- 4 months ago
Two turbocharged legends face off: the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla Premium Plus and the 2025 Volkswagen Golf R Black Edition. Both bring over 300 horsepower
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00:00It is hot hatch day! We are into Hatchipi, California with the Toyota
00:19Gur Corolla and the Volkswagen Golfer. Sorry, that's the GR Corolla and the
00:25Golf R. We need to have a serious talk with the guy who does our cue cards.
00:28Anyway, both of these all-wheel drive turbocharged terrors are updated and
00:32improved for 2025 and today we are gonna figure out which one of them is best
00:36using our of the year criteria which I'm supposed to have memorized but once you
00:40get to my age, advancement in design, efficiency, engineering, excellence,
00:43performance of intended function, safety, and value. Now I am really eager to get
00:48out and drive these things on these beautiful curvy roads but let's take a
00:51very quick look on what has been changed for 2025.
00:58The GR Corolla absolutely stole our hearts when it first came out. It's
01:08powered by, god I love saying this, a 1.5 liter three-cylinder engine that puts out
01:13300 horsepower and for 2025 that engine gets a 22 pound feet of torque increase
01:20up to 295 so that it matches the Golf R. Big news for this year is an eight-speed
01:25automatic transmission. You can still get the six-speed manual but now there is an
01:29optional eight-speed automatic, new front fascia which actually has more openings
01:33for additional cooling including transmission coolers, new top-of-the-line
01:37premium plus model with this carbon fiber roof pricing, base model with the stick
01:41shift $39,995 and the model that you see right here premium plus the automatic, well
01:47this one stickers for $50,144.
01:53Now to the Golfer, it gets a 13 horsepower bump for its two-liter turbocharged engine,
01:57now up to 328 horsepower. Torque remains unchanged and of course the Golf R comes
02:02standard with a seven-speed automatic transmission. It also gets a new front fascia
02:07but it's the same good smooth look that we've gotten used to over the years and this snazzy new
02:12black edition which you see here. Also very interesting option package in which you pay
02:16more for less stuff. The Euro appearance package removes the sunroof, removes most of the power
02:21seat controls, removes the front seat ventilation and removes the driver's seat memory function but
02:26it saves 80 pounds and of course less weight makes you faster everywhere. Base price on the Golf R
02:33$48,325 so quite a bit more than the base GR Corolla and the car you see right here
02:40with that Euro style package in the black edition $53,731. Well we have a beautiful day with some
02:48fantastic twisty roads which is where these cars are at home so let's go drive some hot hatchbacks.
03:02Probably the biggest issue with this Corolla is the no... I'm only kidding I can actually talk to the
03:08normal voice. It is a little bit noisy in here but I have to tell you I love love love a three-cylinder
03:15engine. I love the noises they make. I love that kind of low thrum and I love that this car has only
03:21three cylinders and makes 300 horsepower from one and a half liters. That's 200 horsepower per liter. That is
03:29nuts! This car has the DNA of some of the great high-tech Japanese sports cars like the Mitsubishi Lancer
03:37Evolution and the Nissan GT-R. It's just that feeling of engineering unbridled and unbounding.
03:46Now it makes me so sad that the hot hatchback is an endangered species and I'm actually glad the
03:52Toyota came out with a relatively new one just a couple years ago. You know it's amazing how these
03:56cars have transformed. I mean really I guess this all started in the late 60s when automakers started
04:02putting great big engines into stripped down intermediate cars like the DTO and even more
04:07so the Plymouth Roadrunner. And then in the 80s this was kind of the answer. Volkswagen took the
04:12Rabbit, the Golf if you're European, gave it a little horsepower boost but a much stiffer suspension
04:16and the cars were all about momentum. It wasn't so much about going fast in a straight line like you
04:20would in a muscle car but it was about really having a lot of fun in the corners. And look at how the market
04:26has matured. I mean this thing is basically a road-going rally car. It's got amazing engine
04:31technology and of course this very sophisticated all-wheel drive system because the classic problem
04:36with a front-wheel drive hot hatchback is that when you try to blast out of the corner you accelerate
04:42the car sends the weight to the outside rear wheel. It unloads that front inside tire and that wheel
04:48starts spinning. Well all-wheel drive pretty much squashes that problem with a 500 pound sledgehammer
04:54and these very sophisticated all-wheel drive systems can send the power exactly where it needs to go.
