2009 Toyota Corolla Range
Compared to the dynamic Mazda3 and the handsome Holden Cruze, the Corolla sedan is a little underwhelming in the visual department.
Styling is smooth and organic, but there is little in the way of stand-out features or visual flair to catch the eye. The Conquest gains 16-inch alloy wheels, foglights and a bootlid spoiler, but it’s not really enough to jazz up the Toyota’s exterior.
Unlike some other sedan versions of hatchbacks, the Corolla sedan has little in common with its hatch stablemate. Bumpers, headlights, and all bodypanels are different, and the sedan is lower and longer than the hatchback.
It might be visually uninspiring, but there’s a reason for it. Large door apertures, a big glasshouse and the need to accommodate a capacious boot have dictated the Corolla’s lines, and while it’s not as attractive as, say, a Mitsubishi Lancer, its shape works.
Few will find fault with its functional ease and live-ability; especially those with a few passengers in tow – like a small family.
Proportionally, it looks good, if a little plain. It’s an inoffensive design that blends in with the rest of the traffic, but extroverts need not apply.
The look of the Corolla hatch shares very little with its sedan sibling thanks to the global movement to move the hatch variant upmarket. Australia is one of only a few markets to retain the Corolla name instead of the newer, Europeanised Auris tag.
While the sedan plays conservative, the hatch is designed to carry a more upmarket visage to tackle the likes of Volkswagen’s Golf. Make of that what you will, but the recent revisions to bumpers and lights do give a slightly more formal look to the hatch.
A high roof and upright tailgate mean that overall, functionality wins out over form. From the rear ¾ view in particular the Corolla hatch almost looks part MPV.
The front end now wears more angular headlamps, and a wide, louvered grille (as also used on the Hydrid Camry) matched by a wide, slimline air intake in the front bumper.
Bodysides are gently rolled but mostly unadorned. The window line rises slightly at each end of the glasshouse and a strong C-pillar gives a look of solidarity.
Rear lights wear a simple white over red motif and the rear bumper receives a black fill-panel to add visual width. Reflectors in the rear bar mimic the circular elements of the outboard front air intakes.
Conquest specification also adds a set if 16 inch turbine styled alloy wheels, the look of which isn’t dissimilar from those found on the Prius, helping give a more familial look to Toyota’s divergent product lines.
The Interior
Like the exterior, the Corolla’s sedan's cabin is no-nonsense in its design, layout and build. A slightly oversized binnacle houses the instrument cluster, a simple centre-stack carries the radio and ventilation controls, and there’s an abundance of storage options.
Build quality is high. Everything is screwed together tightly, and we heard nary a rattle nor squeak from the cabin fittings during the entire time we had the car.
There’s a lot of hard plastic in there, but it’s of high quality and feels – like the rest of the interior – quite rugged.
The steering wheel adjusts for reach and rake, is wrapped in leather and carries controls for the audio system on one of its spokes. The control stalk for the cruise control system is mounted low behind the steering wheel however, and can be a pain to operate if you’re not used to the interface.
The seats are comfortable, if a little flat. Black fabric trim is standard-issue for the Conquest, and appears to show up marks and stains rather readily.
The Corolla, despite its small size, boasts a reasonable amount of space for back-seat occupants. Three children can be easily accommodated by the Corolla’s rear bench, although squeezing three full-sized adults in there will be a little cosy. (A bonus though is the absence of a transmission tunnel, allowing more legroom for occupants of the rear centre seat.)
There are generously-sized door pockets in the front and rear (all of which can carry a large drink-bottle), a two-tiered glovebox, a centre console storage bin and four cup-holders.
The boot offers a very generous 450 litres with the rear seats up and there’s a tray to stop small items from flying about (the carpet though fairly cheap fare). Four golf bags can apparently be crammed in there and the loading aperture is wide and low - meaning prams and a family’s weekly shop can be easily lugged in and out.
Inside, the Corolla hatch veers away from the look of its sedan counterpart with a more adventurous interior that shares very few surface components with the sedan.
Grained plastics are out, in their place a diamond patterned finish covers the dash and door trims. Soft touch plastics cover the upper glovebox and instrument binnacle, The same pattern is used on the door trims and other parts of the dash.
The silver-finished centre console is unique to the hatch, and places the ventilation controls and gear shifter within easy reach of the leather-wrapped flat bottom steering wheel.
Equipment and Features
Being the middle-of-the-range variant, the Conquest comes with a reasonable amount of standard kit.
There are electric windows all around, electrically-adjusted wing mirrors, cruise control, a trip-computer and Bluetooth phone integration.
The six-speaker audio system is basic, but incorporates an MP3-compatible six-CD stacker, AM/FM tuner and auxiliary input for portable music players. Sound quality is decent, but reflects the price point of the car (don’t go looking for the Bose or Rockford Fosgate badges).
The Corolla received a major safety upgrade at the start of this year with stability control, traction control (VSC) and a full suite of airbags being added to the Conquest and Ultima’s list of standard equipment.
As a result, the Conquest’s safety arsenal now includes ABS, electronic brakeforce distribution, brake assist, traction control, VSC, front and side airbags for the front row, full-length curtain airbags and a knee airbag for the driver.
Traction control, VSC and the side and curtain airbag package are available as a $1500 option on the base model Corolla Ascent sedan and Corolla Levin SX hatch.
Mechanical
The entire Corolla range is powered by a 1.8 litre naturally-aspirated DOHC petrol four with variable valve timing.
Power output is an even 100kW at 6000rpm, and torque peaks at 175Nm at 4400rpm. Not class-leading figures, mind you, but not far from the front of the pack in the small passenger car segment either.
All models bar the range-topping Ultima come with the choice of a six-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission. The luxury-oriented Ultima is only available with the auto.
Fuel economy is a claimed 7.3 l/100km for the manual (which we tested) and 7.4 l/100km for the auto. We managed to get bang-on Toyota’s claim of 7.3 l/100km after our week with the Corolla. Had it not been for some ‘spirited’ testing that figure could have easily dipped below the 7.0 l/100km mark.
The Corolla is suspended on MacPherson struts at the front and a simple beam axle at the rear. Braking is handled by 275mm ventilated discs on the front wheels and 279mm solid discs on the rear wheels, all clamped by single-piston sliding calipers.