New Corrola, good and bad points.

[North Yorkshire Steve]

Going for a second test drive on Tuesday - Corrola TS 2ltr and if my wife likes it (I'm sure she will!) we will be placing an order.

So is there anything, good or bad, that current owners can tell me about the car, you know the things you can't pick up on a short test drive.

Thanks in advance.

[JoaoM]

I have one of those 2.0 TS. I just love it. After almost 16.000 km I even like it more. What I'd change: the OEM tyres (terrible Falken Ziex) and a thing that you'll have solved: Android auto/car play.

I have 17" alloys and I think it's the right size for this car.

Have fun.

[Cheerypete]

Hi Steve,

Having run a Corolla 2.0ltr TS Design since June, I have generally have nothing but praise for the car. Even though at first, it took a little bit of getting used to, after running a higher end spec Skoda Superb Mk3 manual diesel for the last 3 years.

So some of the plus points for me are as follows,

• Average fuel consumption in the low 50's during general us
• Excellent ride
• Good turn of speed when needed
• Well above average handling on the right B roads
• Fits into your average parking spaces, when compared to the Superb 

The possible negatives points

• Interior too dark, too much like a minicab. Needs the lighter headlining as fitted to some Left Hand Drive models
• Satnav adequate when compared to what VW products have
• Lacks some of the nice touches that Skoda's and other VW models have
• Bit workman like

But overall, it's a good little car. So enjoy your test drive, and don't forget to see what deals are on offer on the likes of Carwow

Cheerypete

 

 

[Platy2]

After 33.000 km I still smile every time I go for a ride. The drivetrain is so cool, and that really is the central aspect of a car. I like the overall design and the powerful engine combined with fine mpg. Weakness in my opinion: The electronics.

- GPS is worse than my 5 year old 150 euro garmin nüvi.

- Menu system feels somewhat sluggish and outdated.

- When I turn on the car, it often starts out by telling me the Toyota server can't be found or some other error messages.

- The lane departure/steering assist works ok on highways but it will sometimes try to take you off the road e.g when passing an exit. On smaller roads it really is best turned off.

- Automatic high beam will occasionally blind other drivers.

- The MyT app is rather lame, with limited functionality. 

- Road sign assist is not that reliable. 

So you should check this out carefully to see if this is a dealbreaker for you. I don't regret the purchase for a second, just to be clear. But I would compare it carefully to the new Seat Leon ST estate. I personally just trust Toyota more when it comes to reliability, especially after a lot of miles.

Some people really hate the cvt transmission. I like it, but try pushing it to the limit to see and hear if it bothers you.

And by the way, the dynamic radar cruise control works really well and never lets you down.

Good luck with the test drive and decision!

[TonyHSD]

Corolla is probably the best car in it’s class at the moment, it’s stylish, it’s modern and future proof drivetrains makes it best choice if you want to go for a ice car and not full ev or plug in hybrid. Negative only is the lack of space on the rear seats and darker roof lining on the hatchback models. , shame really as they are best looking but too small, estate or saloon are better options  if you have family and need to use rear seat frequently. 
 

[JoaoM]

I did a comparison between several brands and models is SWs. VAG group cars (VW, Seat, Audi, Skoda) are spacious, some well built but the engines offer is outdated: diesels and tiny turbos. Well, a 2.0 diesel engine with 115hp, slow as a snail and pollutant (even with urea addition) is a triple no go for me. And small turbos? That's 1980's tech! They have power but only are able to get through the wltp tests because the biggest part of the test is at low and moderate speed. That's the problem Ford also has with their Focus 1.0 and 1.5 economist (3 cilinders with deactivation technology, making it weird, at least).

Than you have the smaller diesel engines from PSA. I don't like them that much as they're noisy and not that eco as they argue. Besides, Citroën are strange design cars and the last 308SW is my definition of a dull car.

Italians? Usually like the design (not the latest Tipo) but I need a car to drive on the road not to the repair shop...

Than when you weight reliability, the 7 years warranty and 10 for the hybrid system, and operation costs (fuel) and maintenance (roughly half of a Diesel and less than any gas turbo engine)... It's hard to beat the Corolla.

[FROSTYBALLS]

7 minutes ago, JoaoM said:

Than when you weight reliability, the 7 years warranty and 10 for the hybrid system

New car warranty for the UK is 5 years/100,000 miles. After the new car warranty, the Hybrid Battery warranty may be extended annually up to the car's 15th birthday subject to having an annual hybrid electric service, and owners may also purchase  mechanical extended warranties (incl breakdown cover) up to the car's 12th birthday.

[nielshm]

The 2 liter engine is the right one for me. Additional price was high compared to 1.8, but I'm happy I spended the extra money. 

