That engine has 20.3 psi of boost and most turbo engines get about 15 psi. The 12-valve, dual-overhead-cam engine, known internally as G16E-GTS, is also used in the well-reviewed GR Yaris, which we don’t get in the U.S. Instead, it uses a heaping helping of turbo boost and the willpower of the enthusiast Toyota engineers who turned an automotive appliance into a fun hot hatch with analog appeal. Powered by a tiny 1.6-liter turbo-3, it can’t rely on displacement to make it quick.

The 2023 Toyota Corolla GR is chock full of willpower, and it’s just as impressive as those quick drag Beetles from decades ago. Meanwhile, the muscle cars would rely mostly on big-displacement V-8s. “Willpower!,” my dad would shout, in reference to the flat-4 motivation that made them so quick. The little rear-engined, air-cooled Beetles would buzz down the quarter-mile more slowly than most of the muscle cars that populated the track, but every once in awhile one would put up a respectable ET. Back in the 1970s and early 1980s when I was going to the drag races with my dad, the occasional flat-4-powered Volkswagen would appear among a sea of V-8 Fords and Chevys.

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