The Bonkers Toyota GRMN Corolla Costs More Than A Freakin’ Ford Mustang Dark Horse

All signs point towards the GR Corolla being in its twilight years. Toyota’s raucous little hatchback with a trick all-wheel-drive system and proper differentials has been with us for roughly four years now, and it’s not going out quietly. The Toyota GRMN Corolla is what happens when you turn a modern hot hatch up to eleven. Every single thing about it is insane, and now we know that extends to the price tag.

First, a little backstory. When the GR Corolla was first announced, Toyota added a flourish to its compact hot hatch by way of the limited-run Morizo edition. With a rear seat delete, shorter gearing, stickier tires, and a variety of tweaks almost solely focused on performance, it felt pretty crazy. However, it didn’t bear the letters “GRMN,” Toyota’s designation for its most bonkers factory hot rods. With a new Corolla just around the corner, Toyota’s going all-out with the GRMN Corolla. Hide your WRXs, hide your Golf Rs because the top-dog Corolla is serious stuff.

Like the Morizo Edition, the GRMN Corolla ditches its rear seat, rolls on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, and gets a carbon fiber roof. Unlike the Morizo, it takes full advantage of years of ongoing development. Its carbon fiber hood and aggressively vented front fenders were forged through the crucible of motorsport, and new dampers and bump stops, along with final aerodynamic tweaks, were tuned on the Nürburgring. There’s an intercooler sprayer to keep a lid on intake air temperature, unique all-wheel-drive system and steering tuning, and all the tweaks you’d get on a new GR Corolla compared to the original. More structural adhesives, more cooling, the works. Add in a torque boost from 295 lb.-ft. to 302 lb.-ft., and the result is the wildest Corolla yet.

Photo credit: Toyota

The wildest thing about the GRMN Corolla, however, might be the price. Oh my word, is it ever expensive. This limited-run Corolla starts at $64,360 before any freight charges or other fees. That’s $280 more than the MSRP of a Ford Mustang Dark Horse and $1,615 more than a stick-shift GR Supra 3.0 Premium. You can buy two Honda Civic Si sedans for the price of the GRMN Corolla, or a pair of Mazda MX-5s. That’s simply an enormous sum of money for a 300-horsepower sport compact car with no rear seats.

Photo credit: Toyota

It’s also worth mentioning that a standard GR Corolla carries a pre-freight MSRP of $40,520, which is some $23,840 or more than one entire Corolla LE sedan cheaper than the GRMN Corolla. Think about that for a second: You could have a largely similar car and buy your parents or grandparents or adult child a nice economical commuter car for just about the price of the top-dog Corolla.

Photo credit: Toyota

Perhaps that’s part of the reason why Toyota is only planning on building 730 GRMN Corollas for the entire world. Out of the roughly 8.3 billion people on this planet, only around 0.00000879 percent of them live in a market that will get the GRMN Corolla and are both well-heeled and wild enough to spend $64,360 plus freight on a stripped-out two-seat hatchback.

Top graphic image: Toyota

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