Fuel average since november and 26.000 km is 20,0 km/l or 57 mpg. My daily drive to work is 22 km. without motorway. 

[nielshm]

2 hours ago, nielshm said:

The 2 liter engine is the right one for me. Additional price was high compared to 1.8, but I'm happy I spended the extra money. 

Fuel average since november and 26.000 km is 20,0 km/l or 57 mpg. My daily drive to work is 22 km. without motorway.

One more thing. I find road noise a bit high doing 70-75 mph. It depends completely on the tarmac, smooth or rough, but most motorways are noisy. 

I don't know how to fit insulation mats, it seems quite a job to take the car apart around the wheel arc. 

[Jiff]

I've got a 1.8 TS which s fine for me as I don't drive too fast. I get 65mpg which is pretty good. i don't notice any problem with the Falken tyres or road noise then I think the car is probably a bit lighter than the 2.0 & i don't break the speed limit. Remember your journey & speed are recorded on a central server.

The large boot is great, the 1.8 has more room under the boot floor I believe due to the 2lts extra batteries. From the manual it looks like only half the boot floor can be lowered compared to the 1.8 where the whole thing drops down. That was great last Christmas for going away. 

The negative for me is the infotainment. It has an annoying start up sound, which i haven't found a way of turning off. It has voice control but you still have to use the menu options on the display to do things like stop or pause sat nav. It has an option to use fastest, shortest or most economical route (or similar} when using nav, but it only shows  for a second. It also reads the whole road number e.g. B four thousand one hundred and thirty two, not B 4132.I like it concise & quick not long & drawn out. 

If you say play <artist name> it then asks what album to play, why not just play them all which it does anyway! 

You'll get android auto which may solve some problems though I'm not sure if its wireless or not. 

I'd buy another Corrolla as long as they improve the infotainment.

Jiff

 

[North Yorkshire Steve]

Many thanks for all the replies, to answer a few points that have been raised:

Current car is a Seat Leon estate 1.8 DSG, it's a great car but my wife wants something different this time.

Technically it is her car as it's leased via the Motability scheme, which also mean the cost of maintenance is not an issue.

I've read comments about the infotainment system elsewhere, but having thought about it we don't consider it to be a deal breaker. Incidentally the Seat sat nav also reads the road numbers out the long way!

One thing I did notice on the first test drive was the quality of the ride, much better than the Seat I guessing that's down to the wheel size, 18 inch on the Seat and 17 inch on the Corrolla.

The first test drive was to see how the CVT gearbox was, the DSG in the Seat is excellent, I was pleasantly surprised how good the CVT was. CVT hs come on a long way from the DAF system of old!

I'll let you know how we get on.

[JoaoM]

DSG gearboxes for everyday cars are non-sense. And overall highly overrated, not to mention expensive and more costly to maintain.

[AndrueC]

Only things I'd be a bit critical of:

* Auto headlight dip can't be trusted. Either that or it's leaving it to the last microsecond.

* Auto wipers are impossible to setup with a single speed. I think there's been an industry-wide change to the system used. My first Honda Jazz with them used an IR sensor to detect drops and once you'd found the right speed setting you could generally leave it alone. Wipers would speed/up slow down by themselves as needed. Since then both cars (another Jazz and my Corolla) need the speed continually adjusting as you drive along. Hardly what I'd call automatic.

* Only one USB data socket. If the socket in the armrest carried data I could hide my iPod Touch completely out of sight.

* Park Hold has to be switched on every time you start the car.

But these are relatively minor gripes in what is basically a nearly perfect car. Personally I found the 1.8 to be more than powerful enough but whichever version you get I'm sure you'll fall in love with it.

Fuel consumption (to compare with 2.0 :) )

* During winter when commuting (9 miles open road, two miles urban) - high 50s.

* During summer when commuting - low 60s.

* Since lock down (no commuting. \o/) - mid to high 60s.

[North Yorkshire Steve]

Andrue,

Thanks for the reply. Interesting what you say about the auto lights & wipers we had them on a previous car (Ford Kuga) and they worked fine but we don't have them on the Seat. My wife likes and wants them, I, personally don't have a problem with switching them on myself!

Yes one USB could be a problem but I'm sure Amazon will sell a 'doubler'. Motability don't allow you to hard wire a dash cam so it has to be run from a USB or cigarette lighter socket. Again not a deal breaker.

Interesting about the park hold, the Seat has it I don't think we'd go back to a car without it. The car I tested didn't need it switched on and the salesman had just unlocked it, maybe they have updated the system? 

Fuel consumption figures are interesting thanks. Certainly better than the Seat which gets worse MPG when I drive it than when my wife does, no idea why!

