Toyota Corolla Review

There's nothing too outlandish about the Toyota Corolla. This is a small family car with a straightforward choice of hatchback or estate body styles, and the reassurance of Toyota's strong reliability reputation. The latest Corolla, however, has really ramped up the style inside and out in an effort to keep up with sharper-looking rivals.

Beyond our shores, there are faster and more exciting Corollas, but the UK market simply gets the lineup's bread-and-butter hybrid engines. That's no bad thing, however, because Toyota's latest hybrid systems are much smoother and more responsive than their slightly sluggish predecessors, so the Corolla is easy and satisfying to drive.

Despite its many qualities, the Corolla faces stiff competition in the hatchback segment. Popular choices include the Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, SEAT Leon, Peugeot 308, Skoda Octavia and Kia Ceed.

Form follows function in the Corolla's cabin. Its simple, ergonomic design is nowhere near as eye-catching as the glitzy interior you'll find in something like a Mercedes A-Class. It is, however, very easy to get your head around, with physical buttons and knobs for important functions, so you don't have to dive through the infotainment system to make quick adjustments.

That simplicity does mean the Corolla's infotainment system feels a generation behind the ultra-modern screen-heavy setups you'll find in rivals like the Audi A3 or BMW 1 Series. Responses to your touch are slow and the limited screen size means virtual buttons are often small and hard to hit accurately. It's worth mentioning that, for 2023, the Corolla gained an updated infotainment and driver's screen setup with bigger screens and better graphics.

While you're unlikely to be wowed by the Corolla's interior, everything feels very tightly screwed together. We appreciate touches like the stitched, soft-touch material that covers the dashboard and the judicious use of gloss black and aluminium-effect styling details, which help the latest Corolla feel much more premium than its more plasticky predecessors.

The Corolla's practicality is good but not great. It competes in the family hatchback class and, like most of its rivals, will seat four adults in reasonable comfort, or squeeze five in for short trips. However, rear-seat passengers are much better catered for by the Ford Focus or Skoda Octavia, which have enough space for taller adults to stretch out.

That also means the Corolla isn't the best choice in class for buyers with kids. You'll have to contort yourself a little more to secure your offspring in their child seats than you would in something like a SEAT Leon.

Parents will also find the Corolla's boot is a little disappointing, with the fairly limited overall capacity further hamstrung by a comparatively narrow boot opening. This is made even worse if you choose the more powerful 2.0-litre hybrid engine, which has a larger battery pack that robs some of your underfloor storage. Thankfully, most of these problems can be solved by choosing the Corolla Touring Sports estate, which gets a substantially larger boot that can handily swallow pushchairs or holiday luggage.

Your choices under the Corolla's bonnet are nice and simple. There's just a pair of full-hybrid petrol engines to pick between – a 1.8-litre unit with 122hp or a 2.0-litre with 184hp. All versions are automatic only and don't need to be plugged in to recharge, instead recapturing energy from the engine or when the car slows down.

Around town, both engine options feel pleasantly nippy, with the responsive hybrid motor providing plenty of low-down shove when pulling away. If you lean into the throttle when joining the motorway, you'll notice the 2.0-litre feels quite a bit more gutsy as speeds rise, while the 1.8 can feel a little strained, especially if you're a regular in the overtaking lane.

Regardless of which engine you choose, however, the Corolla's fuel economy is sure to impress. Even the punchy 2.0-litre model should average more than 50mpg, with the 1.8-litre returning more than 60mpg with gentle driving.

If you're looking for a sporty car, the Corolla probably isn't the one for you. It is, however, very secure, stable and easy to drive. The steering is accurate and light, and builds up weight in a natural way as you turn in more vigorously. Similarly, the brakes and accelerator have an intuitive feel that masks any time the car juggles between petrol and electric power. The fuss-free controls and responsive hybrid engines really help to make the Corolla an effortless car to drive at almost all speeds.

Thankfully, Toyota's given the Corolla fairly soft suspension to match its easygoing character. Big bumps are readily absorbed without bouncing your passengers about, and smaller vibrations from scruffy road surfaces are also reasonably well contained. Tyre and wind noise is minimal although you do hear an occasional flare of engine revs if you floor the accelerator.