The new Toyota GR Corolla has all the makings of a fantastic all-wheel-drive fun machine. But it's also a curious vehicle, as it notches into a segment that's pretty much dead. The Evo disappeared years ago. The Focus RS is gone. And there's no new STI on the horizon. We're left with the Volkswagen Golf R and the Subaru WRX, two AWD vehicles with vastly different price points that generally appeal to different buyers.
Could Toyota find some middle ground between them? That's a question to ponder as we offer this on-paper comparison, especially since pricing for the GR Corolla hasn't been announced yet. There are certainly plenty of similarities between these three vehicles, starting with small turbocharged engines under the hood. Each offers an old-school, three-pedal manual transmission. Each sends (relatively) similar levels of power to all four wheels. And each is small in stature, slotting easily into the compact category.
