Toyota’s popular — and often wildly marked up—hot hatch, the GR Corolla will roll into 2024 with some changes. With some chassis tweaks, a new color and the big news, a whole new trim level.
So there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is if you were hoping to get your hands on one of the limited edition Morizo editions of the GR Corolla, you’re out of luck. All 200 are long gone. The good news is that Toyota has decided to keep the Circuit edition around for another year; originally it was only going to stay around for the first model year. But with the Morizo Edition gone, that frees up space for another trim. So Toyota has given the GR Corolla a Premium trim, slotting above the base Core and below the top line Circuit.
The new GR Corolla Premium is essentially a GR Corolla with the goodies from the optional Performance Package as standard along with other standard features. That means performance things like a Torsen limited slip differentials for the front and rear and brake cooling ducts as standard. On the features front there’s rear parking sensors, an upgraded JBL sound system, heating for the front seats and steering wheel and a wireless phone charger.
The Premium also exclusively features Brin Naub suede trimmed sport seats. It’ll all cost you of course. Including $1,095 for destination, the GR Corolla Premium rings in at $41,015; the base Core trim starts at $37,195.
The GR Corolla chassis gets tuning tweaks for the 2024 as well. GR engineers changed the mounting bolts on the steering gear, battery ground and rear suspension. Slight aero changes include aluminum sheets on the front and rear bumpers and a change in the cooling duct shape on the front bumpers.
Two new colors have been added for ‘24: Ice Cap and Blue Flame, a color that should have been available from the start. Choosing Blue Flame also gets you a matching shift knob and interior stitching. Toyota has also expanded Gazoo Racing’s line of performance parts for the GR Corolla, including performance lowering springs and shocks and rear wings. Toyota says the updated 2024 GR Corolla should hit dealerships later this year.