When Akio Toyoda said in 2017 that there will be no more boring Toyota cars, it was both an admission and a sweeping declaration. A few years forward, the world was gifted with the Toyota GR Yaris – a homologation special aimed at enthusiasts all over the world (sans the US). A few years later, the Toyota GR Corolla was born, to be offered in North America, Japan, and Australia.
In the span of two years, Toyota was able to rise from the rut of boring cars without the help of other manufacturers. And it's all because of a brand-new power plant that the automaker developed on its own – the Toyota G16E-GTS engine.
Gallery: 2023 Toyota GR Corolla
In the Toyota GR Yaris, the turbocharged 1.6-litre three-cylinder engine makes up to 257 bhp (191 kilowatts) and 273 pound-feet (370 Newton-metres) of torque. With a GR-Four all-wheel-drive system, these numbers allow the little Yaris to sprint from standstill to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometres per hour) in less than five and a half seconds.
Toyota takes it even further with the introduction of the GR Corolla after two years. The same power plant has been massaged to produce even more – 300 bhp (224 kW) and 273 lb-ft (370 Nm) of pulling power.
Toyota's new hot hatches:
In the GR Corolla guise, that's a whopping 100 bhp per cylinder. It's only a matter of time before tuners can squeeze out more from the all-new G16E-GTS. As of this writing, reports point out to around 500 bhp tune for this little mill.
But really, how was Toyota able to pull off this feat on such a small engine block? The video from Driven Media above tries to explain the nitty-gritty of the bonkers three-cylinder, so nerd away.
Source: Driven Media via YouTube