Excited? Maybe, just a bit .....

[Dewi 24]

So, the day looms large when I pick up our new (to us but 12 months old) Corolla - mid-day Wed to be precise.  This is unlike any replacement car I've picked up before because they were all pretty much of a muchness in how they worked but the Hybrid is another animal altogether and I have no idea if I'm going to "Gel" with it or not.  It's a 1.8 Design Hatch model in a very nice shade of grey and both the missus and me love the colour. It replaces a 2020 automatic Peugeot 308SW (estate) which has been a good workhorse - we're retired now so we do quite a few trips away each year - Scotland, the South West etc with our dog, and the Peugeot (or Pig hut as we call it) has served us well. I normally go for ex demo cars as they can be a good buy but we got the Peugeot new by default - due to covid, new car sales weren't hitting targets so we were offered a brand new one for £700 less than the ex demo we'd gone to see. The Pig Hut's 8 speed auto 'box is an absolute delight to use - quick changing and very smooth - It's an Aisin / Warner unit which I believe has some connection to Toyota, but the appeal of it was it uses a traditional torque converter and I didn't fancy any of the dual clutch things 3 years ago because they seemed to be nothing but trouble - Ford's Powershift and the VW dry clutch DSG to name just 2.

So, it it is with some trepidation that I'm about - in my twilight years - to experience something totally new and I've no idea if it'll suit or not, only time will tell. The question may well be asked "why choose a hybrid then?". I'm unsure of the answer to that myself really, but the nice long warranty had some bearing on it plus Toyota reliability (that cropped up a lot, in a positive way, in relation to Toyota during my research for a new car) and the great mpg these cars are capable of. It's also a very nice looking car IMO.  I'm just not sure that I'll get on with the CVT and the relative lack of power but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. As I mentioned in my previous post here a few days ago I have a couple of old "classic" cars which are for fun, so the Toyota will be the daily workhorse.  I'll report back with my first impressions after I've picked it up and been for a good long drive in it. For the petrolheads - a couple of pics of the two old 'uns ... The MG is a '72  which has had some cyl head work and goes quite well, the Mini is a '79 Cooper "wannabe", it's got a 1275 engine with Cooper S brakes all round, it's brilliant to drive. They're summer cars only though 😊. 

Finally, can someone let me know how the heater works in the hybrid? Like, does the engine take an age to warm up seeing as it's not running all the time?  It was a thought that occurred as I was watching the snow coming down here on Sat night.

[Woofwoof]

I’m very happy with the car.

regarding the heater, I’ve noticed the car keeps the engine on a lot at the beginning to heat up the cabin which increases fuel consumption in the winter.

personally I try avoid using the heat for economy purposes until the engine has heated up itself although this can take. Avery long time when driving urban.

additionally the temperature gauge shows coolant temperature rather than engine temperature which is usually lower at the beginning.

hope you enjoy your new car

[Parts-King]

As above, put the heater on and MPG suffers a little, but life is too short to worry about it, with heated seats and a decent heater in mine, I don't worry about an extra (smallish) cost, enjoy your car 

[Bper]

Hi Dewi, The first positive you have made is buying a Toyota😄, I am sure it will live up to your expectations so enjoy the car and keep us posted on your thoughts on your nearly new Corolla👍😀

[Mojo1010]

Welcome on board. 

The 1.8 gen 4 corolla on the whole I think it's fine for most people. What you will find lacking will be the power when doing mid-long distances, quick acceleration, likely very difficult to overtake on fast single carriageway. 

I don't have a corolla, though I had the younger brother - Yaris gen3 with 99bhp. Now gen4 116bhp. 

[TonyHSD]

Hi., 

Very nice and interesting read. Congratulations on your new car purchase.
I don’t think Corolla 1.8 lack any power at all. I often been overtaken by Priuses, Chr’ s and Corollas with same engine and they fly past me like a rockets., not to mention to smaller Yaris, these are like a supernova’s 💥⭐️ The eCVT is probably the best auto transmission ever created in the world, so simple and reliable, also super easy to drive , very similar to electric cars. With the time you will get used to it and learn how to drive it efficiently without sacrificing on performance. If you need to go faster simply push it further, more you push faster you go. , push sharply to the floor makes a difference, once you quickly reach your desired speed or finish your manoeuvre release slightly accelerator and the car will become nice and quiet again. Practice is all you need. , everything with the time. 
If you look around how many of these been used as taxi and ph cars, if they lack power and not nice to drive , those drivers wouldn’t pick one no matter how economical they are. The driving experience is the most , then reliability and then efficiency. 👍
 

[Dewi 24]

Thanks for all the replies, they're very much appreciated and I'll certainly report back with tales of how the Corolla and me get on.

