When you hear that the average price paid for a new car last year was more than $35,000, and hear that the average price of an electric car is higher than that, it’s welcome news to hear about a car like the Toyota Corolla.
You can buy one of these for just over $20,000, which is about half the price of an entry-level electric car.
You won’t have to pay extra to go farther, either. The Corolla comes standard with more than 500 miles of highway range (about 400 in city driving), and you can still get it with a manual transmission, which is almost as surprising as finding a gas station that sells unleaded for less than $2 per gallon.
There are a few other things about the Corolla that make it stand out in the crowd, including the fact that there isn’t much of a crowd anymore.
The Corolla is one of the few new cars you can still buy, the rest having gone over to being crossovers.
What It Is
The Corolla is a compact-sized sedan that stickers for $20,175 to start for the base L trim with a 1.8-liter engine paired up with a continuously variable automatic transmission.
You can get a six-speed manual transmission in the Corolla SE, which lists for $23,225 so equipped, along with a larger (and stronger) 2.0-liter engine.
A top-of-the-line XSE Apex trim with the 2.0 engine, CVT automatic, sport-tuned (and lowered) suspension plus unique exterior and interior trim lists for $28,460, still about $7,000 less than what most people paid for a new car last year.
What’s New
Very little, which is very good.
Part of the reason for the Corolla’s enduring success as the bestselling small car ever — even more so than the Volkswagen Beetle original model — is its conservatism.
Toyota keeps what works and rarely makes major changes that might not.
What’s Good
Its reputation precedes it. Corollas hold their value almost as well as silver and gold.
Engine and transmission choices, as opposed to the usual take-it-or-leave-it “choice.”
Base L trim has all the essentials. No need to spend more than about $20,000 for a well-equipped car that’s big enough to be viable as a family car.
What’s Not So Good
Manual is only available with the optional 2.0-liter engine — and it costs extra.
More engine is available in rivals like the Mazda3, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Forte and Honda Civic.
You might feel surrounded by all those crossovers.
Under The Hood
The Corolla’s maximum-effort 2.0-liter engine summons 169 horsepower. The standard 1.8-liter falls back to 139 horsepower. But power and performance aren’t what sells the Corolla.
Anvil-like reliability over the very long term does — and has. There is no other small car on the market, with the next-closest exception of the Civic, that has an earned reputation for being a 20-year-and-then-some car.
They just keep going, as long as you keep putting gas in them.
On The Road
The Corolla is like a favorite pair of shoes — the one you always want to wear. No surprises, a companion for your travels that always makes your travels uneventful — another way to describe “pleasant.”
This quality manifests in a soft, quiet ride that will make you feel you bought more car than $20,000 generally buys. It has sensible ergonomic controls, such as the dial-type knobs for adjusting the volume and station tuning of the audio system as well as the temperature and fan speed controls.
There is a touchscreen, but it has a sensible combination of push-button controls to access the various functions, which are displayed on the screen. This is a much easier-to-use (while driving) system than trying to accurately tap/swipe a completely flat screen without any tactile buttons to push.
At The Curb
By the numbers, the Corolla is a compact-sized sedan, 182.3 inches long, which is about the same length as others in the class such as the Mazda3 sedan, the Hyundai Elantra (and its Kia-badged cousin, the Forte) and so on.
But actually, where it counts, the Corolla, and most of its rivals, approach the size of midsized sedans — or at least the room inside of them. This is a secret the car companies would rather you not know about.
For example, the Corolla has 42 inches of front-seat legroom. Its midsized brother, the Camry (which is 192.1 inches long) has … 42.1 inches of front-seat legroom. The Corolla’s back seat is a little tighter — 34.8 inches of legroom versus 38 inches in the Camry — but there’s still plenty of room in the back of a Corolla for most adults to sit without feeling squeezed.
Trunk-wise, it’s even closer. The Corolla holds 13.1 cubic feet, while the Camry offers 15.1 cubic feet.
The Rest
The base L comes standard with 15-inch steel wheels, which are much tougher than the aluminum wheels several of its rivals come standard with. Steel wheels are much less likely to be ruined by an encounter with a pothole or a curb strike. Those sensible 15-inch steel wheels also mount less expensive 15-inch tires, which have lower rolling resistance than 16-, 17- and 18-inch wheels, which are available, if you prefer them.
The Bottom Line
Fifty million people have bought Corollas. That says more about how great this car is than any reviewer possibly could.
View the Toyota Corolla this week.
Eric’s latest book, “Doomed: Good Cars Gone Wrong!” will be available soon. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
