 |
| Base/Core AT | $43,115 | N/A |
| Premium Plus/Circuit MT | $47,160 | $43,995 |
| Premium Plus/Circuit AT | $49,160 | N/A |
You’ll need to jump up to that Premium Plus grade to get luxuries such as suede-like seats. At the same time, we’d be remiss not to point out that today’s cheapest GR Corolla offers more than 2023’s. Beyond the torque bump and chassis improvements, front and rear limited-slip differentials weren’t standard on all trims back then, like they are now.
Still, we’re talking a $4,120 increase to get your foot in the door, and $3,165 for a fully spec’d hatch. Throw in the auto, and you’re right up against $50K for a Corolla, which, well, reflects the times we live in.
Here’s something else to consider. The GR Corolla used to offer a path to a high-performance hot hatch in the mid-high-$30K range. That meant a lot compared to the likes of the Honda Civic Type R and Volkswagen Golf R, but that gap has narrowed now, and the Hyundai Elantra N has arguably taken its place. For 2025, the Civic Type R cost $47,090 (it barely has options), while the Golf R started at $48,325. Both of those offer active dampers, too, while the GR still doesn’t. All things being equal, is Toyota’s offering better than either of those? You didn’t have to worry about that so much when you were saving a few grand, but now, it’s a question customers need to face.
What else does 2026 bring for the GR Corolla? There’s now “45.6 feet of additional structural adhesive” around the body, which supposedly improves stiffness. There’s also a new secondary air intake duct, aiming to keep those engine temps low during hard-charging runs—an area where the GR Corolla community has found the car, unfortunately, a bit ill-equipped. Inside, the Premium Plus trim receives a punched-up JBL sound system that includes a subwoofer and, say what you will, but as the owner of a ’24 Premium, this is probably the thing I’m most jealous of. The infotainment screen is weirdly still 8 inches large with chunky bezels, while normal Corollas get a center stack that’s much more in line with the times. Sure, these are not the reasons why people buy this car, but for a daily, they matter.
So that’s the 2026 GR Corolla lineup—but it’s not the whole lineup. We were promised a model with “track-focused enhancements” months ago, expected to bear the GRMN label. And, wouldn’t you know that footage of the GRMN-badged vehicle captured at a recent Toyota dealer event has already been scrubbed from social media. The plot, much like Toyota’s profit margins on this particular model, thickens.