[Cyker]

5 hours ago, Dewi 24 said:

So, the day looms large when I pick up our new (to us but 12 months old) Corolla - mid-day Wed to be precise.  This is unlike any replacement car I've picked up before because they were all pretty much of a muchness in how they worked but the Hybrid is another animal altogether and I have no idea if I'm going to "Gel" with it or not.  It's a 1.8 Design Hatch model in a very nice shade of grey and both the missus and me love the colour. It replaces a 2020 automatic Peugeot 308SW (estate) which has been a good workhorse - we're retired now so we do quite a few trips away each year - Scotland, the South West etc with our dog, and the Peugeot (or Pig hut as we call it) has served us well. I normally go for ex demo cars as they can be a good buy but we got the Peugeot new by default - due to covid, new car sales weren't hitting targets so we were offered a brand new one for £700 less than the ex demo we'd gone to see. The Pig Hut's 8 speed auto 'box is an absolute delight to use - quick changing and very smooth - It's an Aisin / Warner unit which I believe has some connection to Toyota, but the appeal of it was it uses a traditional torque converter and I didn't fancy any of the dual clutch things 3 years ago because they seemed to be nothing but trouble - Ford's Powershift and the VW dry clutch DSG to name just 2.

So, it it is with some trepidation that I'm about - in my twilight years - to experience something totally new and I've no idea if it'll suit or not, only time will tell. The question may well be asked "why choose a hybrid then?". I'm unsure of the answer to that myself really, but the nice long warranty had some bearing on it plus Toyota reliability (that cropped up a lot, in a positive way, in relation to Toyota during my research for a new car) and the great mpg these cars are capable of. It's also a very nice looking car IMO.  I'm just not sure that I'll get on with the CVT and the relative lack of power but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. As I mentioned in my previous post here a few days ago I have a couple of old "classic" cars which are for fun, so the Toyota will be the daily workhorse.  I'll report back with my first impressions after I've picked it up and been for a good long drive in it. For the petrolheads - a couple of pics of the two old 'uns ... The MG is a '72  which has had some cyl head work and goes quite well, the Mini is a '79 Cooper "wannabe", it's got a 1275 engine with Cooper S brakes all round, it's brilliant to drive. They're summer cars only though 😊. 

Finally, can someone let me know how the heater works in the hybrid? Like, does the engine take an age to warm up seeing as it's not running all the time?  It was a thought that occurred as I was watching the snow coming down here on Sat night.

I know a lot of people say hybrids drive very different to normal cars, but I don't really think that's right.

Toyota have made them respond in a very natural and intuitive way, and the car kinda guides you to drive in a certain way, but is still fine with however you want to drive it, even if that's a bit... enthusiastically   .

Because there isn't a normal gearbox, there are no gear shifts and I like to joke my Mk4 has 0ms shift time when my mate tries to boast about how fast his DSG-equipped car changes gears  

It's just all very smooth and nice to drive - Almost like an EV but without the downsides of an EV. One thing I realized is there is no situation you can get into that will make the engine feel/sound laboured - It's always in the right 'gear' and supported by the electric motors. It will get revvy if you demand all the power from it tho' - If you floor the accelerator, telling the car you want maximum power, it'll give it to you immediately, no waiting for the engine to build revs up like in a normal car, which can be disconcerting if you're not used to it.

Other hybrid owners have mentioned that it's just very relaxing to drive, and I didn't really get what they meant until I got mine - It's just weirdly calming to waft through what would be annoying traffic. And then when you want to give it the beans, it's ready  

I don't think the 1.8 has the same punch as the newer engines, but it's still got decent shove - It'll keep up with most things off the line if you don't mind giving it some  

[davidif]

Although I have currently got a Corolla 2.0, prior to that I had a CH-R 1.8 and whilst the Corolla is clearly significantly quicker I never found the CH-R to be underpowered.

The 1.8 engine in the CH-R was capable of noticeably better fuel economy.

