Add Yours: 2023 Toyota GR Corolla Reservation Tracking List

What do you NOT LIKE about your new GRC

20753 Views 298 Replies 70 Participants Last post by david.a.skelton93, 3 h ago

Ryecon

Discussion Starter · 3 mo ago

And do you plan to just live with these issues or do something to improve them?

No.1 issue for me:

SEATS :

Not enough blustering for a sport/track car. Fast cornering to the right pushes left shoulder against hard pillar plastic. They are too high so I have to set steering wheel to full out and full up to get room for knees not to hit the wheel when shifting or braking.

2 other issues:

Engine is weaker than what reviews had claimed. I knew it would be low on torque but it just does not pull very hard from 2-4K. From seat of pants impression and from trying to merge, it is lacking. Weight and 4WD dont help I guess. Morizo has +20 torque so a proper tune can hopefully add torque down low and more HP.

Brakes have no initial bite. Will try this weekend to bed them in, might help. But will change to DTC-30s before autoX. That should improve brakes instantly.

Annoying but smaller things:

- Rev match off by default and no way to set it (should be addressed with tune)

- Not able to start in sport mode (tune)

- Nav app locked behind a pay wall. Money grab, GPS is built into the car.

- Looks like they glued a tablet to the dash.

Clutch pack heating I knew about, disappointing but should not be an issue for autoX. Track days in high heat maybe. But I am not the fastest guy on track so should be ok.

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driftingintowalls

· #241 · 20 d ago

samagon said:
the last few pages have been great fun.

trying to compare the GRC interior to the CRX interior and saying it's bigger, then saying with (I presume) a straight face, that the CRX was lighter and had a sunroof is hilarious.

when you were 16 and driving your CRX you probably weighed 100lbs less than you do today (not an insult, just the reality of life) so the interior didn't feel quite as cramped. the safety standards that cars have today vs 1987 are a lot tougher too, if a CRX were tested using today's standards it would get 0 stars. the Corolla is built to the safety standards required by law. that represents about 800 to 1000 lbs of extra weight. it's a distractingly silly comparison.

as far as cost and quality, the reality is, the GRC interior is on par (better even) than I recall my Integra GSR being (sans sunroof). why is that important? it's important because in 1998 I paid $20,000 for that car. the buying power of $20,000 today is about $37,000. the GRC, as compared to the GSR offers so many more features. AWD vs FWD, more power/weight to name a few. optional LSD pushes the price higher (which was never an option for the GSR). the place where the quality feels very similar is the interior. manual cloth seats, some soft touch surfaces, but mostly just a utilitarian interior that highlights what both of these cars do well, which is drive.

you don't have to like the car, we are all unique and different individuals and have different life experiences that mold who we are and what we want, your reasons don't have to make rational sense to anyone else. what you do have to expect is for other people to point out where your reasons are very irrational.

and I'm here to tell you, $40,000 today has the buying power of what $21,500 had in 1998 (25 years ago). is that depressing, and is that a cumulative price change of 85%? yes and yes.

LALALALAL inflation doesn't exist! you can't trick me buddy. the government wants YOU to believe that your money is worth less than 25 years ago. buying power is actually translated to exactly what it sounds like. buying POWER 💪 and i have the most money, bitches, cars, houses than you'll ever have. the interior of even my fridge has better touch surfaces than my overpriced gr corolla. i can go downstairs to my Meneghini La Cambusa fridge and have a better time with that than this shoe closet of a car. say NO to inflation and tell them what things are REALLY worth with your calculator

Sparkko said:
1.) Infotainment or cluster settings? I think I looked before and couldn't find it.
2.) Alabama so pretty much. $41k and some change.

i think it's in the infotainment but i'm 99% sure it's in SOME setting SOMEwhere because I kept seeing it while playing around. could be on the app as well

Reactions: 4

byebyeGTI

· #242 · 20 d ago

Sparkko said:
1.) Infotainment or cluster settings? I think I looked before and couldn't find it.
2.) Alabama so pretty much. $41k and some change.

Jesus titty fucking christ. I paid about 3 grand at the dealership and another grand in registration fees at the DMV. That was even with a tax break from trading my old car in. Colorado gets you coming AND going.

