Скачать или смотреть 2023 Toyota GR Corolla vs. Subaru WRX: Did Toyota Build a Better WRX?

2023 Toyota GR Corolla vs. Subaru WRX: Did Toyota Build a Better WRX?

An old hand faces its greatest challenge in years from the protégé of an old rival.

Ever since the tragic death of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, the Subaru WRX has carried the once-burning-hot street-legal rally car torch alone. Having gone years without its original rival—or, essentially, any direct rival—has the Subie grown complacent? Time to find out, because the iconic World Rally Challenge (WRC) constructor's turbocharged, all-wheel-drive WRX finally has a rally-bred, turbocharged, all-wheel-drive challenger: the 2023 Toyota GR Corolla.

The Newcomer

The latest protégé of a nearly forgotten rival, the GR Corolla is the American flank in Toyota's long-awaited return to the rally stage. Preceded by the two-door, foreign-market-only GR Yaris, the GR Corolla upsizes the formula slightly for practicality and market appeal. Critically, it retains the key elements Subaru and Mitsubishi employed so successfully in the past: a central coupling (clutch pack) that offers adjustable front-to-rear torque splits, and an available mechanical limited-slip rear differential. To this, Toyota piles on with a mechanical limited-slip front differential, too (it comes with the rear diff as part of a performance package on entry-level Core models and is standard on all others). This is to say nothing of its radical, race-bred, turbocharged three-cylinder engine.



The Old Master

The product of years of continual refinement, the WRX is the latest iteration of a car Subaru's been faithfully building for decades. What once was radical now is commonplace, and even the WRX is beginning to feel a bit common. Right up front we asked if Subaru had continued to hone the WRX in the absence of competition, and the answer was a resounding no. The latest model is an iterative improvement on the last car. All the best elements remain, but there's little new and improved to talk about. Even its motor is a derivative of the same unit that powers the company's more profitable SUVs, not the racing-derived unit it once was.

Making life even harder for the defending champion is its lack of an ace in the hole. Subaru has made it clear there will be no WRX STI for this generation of car. No torque-vectoring center differential or highly boosted engine here. The standard WRX is as good as it gets, and that's worrisome given how, like several of the most recent WRXs, it's slower than the car it replaces.

The Matchup

The GR Corolla weighs less and makes more horsepower and torque. Its brakes are bigger, its tires are more aggressive, and its steering is quicker. About the only thing holding the Toyota back is its steeper price tag, but we'll get to that later. That's all bench racing, though. How the cars drive could still make a big difference, and here Subaru has the advantage of having refined an already good car rather than turning basic transportation into a race car as Toyota had to.

It's said experience and cunning can outfox youth and exuberance, but not in this case. The gulf between these cars is evident from the first turn of the wheel. There's a confidence in the way the GR Corolla moves that the WRX just can't match. Whereas the Subaru feels as though it's charging into the fight standing straight up, the Toyota feels crouched and ready to change direction on a moment's notice.

Curiously, although the GR Corolla's steering ratio is quicker, it's the WRX that feels darty and nervous on the road. It requires slow hands and a cool demeanor to tame. An agitated or nervous driver will get the same back from this car. The Toyota, meanwhile, makes clear it's ready for anything and everything you can throw at it. By the time you've entered the second corner, the GR Corolla has already convinced you of its composure and capability. You know intrinsically this car will respond positively and predictably to every input.

It takes longer to get comfortable with the WRX. In addition to feeling hyperactive the first time you drive it, the old rally car exhibits more body roll, pitch, and dive than the tightly controlled Toyota. This is not to say the WRX is sloppy, it just isn't as slick as the GR Corolla, and it feels much larger. It takes longer to settle on its suspension in a corner and requires constant attention. The Toyota is set-it-and-forget-it by comparison. That car digs in immediately, leans into its springs and dampers, and is ready to pounce out of the corner as soon as possible.



Despite their differences in roll and roll rate, both cars deliver impeccable damping. Although their overall personalities are different, each keeps its tires firmly in contact with the pavement at all times and isn't upset by bumps in braking zones or the middle of a corner. The GR Corolla tells you it's more confident in these situations, but the WRX does the job just as well.