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The Toyota Corolla is a sharp-looking mid-size car available as a five-door hatchback or estate (called Corolla Touring Sports). Both have distinctive looks and offer good value for money, with running costs kept to a minimum thanks to the use of hybrid power. It’s available with a wide choice of trims, including luxurious and sporty ones. We’re focusing here on the 12th-generation Toyota Corolla model introduced in 2019.
Since 1966, more than 50 million Toyota Corolla models have been sold across the world, making it the best-selling car of all time.
The current Toyota Corolla has been on sale since 2019, when it replaced the Toyota Auris. The two versions of the Auris – 2007-2012 and 2013-2018 – were essentially European versions of the 10th- and 11th-generation Corolla models sold elsewhere in the world.
The Corolla name returned in 2019 in the form of three models: hatchback, estate (Touring Sports) and saloon, with a choice of a 1.2-litre petrol engine or 1.8-litre and 2.0-litre petrol-electric hybrids. The 1.2-litre engine was sold until 2020, while the slow-selling saloon was removed from the UK market in 2022.
The Toyota Corolla has always offered a generous level of equipment, but the situation is even better on post-2023 cars. That’s because as well as improving the hybrid system and battery pack, Toyota also updated the infotainment system, with a larger 10.5-inch touchscreen and an impressive 12.3-inch digital instrument panel. These are fitted as standard features across the range.
The Corolla has four trim levels: Icon, Design, GR Sport and Excel. In simple terms, the Icon has everything you need; the Design adds extra equipment and some cosmetic enhancements; the GR Sport has additional sporty design features and the Excel is the top-of-the-range model. The range is simpler than before, when it included the Icon Tech and Trek, which was a rugged-looking version of the Corolla Touring Sports.
According to official figures, both the 1.8-litre hybrid and 2.0-litre hybrid give up to 64.1mpg, although this is based on cars with 16-inch alloy wheels. Choose the 17-inch or 18-inch wheels and you can expect to see a small drop in fuel economy, but not enough to make you think twice about upgrading to a nicer model.
The more time you spend in the city, the more likely you are to save fuel, because the car will do its best to remain in electric mode for as long as possible. This isn’t something you can do in the old non-hybrid 1.2-litre version, which gives up to 44.8mpg, according to official figures. Road tax is affordable thanks to low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while insurance premiums are reasonable thanks partly to a suite of driver assistance systems.
Toyota Corolla rivals include the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra and Peugeot 308. The Corolla gives you decent interior space and practicality (the estate particularly so) with generous levels of equipment, excellent quality and a great reputation for reliability.
The Corolla doesn’t have the wide engine range of some rivals but not all have such a cost-effective hybrid option.
The Toyota Corolla is a practical car, especially if you choose the Touring Sports estate model with its 591-litre boot, which increases to 1,606 litres with the rear seats folded down. These figures are based on the 1.8-litre version, with luggage capacity in the 2.0-litre model dropping to 581 (and 1,591 litres with the seats folded).
The hatchback isn’t quite as practical, with a boot that’s smaller than many of its rivals. Even the Volkswagen Polo has a larger boot than the 2.0-litre version. Taller-than-average adults might struggle for space in the back seats of both the hatchback and estate versions.
The Corolla is Toyota’s largest non-SUV car, sitting above the Aygo and . It’s also Toyota’s only estate car of recent years.
Toyota offers something for everyone, from the Aygo and Yaris compact hatchbacks to the large Land Cruiser SUV. It also offers three performance cars in the form of the GR86, Supra and GR Yaris. Toyota’s SUV range includes the Yaris Cross and RAV4, while many of its cars are available with hybrid or plug-in hybrid power. Its only pure-electric passenger car is the bZ4X.
The Toyota Corolla was awarded the maximum five stars by independent safety organisation Euro NCAP in 2019. All versions have Toyota’s Safety Sense package, which includes adaptive cruise control, road sign assist, automatic emergency braking, pre-collision system and automatic high-beam headlights. Over-the-air software updates mean you’ll always have the latest version of the technology.
While there are no pure-electric versions of the Toyota Corolla, there are a pair of petrol-electric hybrid models. Both feature a small battery pack that is recharged whenever you slow down, enabling it to cover short distances in electric mode.