Reactions: 2

HammeredSole

· #243 · 20 d ago

driftingintowalls said:
LALALALAL inflation doesn't exist! you can't trick me buddy. the government wants YOU to believe that your money is worth less than 25 years ago. buying power is actually translated to exactly what it sounds like. buying POWER 💪 and i have the most money, bitches, cars, houses than you'll ever have. the interior of even my fridge has better touch surfaces than my overpriced gr corolla. i can go downstairs to my Meneghini La Cambusa fridge and have a better time with that than this shoe closet of a car. say NO to inflation and tell them what things are REALLY worth with your calculator

i think it's in the infotainment but i'm 99% sure it's in SOME setting SOMEwhere because I kept seeing it while playing around. could be on the app as well

You can trivialize someone's opinion based on your own biases, but I am not a haute couture old money wizard, I'm a working class professional and Land Cruiser addict. I'm a giant Toyota fan, and fully realize economies of scale and production compromises. I think the GRC is 85% greatness let down by 3 massive shortfalls, and I could completely look past the interior and price bit if they had nailed any 3 of these:

1) Weight, 3250lbs is absurd. Charging more for less with the Morizo where they basically take everything out, and it's the CTR weight for a much smaller car. Clearly... attention was not paid here. Even using a lithium battery, or even just a smaller battery would have been effective. Instead, they used a massive 42.2lb H6 battery. Use of aluminum panels would have shown the dedication to the product. Instead, just be happy with what we give you... There are so many places to drop weight, but they just didn't try. But it has a plastic roof!

2) JTEKT ITCC PTU instead of a proper helical center LSD. The "torque vectoring" is just a party trick to justify the use of this subpar part selection. Pushing the duty cycle to the extremes with the Syvecs didn't change the character of the car as much as many people hope it will. Still it will be an invaluable tool to people tracking these cars. Clearly, fuel MPG is not a consideration with this car, as it's such as low production item.

3) The transmission is not sharp. It has a weak 5th gear synchronizer retaining ring, which is recognized as a hard stop weak link when building these cars. Even if the motor can make "500", the trans will not take it for long. The 47lb floppy dual-mass flywheel, which makes throttle response terrible, shifting clunky in both noise and engagement smoothness. You're lying to yourself if you say it doesn't bother you. This greatly affects the driving experience, especially for people who find the engine character such an intrinsic part of the experience. The GRC drivetrain is just...flat.

Overall, I'm happy that Toyota made it in today's environment, but it's very Toyota-y in the way in the design restraints, and ultimately the character of the car suffered. Take it as you will, but it's not a personal attack on anyone here, I just think the GRC is 50% hype, 50% great car.

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samagon

· #244 · 20 d ago

tossing out reasons of cost, or interior quality, or any of that just seem forced, especially in a group of individuals that, for the most part, seem perfectly happy with these aspects of the car, and indeed, some of us even prefer those things. no sunroof: good. no leather: good. no power seats: good. no armrest: good. piano black whatever: doesn't matter.

you could distill your reasons for not keeping the car to just this statement, and it'd probably be better received.

HammeredSole said:
Take it as you will, but it's not a personal attack on anyone here, I just think the GRC is 50% hype, 50% great car.

The Big Lebowski Thats Like Your Opinion Man GIF - The Big Lebowski Thats Like Your Opinion Man - Discover & Share GIFs

and that's ok. enjoy whatever comes next for you.

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DesmoSD

· #245 · 20 d ago

driftingintowalls said:
uhh that review is misleading as hell lol. just because it goes against the grain doesn't mean it's representative of anything

What's misleading and what's going against the grain?

Riq G

· #246 · 20 d ago

DesmoSD said:
What's misleading and what's going against the grain?

I think his review of the throttle response and clunky flywheel is inaccurate but can get subjective depending on what you're comparing it with. I think the throttle response is really good considering it has nearly 25 psi of boost, and pass 4k rpm, it just wants to keep pulling. As for the clutch, it's the opposite for me. It feels really light and definitely not clunky. Shifts are smooths, although you can get gear grind between 1st and 2nd gear if you shift too early. But overall, shifting feels smooth and effortless.