 

[North Yorkshire Steve]

6 hours ago, JoaoM said:

DSG gearboxes for everyday cars are non-sense. And overall highly overrated, not to mention expensive and more costly to maintain.

I don't understand your comment, personally I think DSG 'boxs are perfect for everyday cars, but, of course you are entitled to your opinion.

Due to her disabilities my wife can't drive a manual car any more. 

[nielshm]

11 hours ago, Jiff said:

I've got a 1.8 TS which s fine for me as I don't drive too fast. I get 65mpg which is pretty good. i don't notice any problem with the Falken tyres or road noise then I think the car is probably a bit lighter than the 2.0 & i don't break the speed limit. Remember your journey & speed are recorded on a central server.

The large boot is great, the 1.8 has more room under the boot floor I believe due to the 2lts extra batteries. From the manual it looks like only half the boot floor can be lowered compared to the 1.8 where the whole thing drops down. That was great last Christmas for going away. 

The negative for me is the infotainment. It has an annoying start up sound, which i haven't found a way of turning off. It has voice control but you still have to use the menu options on the display to do things like stop or pause sat nav. It has an option to use fastest, shortest or most economical route (or similar} when using nav, but it only shows  for a second. It also reads the whole road number e.g. B four thousand one hundred and thirty two, not B 4132.I like it concise & quick not long & drawn out. 

If you say play <artist name> it then asks what album to play, why not just play them all which it does anyway! 

You'll get android auto which may solve some problems though I'm not sure if its wireless or not. 

I'd buy another Corrolla as long as they improve the infotainment.

Jiff

 

The 12V Battery is stored in the right panel in the boot, and not under the floor. I think the floor that can be lowered, is similar to 1.8 version. A lot of stuff can be stored under the floor, even in the lowest position.

[AndrueC]

I love automation..if it's done well. But as a computer programmer I also dislike automation (or any technology) that is flawed. Auto-wipers to me means they wipe when the screen needs it. My first Honda Jazz was like that. I actually thought of the speed adjustment as being a geographical thing. Further west or north you'd set it higher 🙂. But either way you set it once and then left it alone for the rest of your ownership. I think the change in systems was when cameras came in. To me auto-wipers where you have to continuously adjust the speed are stupid. As you say, switching them on is no particular hardship anyway. But wipers that simply remove excess water from the screen as/when it builds up are a wonderful thing.

I'm still in two minds about the auto dip headlights. Some people said the Jazz was tardy but I was happy to put that down to mathematics and a well designed system. Human drivers don't really understand the difference between 'the car ahead can see my headlights' and 'the car ahead is being dazzled by my headlights'. There is precisely calculated zone ahead of the vehicle within which dazzle will occur. Outside of that - none. Thus you don't need to dip your headlights when coming up behind someone until you're actually close enough. You don't always have to dip your headlights when approaching a right hand curve because the oncoming vehicle might never enter the zone of dazzle. Computers can work these things out and I was prepared to trust the Jazz. But the Corolla...not so much. To be fair I've only been flashed once but still, I remain sceptical and considering how bright LEDs are it's a worry. One thing gives me hope: Toyota have a more advanced system that proves they know how to calculate the dazzle zone so maybe, just maybe we should have more faith 😕

As for the USB - sure. Any old USB hub will work (and Toyota sell one for a not unreasonable price). But the thing is my last two Jazz had three USB sockets. One in the console, two under the armrest and they all supported data and fast charging. So..Toyota seem cheap by comparison. Plus I believe that some models don't even have the charge point under the armrest.

Others have mentioned a poor infotainment unit. Well there at least Toyota's is better than Hondas. It actually works quite well I think. There are some aspects of the sat nav though that are a bit poor. Things I miss:

* Telling you the next road. It clarifies things when you're on the M6 heading north and the sat nav says the next road is the M54. Once or twice the sat nav has been tardy with an instruction and knowing what to look out for is helpful in dealing with that. It also gives more time for you to mull over whether you want to drive through Shropshire or stick to motorways if you're going to North Wales 🙂

* Not giving you long enough to pick your preference, not letting you change your mind - very valid points. It also doesn't seem to show the different routes. Yesterday I drove from Brackley to Daventry (never a pleasant journey even though they are nominally 'sister' towns). But of the three options all seemed to be going via what turned out to be a closed road. My mate said his Tom Tom got him through via villages and lanes but I was so distrustful that I turned round and went a different route altogether. Had to put up with the thing asking for a u-turn for twenty miles before it finally decided that the A43 was a viable route. Given the choice I'd not have got the sat nav because I've never liked built-in units but unfortunately I wanted everything else that comes with that trim level.