05:00And the result is you can get out of that corner as fast as humanly possible with no worry about
05:04power oversteer, no worry about losing power from understeer, you just go. This is the pinnacle of the
05:12hot hatch and maybe the breed is dying but we definitely live in the best hot hatch times ever.
05:18Now the big question is does the automatic transmission kill the fun? Now my default answer
05:28is yes but actually we found that the automatic car is significantly notably quicker than the manual
05:33car to 60 miles per hour. It does have paddle shifters and let me tell you you are going to need
05:37them. So here's the problem with this powertrain is that if you kind of leave the transmission to
05:42its own devices it will want to upshift and then you have to get on it and then there's a pause and
05:47then boom all that power comes on at once. You can be a lot smoother if you just put it in manual mode
05:53and start using the paddles and that's what I found works the best. Use those paddles keep the engine
05:57between five and seven thousand rpm. It's noisy but that is the happy spot but of course overall
06:03acceleration just not as much as the Golf. I had a chance to do a little passing of some slower traffic
06:09and in these cars it's all slower traffic and that was a little easier in the Golf than it was in the
06:15GR Corolla. Steering is also interesting. Toyota has used a very small wheel and a very fast steering
06:26ratio. Now normally this would make the car feel very twitchy but the GR Corolla isn't. It tracks really
06:31nicely but very little movement in your hand gives you a lot of movement on the road. Now that's great if
06:36you're on a racetrack but on an open road like this it can actually make it a little difficult
06:40to place the car. You have to be very careful. First couple of corners I bombed through I couldn't
06:45understand why I was like a foot to the left or a foot to the right of where I actually wanted to be.
06:51This car just wants to go straight ahead and it takes a great deal of effort to turn it away from
06:57that and frankly after a little while of driving my dainty little princess hands kind of started to hurt a
07:02little bit but it does in these corners exactly what you would expect a high horsepower all-wheel
07:08drive car to do when you drive it fast in the turns. At the risk of making our camera guy in the
07:13back seat sick I'm going to give you a little demo you can bomb in go hard on the brakes downshift
07:18come through the corner look at all that grip a little dirt it's fine with that lots of grip and
07:23then get on it and away she goes just fires her out like you've been shot from a proverbial cannon.
07:30It is truly amazing this car is such an overachiever from a small car with a small engine.
07:37This road's getting very very twisted this is Corolla GR territory.
07:44This car is all about how you can use the technology to get through your favorite curvy road
07:48as fast as possible it's like a blind technological devotion to the art of speed and I just love it.
07:56If you like the feel of really really working a car really making it work as hard as it can
08:01to get going as fast as you can then the Corolla GR is going to be right up your own.
08:09I do really like the interior of this car I spent some time with both the GR Corolla
08:13and the Golf R before we started this video the Golf R does have a more upscale more spacious
08:18interior but I love the displays of information here in the Corolla I've got a turbo boost gauge
08:24I've got another gauge that shows how grip is going to each of the four wheels and what that
08:28all-wheel drive system is doing nice big easy to see tachometer it's the information that you need
08:33to go fast it's all in keeping with this car's ethic as the technological temple of speed
08:41both of these cars have fairly heavily bolstered seats that's to keep you in place
08:44when you're going around corners and believe me you are going to need it for a more shall we say
08:50hamburger happy person such as myself the seat is a little tight a little short on thigh support
08:56even though I have fairly short thighs not exactly molded perhaps to your average American posterior
09:02let's put it that way but I expected this car to be a lot more uncomfortable it does have
09:07a very busy very active ride but really it's not that annoying it's bumpy but not the kind of thing
09:14that you're going to regret every day when you go to work and I am very sensitive about those things
09:19I'm getting old I like a car that rides a little smoother I don't have as much patience for a really
09:23stiff suspension but Toyota's done a really great job here they've made the car stiff enough that it
09:28doesn't do anything untoward it never skips it never jumps if you had a fast bump too hard and yet it
09:34doesn't beat the stuffing out of you on a rough road it's noisy you'll hear a lot of tire noise
09:39a lot of road noise but your backside is not going to regret your purchase of the Corolla GR