Reactions: 1

AUSyTyIN

· #247 · 20 d ago

byebyeGTI said:
Jesus titty fucking christ. I paid about 3 grand at the dealership and another grand in registration fees at the DMV. That was even with a tax break from trading my old car in. Colorado gets you coming AND going.

Can confirm

DesmoSD

· #248 · 20 d ago

Riq G said:
I think his review of the throttle response and clunky flywheel is inaccurate but can get subjective depending on what you're comparing it with. I think the throttle response is really good considering it has nearly 25 psi of boost, and pass 4k rpm, it just wants to keep pulling. As for the clutch, it's the opposite for me. It feels really light and definitely not clunky. Shifts are smooths, although you can get gear grind between 1st and 2nd gear if you shift too early. But overall, shifting feels smooth and effortless.

"Between the extremely heavy and sloppy dual mass flywheel, cheap plastic interior, uncomfortable non-adjustable seats, fake AWD system, and microscopic interior; the car had to go. I had a CRX and that felt 10x more spacious than that slick black turd. The final nail in the coffin is what it cost me. 40k msrp is absolute nonsense. The GRC is a $28-32k car. NEVER AGAIN."

Interesting. What about the rest of the complaints?

Riq G

· #249 · 20 d ago

DesmoSD said:
"Between the extremely heavy and sloppy dual mass flywheel, cheap plastic interior, uncomfortable non-adjustable seats, fake AWD system, and microscopic interior; the car had to go. I had a CRX and that felt 10x more spacious than that slick black turd. The final nail in the coffin is what it cost me. 40k msrp is absolute nonsense. The GRC is a $28-32k car. NEVER AGAIN."

Interesting. What about the rest of the complaints?

Interior is cheap since it is a Corolla. I don't think any should expect a luxury feel to it. Its stated by everyone and nearly all reviewers.

Seats are adjustable...i don't know why he said its not. It's just mechanical and has no lumbar support. You always can swap it out for a bucket seat if that's your style.

Interior space is exactly the same as a regular hatchback Corolla with the exception of the trunk being raised because of the battery.

As for the AWD, someone mentioned earlier that the chief engineer stated last year that it is a front biased awd.

Regards for the $40k, it's your money. Spend it however you want but don't buy a GRC expecting it to check all your boxes. It's a compromised car that is focused on the driving experience. There are only a few performance car to choose from at this price range. No way you can find a $30k car with similar performance with awd. I think OP bought the car with no research (obviously by his posts) and expected something completely different.

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driftingintowalls

· #250 · 20 d ago

DesmoSD said:
"Between the extremely heavy and sloppy dual mass flywheel, cheap plastic interior, uncomfortable non-adjustable seats, fake AWD system, and microscopic interior; the car had to go. I had a CRX and that felt 10x more spacious than that slick black turd. The final nail in the coffin is what it cost me. 40k msrp is absolute nonsense. The GRC is a $28-32k car. NEVER AGAIN."

Interesting. What about the rest of the complaints?

interior is typical at this price point and category

the seats are comfortable and adjustable. only thing missing is lumbar but i don't have issues but maybe others might? my lower back is kinda shot so idk seems fine

AWD system is indeed "fake" if you look at it from a typical AWD system comparison. it has 2 diffs and is definitely driving all 4 wheels 100% of the time unless you're in limp mode or going in a straight line where you don't need AWD ( and it's power losses ) anyway. this is both a pro and con but it is definitely advantageous over a typical AWD system if you're looking to maximize grip and stability

microscopic interior lol. it's a small hot hatch. why would the interior be massive? you're asking for the wrong things from the wrong car. i'm not buying an SUV and complaining it's big

40k msrp is reasonable given everything that the car comes with over the 28k XSE. especially with rising costs of manufacturing, labor, and inflation. the drivetrain alone is probably 10-15k if you were to piece it together yourself. and we're not even getting into how expensive brakes like these are. r&d.... there's a lot lol. i can't even get into all the associated costs reasonably in a single conversation

anything else?