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, North Yorkshire Steve said:

I don't understand your comment, personally I think DSG 'boxs are perfect for everyday cars, but, of course you are entitled to your opinion.

Due to her disabilities my wife can't drive a manual car any more. 

Dsg are jerky in stop start traffic and while parking. They are also not as reliable as eCVT that Toyota hybrids has and they have a clutch replacement that needs to be done at some point, £5k no way around plus if that things goes prematurely dealers doesn’t cover It under warranty. , they called serviceable part like a brake pads. DSG exclusively good for sports style driving., the only known gearbox that is not a Toyota ecvt are Mercedes 9G tronic and BMW ZF 8 speed that is also fitted to Toyota Supra. These are pretty much best automatics available. 

[Devon Aygo]

13 hours ago, Jiff said:

The negative for me is the infotainment. It has an annoying start up sound, which i haven't found a way of turning off.

Audio doesn't have a startup noise that i'm aware of.

Do you have a Nextbase/Toyota Dashcam? As it does

[JoaoM]

4 hours ago, North Yorkshire Steve said:

I don't understand your comment, personally I think DSG 'boxs are perfect for everyday cars, but, of course you are entitled to your opinion.

Due to her disabilities my wife can't drive a manual car any more. 

DSG or any dual clutch gearbox are adequate for sports cars as their main advantage is shift speed. VAG DSG are poor on downshift time... The poor reliability and high maintenance and repair costs make them a poor choice for everyday cars.

Standard automatics or e-cvt (or the latest Toyota CVT with launching gear) are far superior for the majority of the cars.

[AndrueC]

20 minutes ago, JoaoM said:

DSG or any dual clutch gearbox are adequate for sports cars as their main advantage is shift speed. VAG DSG are poor on downshift time... The poor reliability and high maintenance and repair costs make them a poor choice for everyday cars.

Standard automatics or e-cvt (or the latest Toyota CVT with launching gear) are far superior for the majority of the cars.

Honda's belt CVT is good as well. It was marred in my last Jazz by the engine switching between Atkinson and Otto cycle mode which could feel like a gear change but they've apparently fixed that in the face lift version. My Corolla has more get up and go with the Battery assist but it's interesting that my Corolla runs out of steam around 80 mph climbing a nearby hill and can barely get to 90 by the top. The Jazz could exceed 100 before it got to the top. I think that the 1.3 Jazz might just be able to get to the top before the 1.8 Corolla. On the other hand I'm getting at least 10% better fuel consumption with the Corolla and I rarely feel the need to exceed the speed limit anywhere so it hardly matters 🙂

[prkys]

I have 2.0TS Exec.

Before I had Passat 2.0tdi DSG.

I switched because I didn't want to pay to have similar car. My. Passat was 13years old but new one had similar engine and similar transmission.

1.8 was not interesting since I like to have possibility to go faster. Car is good, for me even comfortable with 18 wheels, transmission asks for some getting used to it (high revs etc) but works great.

Best thing is calm drive, easy start, quiet.

Consumption is 5,8l in average, appx 1.5 l less than Passat diesel.

Infotainment is a bit oldish, works ok but nothing more.

Every drive is enjoy so far, we did 12t km in 7 months.

[vonkhaled]

I've had my Corolla since june 2019 and i've covered 41000 km. The 1.8 is perfect for my driving needs and it gets excellent fuel economy.

Here are some things that I don't like/have bothered me:

• Space, the hatchback has terrible legroom in the back and space in the trunk isn't the best. 
• High speed stability, it's not as stable as the let's say the Golf. 
• Very sensitive to cross winds 
• The OEM tires from Falken are terrible 
• Road noise is apparent over 100 km/h. 
• I used to hate the infotainment system, but I recently did the update and use Apple CarPlay all the time (huge upgrade for me). 
• Lack of usb outlets (only one close to the glovebox)
• Piano black trims on the interior. 

Other then this i'm happy with the Corolla and might buy a new one in two years (perhaps the 2.0 next time). 

Good luck and hope you guys find a Corolla that suits your needs 😊

 

 

[Jiff]

On 9/14/2020 at 9:06 PM, Devon Aygo said:

Audio doesn't have a startup noise that i'm aware of.

Do you have a Nextbase/Toyota Dashcam? As it does

Yes i do Thanks for the info I'll see if I can silence that 

Jeff 

[North Yorkshire Steve]

Had the second test drive today in a 1.8 TS. It was noticeably less punchy in the mid range.

So order placed for a 2.0 design spec in black pick up on 15th december. 

The car we drove (Excel spec) had a startup chime which was the same as our Nextbase dash cam. I wonder if Toyota use Nextbase software for the road sign camera?

Anyway many thanks for all the info you have posted it has been very helpful.