Watch a rally driver find out.
Performance driving coach Wyatt Knox took a Toyota GR Corolla to a mountainous rally stage at the Team O'Neil Rally School as an episode from his YouTube series 'Will It Rally?'. Given that the GR Corolla was developed by Gazoo Racing using the rally-derived engine and GR-Four all-wheel drive system from the GR Yaris, it's a safe assumption that it will rally. The real question is: How well will it rally?
With 300 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque from its 1.6-liter three-cylinder turbocharged engine, we know it will be quick. With the GR-Four system, it should grip and handle. It's the suspension that had us curious to watch the video, as we don't have a handy rally stage to play on. Even better, Knox hit the rally stage in the snow.
The car Knox thrashes around the rally stage isn't the GR Yaris WRC homologation special, but it still performs brilliantly. Knox says the car is stock except for the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 winter tires. Even then, they are not studded and are designed for road cars, not for racing.
One of the beauties of the GR Corolla is that the stability and traction control systems can be completely turned off using the cheat code (Sport mode> Track Mode> Traction Control Off) to get the GR Corolla into Expert Mode.
Expert Mode, unfortunately, still doesn't turn off the Anti-lock Brake System (ABS). That means he doesn't have full control over slippery surfaces - like snow and ice. However, the car looks quick and agile, and Knox is impressed by the torque shifting around to maximize grip. He figured out how to handle modulation and managed to put in a quick run to complete the stage in 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
However, it's hard to compare with other cars as the time is set in the snow and ice. What we can tell is that the GR Corolla looks entirely at home on a rally stage, outperformed a mass market spec Corolla, and is likely just a suspension setup away from the road spec to be at its best.
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