Toyota Corolla Touring Sports Review - Is this the most popular car in the world?

Over 50 million Corolla’s produced

Since the Corolla nameplate first appeared, over 50 million have been built. Toyota, understandably, boasts that this is the world’s favourite car.

And, with the arrival of the 12th generation Corolla, the Toyota plant at Burnaston in Derbyshire has just seen the five millionth UK built Corolla roll off the assembly line—quite an achievement. The current Corolla line-up features a five-door Hatchback and a Touring Sports estate version. The choice of equipment grades includes GR Sport versions that add sporting touches inspired by the world championship-winning success of Toyota Gazoo Racing.

I’ve been trying the GR Touring Sports estate.

Engine Choices

You can choose between two engines: a 140hp 1.8-litre and a 196hp 2.0-litre, both with a mild hybrid set-up and an automatic gearbox. The diesel engine has been sent to the bin and taxi drivers are sure to be disappointed.

Price

Prices start at £31,840 for the Touring Sports estate. If you prefer the hatchback version, this kicks off at £30,505. The estate model I had was the GR trim which adds about £4600 to the price. Don’t get confused with the pocket rocket GR Yaris, the GR on a Corolla is purely trim so the engines are unchanged.

Painless to own

The Corolla is one of those rare cars that does nothing badly. This can sound slightly negative, but it’s not supposed to be, and it’s why so many have been sold. Okay to drive, okay to own, okay levels of performance and economy, decent levels of kit and with a good reliability record. Painless to own, effortless to live with, reasonably priced and holds onto its value. It’s very easy to get sniffy about things when looking at cars, but for the vast majority of folk who have a car, to say that their mode of transport is okay at everything and bad at nothing will suit them down to the ground.

Performance

The Corolla is a self-charging hybrid, so it charges a small battery as you travel along. The battery helps out the engine if you need additional power and, at town speeds, will propel the car along for a short distance without the engine bursting into life.

The 1.8-litre engine will get you from 0-60mph in around 9.5 seconds, while the 2.0-litre model does it in 7.7 seconds. Most of you will be perfectly happy with the 1.8 model, but for an additional £1700 you can go for the more powerful unit which will help if you do a lot of driving with a full load or cover a high mileage. The economy is much the same for both at around 60mpg which is very respectable. Emissions are low so the Corolla will make sense as a company car.

How does it feel to drive?

One area where the Toyota Corolla is really good, is the ride. There’s a happy blend of comfort at town speeds yet plenty of control when you get a move on. You’d never call it fun to drive, but…it’s okay.

Another Corolla strength reflects the rest of the Toyota range in that build quality is really good. Everything has a solid feel and looks smart.

Interior

The fascia is dominated by a 10.5" multimedia system with navigation & wireless Smartphone integration including Apple CarPlay. It works well and has handy shortcut buttons down the side. Situated below the screen is a row of physical knobs and buttons which allow for climate adjustment. Slowly but surely, manufacturers are realising that having everything in a single touchscreen is a nightmare to operate when you’re on the move in busy traffic. Are you listening Volvo?

GR trim brings you parking sensors front and rear, a powered hatch, lumbar support, loads of safety kit, heated front seats, smart alloys, reversing camera and rear privacy glass. To be perfectly honest, the entry-level Icon trim is perfectly acceptable, but the GR option, with its styling tweaks, makes the Corolla Touring Sports look and feel a tad more special.

Interior space is another plus point and the car will be an ideal family workhorse. There’s plenty of space for three children in the back and loads of cubby holes too.

A good all-rounder

The car is reliable and if you are looking for a good all-rounder, the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports will be a great choice. It may not be the car that an enthusiastic driver would go for, but it’s not trying to be a flying machine. It’s trying to hit the bull’s eye for as many people as possible. And it does.

words: Graham Courtney
pictures: Toyota