Dear Prudence
Green is in across the board. Virtually every automaker worth consideration is beginning, or in the midst of a shift to vehicles with cleaner on-paper emissions. Often the go-to resolve is to conceptualize a brand new pure electric vehicle, or re-purpose an existing model into a 100% electric offering, even if it falls short of expectations. Toyota is no exception – but they aren’t diving head-first into pure electricity just yet. Instead, the brand is focusing on perfecting the powertrain they popularized – the hybrid.
Like other Corollas, this hybrid LE gets its power from a 1.8L 4-cylinder. Paired with its hybrid electric motor, the LE AWD is good for 138 horses and 156 lb-ft of torque. You don’t buy this car for the excitement, and frankly that’s perfectly okay. While there are some options to allegedly make the drive a bit more spirited, we really recommend letting the car do its thing. It’s not a thrill, nor should it pretend to be.
What it is – is an efficiency powerhouse. The droning CVT delivers power smoothly and gradually. It’s not exciting, but a week of mixed driving in winter, with heat on the entire time, yielded an average return of 5.4 L/100km – more than worth the lack of excitement for a fair percentage of the market. The added electronic-AWD should provide a sense of safety and confidence to drivers dealing with wintery conditions, but we’ll once again stress AWD is not an alternative for proper winter tires. This AWD system works a little differently, utilizing the hybrid’s electric motors to seamlessly send power to the back when necessary, improving grip, handling and cornering.
Electric cars, and indeed some hybrids like the Prius, are styled in a way to make it quite obvious it’s not just another dino-juice guzzler on the road. They’re sleek, futuristic and an intentional departure from many conventional design languages we’ve grown accustomed to. But this Corolla doesn’t follow suit. It’s damn near identical to its gas-powered counterpart, save for some subtle badging and various readouts on a new 8-inch digital display, new for 2023. If it ain’t broke, right? The Corolla received some gradual upgrades over its life like LED lighting. The sleek design has aged well enough and doesn’t have the same bloated feel many modern compacts seem to.
That petite form factor comes at a cost though. For anyone pushing 6-ft above, this car may feel quite cramped, especially with the lack of sunroof. Toyota’s infotainment isn’t exactly the prettiest system – but our LE AWD features wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, which re-connected reliably and quickly, and our time was largely spent using it in lieu of Toyota’s system. Our tester also featured a much-welcomed heated steering wheel and automatic climate control. This year, Corolla also comes with Toyota’s latest iteration of its Safety Sense suite, featuring pedestrian detection, automatic high beams, lane departure alert and more.
Corolla has always been a strong seller for Toyota. It’s not hard to understand why. It carries a reputation of affordability, efficiency and reliability. This hybrid trim will command a small premium over the base price, starting at $25,990. But opting for our LE AWD tester will push that cost up to $27,490. Unfortunately, due to its lack of plug-in capability, it doesn’t qualify for any green rebates. But we don’t think that should be a dealbreaker. At the end of the day, a hybrid that gets efficiency figures like this, for the price especially, is worth its weight in fuel savings, rebate or not.
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