if someone is gonna complain, atleast make it make sense

here's some actual cons of the car that have nothing to do with price strategy and are just pure development mistakes where they should have just increased the price a bit:

the shifting can be unsure at times and they could have done more work on the shifter/transmission ( i think this will be fixed in the future )

upgrading the ITCC from JTEKT for better cooling and handle more abuse letting more torque transfer to the rear

stiffen the rear end without compromising ride quality to induce more oversteer. changing the geometry to induce more oversteer might be too costly

let user decide how much constant power to provide the rear within the custom drive mode

more feeling from the steering. whether analog translations or programming related idk

boom perfect car and nobody is going to have a single complaint anymore even if that bumps the price up 3k (which it easily will)

better interior will come standard once they refresh the regular corolla. it will happen, i just don't know which year of the GRC will get it

i don't think exterior will change much in any of the MY's. but ya never know

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GRavel

· #251 · 20 d ago

HammeredSole said:
Clearly... attention was not paid here. Even using a lithium battery, or even just a smaller battery would have been effective. Instead, they used a massive 42.2lb H6 battery.

But then you’ve moved the center of mass farther forward and have more understeer to deal with. Short of adding ballast, the battery is the one big chunk of mass you can easily move around the car to help balance it. 🤷 Every design decision is a tradeoff.

Using different materials for the body panels would also have introduced a bunch of new engineering and production tradeoffs. Would it have been worth it? I don’t know, but then I’m not entirely convinced of the value of the CF roof either.

Sure with enough money you could always make it lighter but the GRC already weighs less than the Golf R, WRX, and last gen STI and has a higher power to weight ratio than the GRY so it’s weight doesn’t seem unreasonable for a modern AWD performance car

Kuro5ake

· #252 · 20 d ago

Sparkko said:
5000 mile, 6-month update. All my previous complaints are still valid, and I have noticed a few more.

The rear seat occupancy sensors are stupid. I can't put anything heavy in the back seat without the car yelling at me to buckle the rear seatbelts.

Various little creaks and rattles come and go throughout the interior depending on the weather.

TPMS will STILL not stay saved in my gauge cluster.

Toyota dealers have the maintenance schedule for the normal Corolla Hatch in the computers for the GR Corolla. When I went for my first oil change at 5000 miles, they told me according to their schedule the oil change isn't due until 10,000 miles. There's no telling what other GRC specific things are missing from their service system.

I still haven't fully adjusted to the clutch and dual mass flywheel. Can't shift as smoothly in every scenario as I could with my previous manual cars.

Car isn't super comfortable for long road trips, but this is to be expected and is fine for the type of car it is trying to be.

SO. MUCH. BRAKE DUST. I've debated changing the pads early.

I have accepted that I live in a state of paranoia where I constantly avoid touching the gloss black plastic in the car to avoid scratching it. Doing pretty good so far.

Cargo space in the hatch sucks

Still love the car. Still looking to pick up a Circuit edition or equivalent in 2025 or 2026. Really hoping Toyota makes some improvements in the meantime.
I feel more certain now that the car is definitely NOT worth above MSRP. My car came out to $41000~ after taxes and registration with the all-weather mats and the stupid Toyoguard package that SET tacks on. I don't feel that the car is worth a dime over that amount.

I wonder if it's per region or something because when I went in for my service (I went early at 2355miles) they pulled everything up and it was GR specific.

Sparkko

· #253 · 19 d ago

Kuro5ake said:
I wonder if it's per region or something because when I went in for my service (I went early at 2355miles) they pulled everything up and it was GR specific.

No clue, could be dealer specific even. Mine was the first GRC that had been in this dealer for service.

samagon

· #254 · 19 d ago

I'll be scheduling for June, I don't think there will be any issues, the window sticker had 6 mo / 5000 miles on it. so maybe the PDI team have it right, and the service team won't. I'm not worried about it, ultimately, all we'll have to do is review the schedule referenced in the manual, and then they'll do it.

