I know what you’re thinking.
Of all the cars out there, the Corolla is decidedly toward the boring end of the scale. My current car, a 11th-generation, 2014 Corolla S is a little boring, I’ll grant you, but sometimes, that’s all you need.
Last time, we left off with me on the side of the interstate, my Nissan Versa killed in a five-car accident. Armed with an insurance check, my wife and I decided to buy our first new car. After a bunch of research, I decided to test drive the then-all-new Corolla.
This generation Corolla features a lot of work under the new sheet metal. The car is stiffer and features reduced wind resistance over the older models. The S model has slightly tweaked rear suspension to make the ride even stiffer. Coupled with the 17-inch wheels and narrow tires, the ride can be a little rough, but manageable on all but the worst of roads.
Image: Motor Trend
The entire car got a big redesign. It’s far more aggressive looking than the rounded, bloated Corollas of past years. While the Eco, LE and S lines all offer different noses, all share the swept-back windshield and short, raked rear end. This car also marks the first time a compact car has come with LED lowbeams as standard in the US.
To my eye, it looks pretty good for a car in its price range. I bought mine in black mainly to minimize the “gaping mouth” design at the front, though.
Being an S model, my particular examples has a sunroof, fog lights and the optional 17-inch wheels. It also came with Toyota’s “CVTi-S” transmission. It’s the company’s CVT, coupled with a manual mode via the console shifter and paddles. Push the sport button and “shift” through the “gears,” and it’s almost possible to forget the transmission is basically a metal band and unicorn dust. The computer will take over if revs get too high or too low, but coupled with the Sport button that changes shift points and steering programming it’s more fun in town than your great-aunt’s 2003 Corolla.
On the inside, the Corolla’s a lot nicer than it used to be, too. It’s got Bluetooth, “SofTex” material which seems like it could be used to make space suits, a dab of leather and nice finishes on the dash. My biggest complaint here is that the driving position is too low in the car. Thankfully, it’s possible to raise the height of the driver seat, and I have, even standing six feet tall. If I find myself the passenger, I always feel like I’m looking up to see out the window.
All of that aside, I’m under no delusion that my car is fast, or even all that quick. It’s cheap to run and I like the looks, so it works for me. With plenty of safety equipment, I don’t mind using it for dad duty, as long as the kids remember my no-eating rule.
Here’s to a long time before I have to update this series. Thanks so much for following along!
You’ll get no judgment from me. A car like a Corolla is very often just the right choice. And Toyota has done a lot to make these look less boring, inside and out.
I was in a metal band called unicorn dust.
An enjoyable series, thanks for sharing with us. I think your Corolla is a smart choice, and I hope you enjoy it for years to come – it looks sharp, too.
dear mr. ohwonesten, a corolla looks nice. NOT SHARP! a 1970 camaro rs with split front bumpers looks sharp…
Stephen, Thanks for the ride with your COALs. In my opinion you made a good decision. A “boring” car is usually a good choice, especially when it’s your main or only vehicle. And you have a family.
If the opposite of boring is surprising, then boring is desirable in the business world as well.
My customers told me more than once: “We want no surprises on this project. Surprises are almost always bad news; boring is good news. We only want to hear boring news”.
Knowing you are going to get where you are going and return with few chances of vehicle issues (no car is 100% perfect but the Corolla comes close) allows one to more readily enjoy all the other aspects of life.
And a matching bike rack and mountain bike (not shown in this COAL but we know it’s black).
I’ve never had issues with Toyota’s, especially when you need a car that will not surprise you. In 2001, my grandmother bought a NUMMI Chevy Prism because it was Toyota under the badgework & there was a Chevy dealership near her house. It’s 2016, my grandmother & the car are still here, the dealership is gone.
Yep, when my wife and (then) little boys were driving around in the Camry, I was very happy with “boring.”
Congratulations. The new Corolla is a good looking car.
It’s disappointing to find that the seating low. Personally I am done with that, though the adjustable height sounds like a reasonable compromise.
“Fast” is a fleeting thing. A car doing what you want it to do reliably for as long as you own it is it’s purpose in life. A lot of parts to the whole.
Nice ride, I’m a fan of this generation Corolla. At least the looks, haven’t driven one yet. I am sure it will serve you well for, well, forever I suppose. Thanks for an informative and entertaining series!
The Corolla is a nice looking car , much better than the new 2016 Prius. I noticed it has the same floor mat as in my 2014 Toyota Yaris, that fastens to the floor. Toyota wants to make sure they don’t slide forward and jam the gas pedal, like they did a few years ago.
My 2008 Yaris from before that media dustup has the same thing. I also have a manual transmission which means if it started to run away from me I could just mash the clutch along with the brakes. I used to joke that it left both hands free, one for the steering wheel and one for the Rosary.
My ’95 Celica also had floor clips for the mats. Odd that Toyota would revert…
For awhile now I’ve wondered much ride quality degrades with lower-profile tires vs. standard. Has anyone converted & found out?
