Tokyo - The long-rumoured and hotly-anticipated Toyota GR Corolla is finally set to show itself to the world, with Toyota having confirmed that it will unveil its Golf R rival at the end of this week.
The reveal is set to take place on 1 April at 3:30am South African time (Thursday, 9pm in Japan) and if the rumours are anything to go by, this car’s dynamic capability will be the furthest thing from an April Fool’s joke. Click here to watch the reveal live if you’re up that early.
The Toyota GR Toyota is widely expected to inherit most of its oily bits from its smaller GR Yaris sibling, including its all-wheel drive system and a version of its 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine.
But it remains to be seen what state of tune the GR Corolla will be in. The engine in the Yaris produces 198kW, and the base Corolla version is unlikely to stray too far from that number but there have also been rumours of a more hardcore Rally variant offering around 220kW.
It is almost certain that the GR Corolla will come with a six-speed manual gearbox just like its smaller sibling, but Toyota has been testing a torque converter automatic gearbox in a racing version of the GR Yaris, leading to speculation that this will be offered as an option in both the GR Yaris and GR Corolla.
But we’ll have to wait until Friday morning to find out for sure just what the Toyota GR Corolla has to offer.
IOL Motoring