 

[Dewi 24]

All very reassuring comments - thanks. Insurance is now all sorted on the Corolla, we swapped it over from our current Peugeot 308SW this morning and it comes into force tomorrow am and we'll tax it at the dealership. The Peugeot has been emptied of all our pariphernalia - it's amazing how much junk is accumulated in 3 years, most of it dog related - boot liner, poo bags, towels, drink bowls, spare leads etc etc.  I'll miss the estate a wee bit for it's convenience of getting loads of stuff in it on our B&Q trips but apart that and the odd tip run there's no point in us having an estate really and it'll be nice to get back to a saloon / hatch again. We've got a couple of trips lined up for next year, so far Scotland and the North Yorkshire Moors and there'll be another booked somewhere else for later in the year - poss Cornwall or Devon. We'll not be able to pack so much into the Corolla as we did into the estate but we tended to take a lot of stuff we never needed anyway just because we could. The times they are 'a changin' 🙃

[bigblock]

Best thing about a hybrid is no constant shifting. No clutch. Nice and calm driving with both hands on steering wheel all the time. Can't stall it. It will not run backwards on a slope. Hill starts no problem. I think it makes you a better driver to be honest. Had a drive of my dad's Kia diesel the other day and I have to say it was hard work. I will never go back to a manual gearbox given the choice.

[Cyker]

Yeah, it's very effortless, even more so than normal autoboxes. I'm very much a manual driver and don't generally like automatics, but the way the hybrids drive almost gives the best of both worlds - The control of a manual and the ease of an automatic.

[Auris James]

I came back from Birmingham to Staffordshire at 16.45 on a Friday last week and the traffic was stop start crawling all through the tunnels. To drive 30 miles took 2 hours.

So glad to have an automatic. A 2015 Auris Hybrid TS.

Relaxing, music on and just chilling!

Auto for everyday driving!

James

[twintopp]

the car is smooth, i have been taking granddaughter`s Seat auto for a weekly spin while she works away and the difference between the two gear boxes amazed me , the Corolla smooth as , the Seat lumpy with lags between changes. it`s the only auto i`ve to compare apart from an Aston Martin on a track day but that would be an unfair comparison. enjoy your new car.   

[TonyHSD]

Now you know why I love my car and will only replace for newer model when dies completely. Not just because it’s an auto but because it’s a Toyota hybrid auto, super easy and super smooth. 

[Daniel815]

I have had my Corolla hybrid 1.8 touring sport in 3 months and enjoy driving it. It’s very smooth and I think that the car has sufficient power and due to the e-cvt the acceleration is very smooth. Toyota have more than two decades of experience with hybrid and they have made a reliable and smooth system. 
https://youtu.be/jB3rgga-D3M?si=7j5VwlQ9EL3ke8vR

[Dewi 24]

We picked up the Corolla at lunchtime today and everything went well at the dealers who were super efficient.  They're a local dealership, just a few miles from me, it's a family run affair that have been around our area for years and have a really good reputation, in fact i bought a Nissan Prairie from them back in '94 that someone had traded in for a Toyota - but that's another story.  I'm amazed by how good this car is, it's way above my expectations. Performance wise its never going to set the world on fire but it's more than adequate. There's something else about it as well that I've never experienced in a car before and that's how relaxing it is to drive, you just seem to enter into this "netherworld" of calm when you climb into it, the wife noticed to too and said the same. 

 

After leaving the dealers we popped back home to pick up the Guinnesshound then went for a nice long drive, we took him for a bit of a walk then the wife drove back home and she loves it. The CVT is a delight to use as well, I'm a convert now. 

Awful photo of the car taken on my 'phone which doesn't show how nice the colour is ...and a pic of a Guinnesshound in case anyone's wondering what one of those is 😁

 

[Cyker]

Congrats and thanks for the photo clarification; I wasn't sure if that was a nickname for a particularly inebriated acquaintance  

[Daniel815]

Congratulations with the new car. You made the right choice with buying a toyota hybrid. 

[mcntosh]

On 12/5/2023 at 9:49 PM, twintopp said:

the car is smooth, i have been taking granddaughter`s Seat auto for a weekly spin while she works away and the difference between the two gear boxes amazed me , the Corolla smooth as , the Seat lumpy with lags between changes. 

I had a  VW Tiguan rental over the summer which must have the same type of auto. Didn’t like it at all, especially when pulling out onto a fast road and the transmission seemed to have gone for a nap. The stop-start was also annoying, not like pulling away smoothly in EV mode in my own car.

[Corollanutter]

10 hours ago, Dewi 24 said:

and a pic of a Guinnesshound in case anyone's wondering what one of those is 😁

So called as it's a good excuse to take it for a walk to the pub...? 🙂

[TonyHSD]

Congratulations on the new car. 
You can check your boot has a raised floor, if yes you can have fold the rear seats if you travel two plus your friend and make a good space for her like in a small estate car. 👌