Sunday Drive: Toyota Corolla SX sedan

Monday, 10 February 2020

**TOYOTA COROLLA SX SEDAN

Base price:** $32,990.

Powertrain and economy: 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol, 125kW/200Nm, continuously variable transmission, FWD, combined economy 6.0 litres per 100km, CO2 138g/km (source: RightCar).

The Corolla sedan has more than a hint of Camry in both its ride quality and size.

Vital statistics: 4630mm long, 1435mm high, 2700mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 470 litres, 16-inch wheels.

We like: Compellingly capacious, nice chassis, sharp looks.

The Corolla wears the sedan body shape well.

We don't like: Fussy driver assists, drivetrain lacks pizzaz, dull interior.

Suggesting that the just-landed sedan version of the Corolla puts the boot into Toyota's best-seller isn't simply an obvious pun.

At 470 litres, the sedan's boot is far more useful than the hatch's tiny 294 litre effort.

It's stating a fact: pathetic luggage capacity is a major fault of the car in its original hatchback form. It's been universally called out for being absurdly small for a five-door car in this segment and the big question (other than how Toyota Japan ever allowed it to be signed off) remains how and when it might be reconciled.

Potentially, the hatch will never shake the curse of its teensy 294 litre boot, but at least now there is a solution. Actually, there are two. In addition to the sedan, which arrives with a 470 litre boot, Toyota has also released an even more capacious station wagon.

Interior materials and build quality are a highlight in the sedan.

The engine's okay, but the CVT drains the life out of it on the open road.

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Which to chose? If you're entertaining a Corolla for private ownership, the wagon won't get much of a look-in, being so obvious tailored for work. All the same, it's easy to see a jobs-lot of sedans heading into the fleet/rental sector, without whose ongoing support the Corolla potentially wouldn't have achieved as the country's top-selling car in 2019. It has to be more appealing to Messrs Hertz, Avis and so on and their customers simply because of the enhanced practicality it offers.

But there are other attractions beyond additional roominess. The shape is also a plus point. It's smart-looking car that mimics all the sharp and cues of the five-door yet is even more stylish. On top of this, for the first time you can get a hybrid version of the sedan.

Carrying a $2000 premium over the pure petrol version, it's the sixth hybrid currently offered by TNZ, joining the Corolla hatch, the Camry sedan, the three-member Prius family and the RAV4.

Corolla's global sales volume dominance - 44 million units with this nameplate and still climbing - has never been built on being an agent of world-shaking change; it delivers far more on solid and sensible values than for outright flair.

While Toyota is bent now on returning excitement to its product, it's pushing the boat out in the way that a Mercedes A-Class or, within purely Japanese ranks, the Mazda3, does.

That's most evident within the cabin. Material quality is excellent and generally the layout is simple and logical, yet in SX trim it's more about work than recreation so a leather-wrapped steering wheel is as far as it reaches toward ritziness.

Core safety assists feature and standard gear includes sat nav on the infotainment system, keyless entry, 7.0-inch display in the instrument cluster and wireless phone charging. But hoping the sedan would be the first Corolla to finally achieve Apple CarPlay was not to be: yes, it has at last come to Corolla, but only to the one you'd think was least deserving - that workhorse wagon.

Sitting in the driver's seat you have a nice position with tilt and reach adjustable steering, and though forward vision is a touch obscured due to thick A-pillars, the side and rearward views are good.

Plaudits about the quality of Toyota's TNGA (Toyota new global architecture) chassis are nothing new; the hatch was the first car to demonstrate the quality of this underpinning. The sedan continues that good work.

You're not buying sporting prowess here, but the maturity and confidence it brings to the road are nonetheless worth celebrating. Comfort is very much a high point; the ride quality is relaxingly supple. That it reminds quite a lot of the lopping ride that the Camry sedan is renowned for seems only right; they're on a common platform, after all, and basically the Corolla in this body is almost as big inside as the previous-gen Camry. The bonus with Corolla is that it delivers enough of a sense of involvement - sitting flat, turning assertively, steering naturally with good feedback - to make it better than it could easily have been.

Could the same be said about the driveline? Constantly variable transmissions are soul-less items and, though Toyota's is more seamless than some, we'd never prefer it over a traditional automatic. It's okay in the city, where the tailoring allows everything to work at relatively low revs and with modest throttle inputs, but simply dilutes driving pleasure out on the open road and seems to unnecessarily sap this engine's energy.

Toyota having come up to speed with a suite of standard active safety systems - autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with steering assist, lane tracing, automatic high beams and a reversing camera – is great.

A shame the controls to finetune or deactivate these functions aren't more intuitive. Just locating them on steering wheel spokes when they also house audio and cruise control functions makes it all a bit too busy.