LONG BEACH, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp. is revving back into the hot hatch market with a new all-wheel-drive Corolla developed by its in-house Gazoo Racing team and powered by a power-dense three-cylinder engine.
Toyota’s next-gen rally racer, revealed to journalists here this week, features a manual-only transmission as well as a powertrain that allows the driver a choice of front/rear power distribution biases — 60-40, 50-50 or 70-30 — to best suit driving conditions.
But the 1.6-liter, turbocharged, engine is the star attraction. Mated to a six-speed manual transmission, it delivers up to 300 hp and 273 pound-feet of torque — giving it 185 horsepower per liter of displacement.