Corolla Hybrid - Change my mind

agreed, but a long time, unfortunately

 

have you test driven yet? i want to see the review!

 

I test-drove both a Camry hybrid, a Corolla hybrid, and a Prius Prime back to back.

I really liked the Corolla Hybrid and though it's a wonderful vehicle. I just wanted an EV and went with the Prime instead.

 

Yes I own a 2020 Corolla hybrid. I bought it just about two months ago for a series of daily trips that I need to make. I wanted to get a car with good fuel economy and carry just me and a small amount of cargo. I have put a little over 3200 miles on the car to date. I believe it is one of the best cars for the buck that I have ever owned. Compared to the last generation Corolla the car is quieter inside and has better handling along with a smoother ride. Smooth enough that it boarders on a little too smooth but then again the car isn't designed for autocross. Fuel economy running 80 mph on the freeway with about 20% of the trip on slower roads is between 54.5 and 55 mph in hot weather with A/C running full blast. The driving aids that are on the car (adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance) work very well. It is a Prius drivetrain right down to the 15" wheels so I would expect it to be as reliable as a Prius. A lot of things going for it but a couple of things are not. First the car is only offered in one trim level pretty near the bottom of the barrel. That means that some of the upscale drivers assistance features (like blind spot warning, park assist,etc.) are not offered. The car (as configured by Southeast Toyota Distributors) doesn't include or have an option for a spare tire. Just a lousy $10 compressor and slime. I purchased a spare tire and jack tools for a Prius on E-bay and fortunately the car has a spare tire well so that was an easy but pricey fix. The worst part of the car is the almost useless infotainment system which is a problem across the Toyota line. However, as this is pretty much the base trim, you get the bottom of the barrel Entune 3.0 system. It does not have HD radio, satellite radio or much else for that matter. If I didn't have a smart phone I don't think you could even use the system. Thank goodness for the fact that it at least has Apple Car Play (surprisingly it doesn't have Android Auto) which allows me to stream music/talk and use Google map. I hope I never figure out what "scout" GPS that comes does or how it works. The only thing I know about scout is that it was Tonto's horse on the Lone Ranger. The infotainment system is so bad that after the test drive, it almost kept me from buying the car. There isn't even an upgrade path to the better Entune systems.

Am I happy with the car? yes. Would I buy it again? Maybe, but only if my needs didn't change from what I bought if for. Its a great car for medium range commuting for one or two people. For shorter trips, you would arrive at your destination before you could get the Entune system set up and working.

 

The Corolla also has the same platform as the Prius. So I would expect it and the gen4 to behave nearly the same when driven.

 

i thought it was 'silver'

 

And both being commuting appliances, those are going to be similar between the two. Platform in TNGA is not just the chassis.
My Matrix and Prius were farther apart than today's Corolla and Prius, and they their driving behavior was really close.

 

That's interesting. So it wasn't that there was no room for the spare; it was just Toyota "cheaping out".

Addendum: Checked Toyota Canada. The 2020 Corolla Hybrid is not availabe yet but is coming. Hybrid will have temp spare. Conventional dash too, with coolant temp gauge.

2020 Corolla and Corolla Hybrid Specifications - Toyota Canada

 

My 2019 Camry LE Hybrid came with a spare, which was a selling point.

My wife's Hyundai had an empty spot for a spare requiring a separate purchase, which we made for around $200. The spare kit we purchased included a jack, lug wrench and tire.

Saves them weight and money to leave off the spare. Kinda surprised and impressed the Camry came with one.

 

Yeah as long there's no significant change to the body parts (requiring big bucks to remedy, if even possible), the space is there and you're only looking at a couple of hundred, it's not too bad.

 

I have a Corolla Touring Sports (the estate version) on order. It is a company car and I need at lease 500L of boot space so an estate is the practical solution.
The Prius is just a tad to small in that respect. So in terms of practicality the Corolla could be the better choice.

Sadly the 2 liter high power hybrid would not fit in the budget. 180bhp would have been nice compared to the 122bhp 1.8 version.

 

Maybe more Prius owners want to fix their flat tires via smartphone than spare? That would have been my guess anyway...

 

The Prime has a spare tire well.
It's just underneath the battery.

 

And...

Yeah AWD Prius is similar: the sheet metal cavity is there, but blocked.

 

Toyota probably did what they could, without hurting sales, to get the best MPG rating for the Corolla hybrid. Just as they did with the Prius Eco and Camry hybrid LE.

 

The Ioniq has a very complicated Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) with known issues. The HSD is a very good reason to limit the menu choices to a Toyota cars that are so equipped..

 

The difference is noticeable primarily because the previous generation Corolla had very bad driving dynamics. I test drove one and it was a dud - had cheap rental car written all over it. The new common platform appears to have fixed that problem.

 

Any reports specific to the Ioniq? I know the Tuscon had some in the past.

Automatic transmissions are quite reliable these days. AAMCO had to expand beyond them in 2007.