My girlfriend is on her third Corolla, a 2015 LE “Plus.” She’s never been stranded on a busy freeway or spent a day off taking care of some mechanical failure. Although her ’95 and ’10 were definitely on the boring side, her latest ride is actually pretty nice — especially the upgraded interior.
Car&Driver tested the 2014 Corolla S against 4 other small sedans in it’s price range….the Toyota came in LAST.
Some points/quotes from the June 2014 issue:
(BTW, their test Corolla S was also black.)
“Interior by Frank Lloyd Wright and his steampunk friends, exterior by Lexus.”
“Body structure by the Tin Man, engine by Vespa”.
Sum up: “Loads of potential held back by a dearth of power and whiffs of cheapness.”
“At least the new Corolla LOOKS faster and more expensive than it once did. For some, that will be enough.”
High points were handling and fuel economy (at the expense of speed/acceleration….apparently?)
I suppose I could still be induced to buy one….if it had a manual transmission and I could find a dealer that I could “work with”.
I think actual buyers are looking for the following main points, and not necessarily in this exact order: Durability, Reliability, Value for money, Resale. I didn’t look up the test but doubt that those things are what C&D is placing much emphasis on. At the end of the day, the Corolla has an exemplary track record and that’s what matters most to most of the people purchasing them. I didn’t look up Consumer Reports either but comparing the Corolla to the same other four cars, I’ll guess that the Corolla aquits itself fairly well on those pages.
Recently somebody asked on /r/cars whether a Corolla or a Kia Forte was a better choice, mentioning 30k miles a year mostly for work and wanting a nicer car in a few years’ time. General consensus was that either one would be up to it but a Corolla would still be worth solid money with 150k after five years while the Kia wouldn’t.
Yeah, Kia has come such a long way in their quality, performance, and desirability but resale hasn’t seemed to have caught up for some reason. I guess it just takes a long time to overcome perception.
I’m not so sure about that. Maybe it’s more dependent on the model? My sister sold her 2010 Soul at the end of 2014 with 99,000 miles on it and got $9,000. Considering she walked out of the showroom with it for $16,000, I don’t think one could fault that purchase at all…
I feel like that’s correct, and that’s as the owner of a Forte Koup. I just did a quick and somewhat unscientific comparison on kbb.com, and for the sedan version of my car (since there is no Corolla coupe) expected trade-in was $6450. For a Corolla with similar specs, expected trade-in is $7350. Not exactly “solid money vs. not solid money” but there is definitely a resale premium on the Corolla.
Edit–that was with the mileage we’re currently at (62k). Running the comparison again, the gap swells to $1600 ($3050 versus $4650). Buying a Toyota is never a bad decision where resale is concerned, and no one is quite ready to trust a 150k Kia yet. Understandably so (mine has been rock-solid but once the warranty runs out I’ll be a little antsy. Thankfully that’s a ways off.)
The best looking Corolla in a long time, if not ever. I always catch myself giving them a second glance when I see one pass me on the highway. If I were in the market for a new small car I would consider one for sure. I would have to match it up against the new Civic to see which one I liked better. I am a true Honda guy, but I am getting the itch to try a different brand.
Good luck with yours, Stephen! I wish you many happy years of motoring!
I’d argue this is one of the best looking Toyota products currently on the market and certainly the nicest Corolla ever. I feel that this is a design that will look good years from now, unlike many of the other, wilder styling jobs in the segment. Good looking, safe, reliable and smart value–makes a lot of sense when getting a new car!
It looks really nice. You’ll probably go through the life of that car without seeing a check engine light or any other annoying yellow dash light. Does that model have rear discs or drums?
Mine has discs; not sure of the lower models.
Nice. Great car.
Who could argue against a sensible car?
You may try putting a shim under the front seat bolts. I bought longer bolts and nuts that are too large for the bolts to raise my seat by 10mm or so.
Sorry, but I’m not too impressed with the most recent edition of the Corolla. I realize that the focus is reliability and fuel economy, but I drove one for 5 days this past weekend and noted the following:
Great at cruising the highway with excellent fuel economy (37+MPG), but “no” pick up at all for passing or merging into traffic. The engine would race, but no acceleration.The gearing of the transmission was strictly focused on fuel economy.
Also, the interior was soooo cramped due to the fastback styling of the roof. I banged my head on the A pillar several times getting in or out of the car because of the low roof. Talk about claustrophobia!!
With the aging of the Baby Boomers (including me), I now understand why SUVs and CUVs have become so popular. They allow the driver to climb in and out of the car without bashing their head.
My ’75 Corolla may have been noisy and a bit crude, but it had plenty of head room and could accommodate 4 with reasonable comfort.
So who cares if it’s boring?
For once, it’s refreshing to see a family man (or woman) drive something that’s practical and reliable, rather than putting themselves into serious hock just to impress the other parents in the carpool line.
To you sir, I say, “Bravo!”
+1 And, even though we CC regulars find much to like in older cars there is much to be said for new, reliable, warranty coverage, and worry free driving. Enjoy!
