Toyota has gotten out of the boring car rut.
Akio Toyoda declared in 2017 that there would be no boring Toyota cars. It was both an admission as well as a bold declaration. The world was blessed with the Toyota GR Yaris, a homologation exclusive aimed at all enthusiasts around the globe (sans the US) a few years later. The Toyota GR Corolla, which was offered in North America, Japan and Australia, was born a few years later.
Toyota rose from the ashes of boring cars in just two years. It’s all thanks to a brand new power plant developed by Toyota on its own: the Toyota G16E/GTS engine.
The Toyota GR Yaris’s turbocharged 1.6-liter three cylinder engine produces 268 horsepower (200 kilowatts), and 273 poundfeet (372 Newton-meters), of torque. These numbers enable the little Yaris’ acceleration from standstill to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just five and a quarter seconds.
Toyota goes further with the debut of the GR Corolla. This was after two years. This power plant can produce 300 hp (224kW) and 273 Lb-ft (372 Nm) pulling power.
This is a staggering 100 hp per cylinder in the GR Corolla guise. The all-new G16E–GTS is only a matter time before tunes can get more out of it. Reports indicate that this mill produces around 500 horsepower.
How is it possible for Toyota to achieve this feat with such a small engine? The DrivenMedia video above attempts to explain the intricacies of this bizarre three-cylinder.