DesmoSD

· #255 · 19 d ago

driftingintowalls said:
interior is typical at this price point and category

the seats are comfortable and adjustable. only thing missing is lumbar but i don't have issues but maybe others might? my lower back is kinda shot so idk seems fine

AWD system is indeed "fake" if you look at it from a typical AWD system comparison. it has 2 diffs and is definitely driving all 4 wheels 100% of the time unless you're in limp mode or going in a straight line where you don't need AWD ( and it's power losses ) anyway. this is both a pro and con but it is definitely advantageous over a typical AWD system if you're looking to maximize grip and stability

microscopic interior lol. it's a small hot hatch. why would the interior be massive? you're asking for the wrong things from the wrong car. i'm not buying an SUV and complaining it's big

40k msrp is reasonable given everything that the car comes with over the 28k XSE. especially with rising costs of manufacturing, labor, and inflation. the drivetrain alone is probably 10-15k if you were to piece it together yourself. and we're not even getting into how expensive brakes like these are. r&d.... there's a lot lol. i can't even get into all the associated costs reasonably in a single conversation

anything else?

if someone is gonna complain, atleast make it make sense

here's some actual cons of the car that have nothing to do with price strategy and are just pure development mistakes where they should have just increased the price a bit:

the shifting can be unsure at times and they could have done more work on the shifter/transmission ( i think this will be fixed in the future )

upgrading the ITCC from JTEKT for better cooling and handle more abuse letting more torque transfer to the rear

stiffen the rear end without compromising ride quality to induce more oversteer. changing the geometry to induce more oversteer might be too costly

let user decide how much constant power to provide the rear within the custom drive mode

more feeling from the steering. whether analog translations or programming related idk

boom perfect car and nobody is going to have a single complaint anymore even if that bumps the price up 3k (which it easily will)

better interior will come standard once they refresh the regular corolla. it will happen, i just don't know which year of the GRC will get it

i don't think exterior will change much in any of the MY's. but ya never know

Have you had a chance to see or compare the CTR or even the Golf R? The Golf Rs interior look more solid.

https://www.vw.com/en/models/golf-r.html

Vehicle Car Satellite radio Steering wheel Automotive design

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buco

· #256 · 19 d ago

DesmoSD said:
Have you had a chance to see or compare the CTR or even the Golf R? The Golf Rs interior look more solid.

https://www.vw.com/en/models/golf-r.html

View attachment 11135

Does it, though? Aside from maybe the seats, you're almost comparing a dozen to twelve.

At this price point, unless you're buying used, you're getting pretty much the same anywhere you go. You're not really getting anything different until you're paying $55k++

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byebyeGTI

· #257 · 19 d ago

DesmoSD said:
Have you had a chance to see or compare the CTR or even the Golf R? The Golf Rs interior look more solid.

https://www.vw.com/en/models/golf-r.html

View attachment 11135

The MSRP for the base Golf R is also $9K higher than the Core.

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Ultimateone

· #258 · 19 d ago

byebyeGTI said:
The MSRP for the base Golf R is also $9K higher than the Core.

Also you cant find them and they usually go for 50k and up

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underscore

· #259 · 19 d ago

Also don't they have a bunch of touch buttons nobody likes?

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samagon

· #260 · 19 d ago

DesmoSD said:
Have you had a chance to see or compare the CTR or even the Golf R? The Golf Rs interior look more solid.

https://www.vw.com/en/models/golf-r.html

View attachment 11135

granted I haven't sat in it, or anything, but from an engagement point of view, is it really better? all controls are capacitive touch, meaning no physical buttons, and no feedback, also, the SWC are the same, so if the palm of your hand accidentally hits one of the controls while driving, that would get annoying.

also, the engagement of reverse on the shifter is press down and move the stick left and up. not a huge issue, but apparently (according to YT influencers) the down press on the shifter can happen at any time, so if you are going into 3rd from second, you the shifter might sink under your hand. not a great feeling, I'm sure, but you might get used to that.

I'm sure the heated and cooled steering wheel is great, as are the seats which are heated (and cooled too) I think, also the sunroof sounds cool, if you're into that.

IMO, the Golf R is great to use as a tool in negotiating the price of the GRC (if you can find someone that will commit to a MSRP price for it), but it's going to be a completely different experience from the GRC. more of a grand tourer with annoying buttons, rather than a rough and tumble hot hatch, the dealer doesn't need to know that you may not ultimately be interested in the Golf R, but if you can get a written price, you can use that to help get a lower offer for the GRC. it worked for me at least.

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