09:47and let me tell you it is a blast to drive the all-wheel drive system this thing is just amazing so
09:53good at figuring out where to get the power how to get the power down it's like being given a day pass
09:59from the laws of physics for 50 grand it's a lot of thrills but the Golf R takes a very different
10:06approach to speed so let's park this GR Corolla get in the Golf R and see what the differences are
10:21the Golf R presents a very different experience it's a bigger car doesn't have all that you know
10:30fancy stuff on the dashboard I mean this is the same interior in the Golf which for many many years was
10:36the Toyota Camry of Europe even these seats they're heavily bolstered but they're a little wider a little
10:41more comfortable for for well let's just say a guy like me and the steering the steering is a big
10:50difference bigger wheel but also much much lighter effort in fact after driving the Corolla GR which
10:55is so determined to go straight ahead you might say what's going on here am I in a 1962 Ford Falcon or what
11:06I can kind of see that young upstart the GR Corolla coming to the old hand the Golf R and saying man
11:13what happened to you man you you got old you lost your fire you got soft and this old Golf R is going to
11:19turn to that young upstart GR Corolla and say son let me learn you a little something about driving
11:25fast because this thing has a ton of power
11:31numbers wise it's the same torque as the GR Corolla 295 pound feet a little more horsepower 328 versus 300
11:39but man when you ask it to go it just goes it feels so much quicker passes better accelerates better and
11:45here's the thing even though this car has paddle shifters you don't need it Golf R uses a seven
11:51speed twin clutch transmission which in my opinion is the best automatic transmission for performance
11:57driving because you get smooth gear changes with no interruption in power no weight transfer and that's
12:03exactly what you feel you don't need to paddle down in the Golf R you just give it a little throttle give
12:08it a lot of throttle whatever you do it always seems to have the right here and it just goes
12:15the rate at which you pick up speed is really something but it's not that you go oh my goodness
12:19i'm going way too fast i need to jump on the brakes because the car has a consummate increase
12:24in its handling abilities as well
12:31so you might notice i got very very light fingers on the wheel and i'm actually in
12:35race which is the heaviest steering setting that the Golf R has what it does it doesn't really change
12:41the weight off center it's that as you dial in more lock the steering weights up more and more
12:47you're probably saying okay Aaron that's exactly what steering is supposed to do but i'm going to
12:52name drop here what this car reminds me of is the first generation Porsche 911 with no power steering
12:57if you've never had a chance to drive one most amazing steering ever it just feels so good and light
13:03and easy off center and then as you get closer and closer to the limits of grip the steering adds weight
13:09it starts kicking back a little more resisting a little more letting you know that you're getting
13:13close to where the tires are going to let go and that is exactly what the Golf R does there it's getting
13:18nice and heavy and then steering weights up next thing you know the tires are squealing and then you're
13:23into the understeer and then the all-wheel drive system works its magic to correct that it's just so
13:28wonderful and so progressive it's just amazing how this car just communicates with all of your senses
13:35and lets you make speed that just seems so easy and that really is the difference between the Golf R
13:42and the GR Corolla in the Corolla GR when you drive fast it really feels like you are demanding everything
13:48that car can give you and in the Golf R it's a little bit more peaceful you're making incredible speed but
13:54lighter hands on the steering wheel you can almost enjoy the scenery makes the speed just seem that
13:59much easier not that it requires less skill but it certainly requires less concentration on the
14:04mechanical bits gives you more room to just enjoy the experience of a fast drive down a challenging road
14:11it's quieter it's got a smoother ride you don't have to keep the engine screaming and bouncing right off the
14:16limiter the miles just fly by this one strip of road seems a lot shorter in the Golf R than it did
14:24in the GR Corolla it's just a magical experience older a more mature more confident experience not
14:31the same feel as the technological powerhouse that is the GR Corolla of course there's amazing technology
14:38in this car rather if you've ever driven with a really talented racing driver like you're going at
14:44incredible speeds but they're sitting there and their heartbeat is like it's sitting idle they are just
14:48they are just so relaxed and that's what this Golf R feels like to drive i know the sound isn't there
14:54but believe me the speed is there we are flying and it's just so simple and so wonderful and so organic