Yep, and if we just wait long enough, this will assuredly become an old car and then he can say he had one from new when we see another one curbside in twenty years or so…
Keep it and drive it forever, and it’s so cheap to maintain that it makes a ‘fun’ car purchase that much more practical.
I don’t think the problem is that the seating is too low. I think the issue is that the dashboard and the belt line are too high, which practically impedes the view out of the car. If the top of the dashboard is lowered to where the horizontal brushed silver trim is, it would probably be much easier to see out of the windshield. I had a 1991 Corolla which had excellent outward visibility front, side and rear. Most new cars give you the effect of sitting in bunker and looking out of a gun slit hole.
Car&Driver also noticed the low seating position of the Corolla especially the rear seat which was lowest of the 5 cars they tested.
No complaints here. I’ve had a few Corollas of this generation as rentals and quite enjoyed driving them.
This is the best-looking Corolla sedan in… well, I think forever! I like Toyota’s funky new interior designs too even if the material quality is often pretty mediocre. Sat in a ’13 Camry the other day and it was just a riot of textures and colours, none of them especially appealing.
I’ll admit I’ve sometimes had a bit of an anti-Toyota bias but they have always been sensible purchases. Still, with Hyundai/Kia having higher quality and reliability than ever before, it’s no surprise to see the Koreans taking over here in Australia. The Hyundai i30 (Elantra GT) has been outselling the Corolla lately, and that’s just the hatch and wagon alone. Add in Elantra sedan sales and Toyota Australia executives must be losing sleep.
I’m happy Toyota has realised they can’t coast on their reliability/quality rep and have started injecting some driving and styling excitement. But Toyota needs to be careful not to fall too behind in engineering. They were still flogging four-speed autos up until recently and only JUST launched a turbo four for the Lexus range, having relied on the rather weak 2.5 V6 for so long.
The biggest quibble I’ve had with Toyota calling this “all new” is that much did change but the platform and engine didn’t really change. However that is a Toyota hallmark that is one of the reasons they are able to generally keep things reliable. They’ve been doing that with the Camry for a while now, change the frosting – keep the cake the same.
There is some irony there, ten years ago I vividly remember Ford doing that exact same thing with the Taurus or GM with the W-body and being cited as a primary reason by many critics for the Accord and Camry surpassing it, because since 1986 Honda and Toyota had so and so many more all new generations of their midsize sedans while Ford kept the basic underpinnings from gen 1 to gen 4, “letting it languish and fall behind the competition” I believe were the choice of words back then. Pretty ironic now Toyota has near 20 year old cars under the skin of their highest volume models and is being praised for that formula.
Not that I disagree with that approach though. Just another example of the pioneers get the arrows/ the settlers get the land.
The difference is that GM and Ford still couldn’t match the reliability of Toyota and Honda even with their older designs. They also did a much poorer job than Toyota of making them feel up to date. This Corolla at least looks modern with no visual trace of its predecessors. Where as GM and Ford would usually just do facelifts.
I remember the first time I rented a Corolla about 10 years ago. What a disappointment. Coarse, cheap feeling, and utterly unremarkable in every way. It felt ancient and crude compared to my wife’s Civic. As mentioned above, it’s easier to be reliable when the car’s mechanicals are 10 years out of date and incapable of inspiring any spirited driving from its owner. Nonetheless, reliable they are and resale is good.
I’ve struggled with Toyota’s common grill appearance across their car line. To me it just looks kinda weird on the smaller cars.
We really enjoy our 2010 Corolla S like the one pictured below. It has leather and a sunroof. Get’s great gas mileage and is not boring. I chose it because of the ground effects package and the little decorative spoiler on the trunk. Bought in 2010 and is about to turn 140,000 miles. Easy to work on and a good little driver.
Haven’t had to do much to it. Changed serpentine belt, front brakes twice (rear drums are hardly worn), and change the oil all the time it seems (5,000 miles seems to click by quickly).
Unfortunately, the afternoon I posted this, the wife (she’s ok) was rearended by a Duramax. The Corolla met its demise, 10 months after being payed off. Yay for crumplezones…
They just don`t do it for me, and never have. My bother had a 2008 Corolla, and even though it was a decent looking, but kinda nondescript looking vehicle, it just screamed “cheapness” through and through., especially in the plastic looking, mouse fur trimmed interior. It seemed like it was a well made car that got good gas mileage, but so what?
Considering so many modern cars come with seat material that appears to be made from recycled water bottles and has the texture of plasticized burlap, I actually don’t mind some good old-fashioned mouse fur.
And you have a choice of three colors.Gray, tan, or black. What will it be?
Looks great in black. Not so convinced on other colors because I’m somewhat conflicted on that grille, but the black hides it well. And they did finally move away from the somewhat frumpy look of recent previous generations.
While traveling for work recently, I was assigned rental cars the class of the Corolla or slightly smaller. The best of the three was a Chevy Cruze, which I found pleasant enough for what it was, but the other two (an Accent 5-door and a Versa sedan) made me wish I’d been assigned a Corolla instead, as I saw some in the rental lot on the way to my inferior substitutes.