15:02it's an experience that i absolutely love
15:09and in this car there's a tire squeal a little bit earlier than the GR Corolla has but still plenty of grip and
15:16when you do get to the point where where physics starts to fail you well the all-wheel drive
15:21system sorts it out you can feel it taking power out of the front move into the back doing whatever
15:26it has to do to complete the maneuver that you have started getting the car pointed in the direction you
15:31want to go a little bit of sand there it didn't even phase it a little too much speed just a little understeer
15:37oh my gosh this thing is so cool
15:50i have to stop talking because i uh well i wet myself a little there
15:56oh fifty thousand dollars huh what do i have to sell to get one of these
16:02and the GR Corolla to me it's it's all about the machinery and in the Golf R it is all about the
16:09experience driving fast which is better neither i love them both i love the machinery i love the
16:18experience if i had to pick between these two cars i don't know i'd probably just buy an old
16:25hyundai accent and live in a cave so i didn't have to make such tough decisions
16:35i want to turn around and go drive this road again because that's the beauty of this car that's the
16:40beauty of a hot hatch like this Golf R and the GR Corolla you just want to drive through the curbs
16:45again and again and you just want to keep doing it until you run out of gas or until the car
16:49rusts from beneath you the joy of driving is just encapsulated in these two magnificent automobiles
17:06so now i got to pick between them and i got to tell you this is one of those days i wish i had
17:10listened to my mother and pursued a career in retail because i don't know how i'm gonna do it but let's
17:15start with our criteria advancement in design well that one definitely has to go to the toyota i mean
17:21look at it with the scoops and the strakes and all that other stuff i mean it all makes sense it's all
17:25functional and that's part of the beauty of that car that car is so much about the machinery of which
17:30it's made i think that one's got to go to the toyota efficiency well you know you would expect this to
17:35be a toyota advantage but according to the epa numbers the Golf is actually more fuel efficient by a
17:40couple of miles per gallon you know even if you have a small engine if you're using a turbocharger
17:44dumping lots of air in that means you dump in lots of fuel so golf's going to take you further on a
17:48gallon of gas so that goes for the Golf engineering excellence oh my goodness how am i going to pick
17:54them i mean the whole object of these cars is to go as fast as humanly possible in the curves and they
18:00both achieve that and i think that's a dead heat between the two cars performance and intended function
18:06wow this is what it all comes down to isn't it you know these both have kind of a different
18:10approach to them the Toyota GR Corolla is really all about taking the machinery and operating it at
18:16its absolute max but still with an envelope of safety and it's so much fun to do but the Golf R
18:22kind of transcends that the Golf R is more about the drive well at the end of the day even though
18:27they're both hugely thrilling to drive the Golf gives you a bit more it's a bit quicker and it is a
18:33little bit more agile and so i have to say in terms of performance of intended function it's a very slight
18:38edge for the Volkswagen Golf safety well we only have crash test data on the Toyota but listen
18:44these are cars that encourage you to drive as fast as you can on curvy roads you're probably going to
18:48kill yourself so i think that's a wash for both of them and finally value now obviously the Corolla
18:54starts at a lower price that's with the manual transmission and without some of the extra cooling
18:59options and stuff like that and it's about three grand less expensive here but in the case of the
19:04Golf R here if you take away that Euro package and put back some of the things i wouldn't mind having
19:09like the ventilated front seats with the power adjustment and things like that the price is the
19:13same the cars are both just a little bit over fifty thousand dollars and if it was my 50 grand which
19:18would i rather have i got to tell you i love them both but that Golf R just has the edge for me maybe it's
19:25because i'm a man of a certain age and i appreciate the comfort and i appreciate the space and things like
19:31that it's just so thrilling but here's the thing if you pick the Toyota Corolla GR i'm not going to
19:36tell you you picked the wrong car you can't go wrong in fact if you're buying one of these the winner
19:40of this comparison is you you lucky bastard because you get to have one of these fantastic cars in your
19:45driveway and i hate you a little because of it okay for more about these cars visit us on the web at
19:50motortrend.com and please can i drive your car please please i'll leave myself a note
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