Toyota's Corolla: Bland But In Demand

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Up Front

The first time I ever reviewed a car for BusinessWeek a decade or so ago, I drove a Volvo sedan around for an afternoon, came home, sat down at my computer -- and had nothing to say. "Nice car, drives pretty well," was about all I could think of.



I have a similar feeling as I sit down to write about the 2007 Toyota Corolla. It's a nice enough car that will probably run forever. But you're never going to get excited about driving one. It seems designed to avoid offending anyone rather than to inject a little excitement into an otherwise humdrum day.



That doesn't prevent American consumers from adoring the Corolla, which is in its 37th year on the U.S. market. In the first 10 months of this year, Corolla sales soared 13.2%, to 330,995 units. That's a much faster rise than for the Honda (HMC) Civic [see BusinessWeek.com, 6/7/06, "Civic Virtues"]. Sales of that car are up 5.9%, to 272,886 units, during the same period.



The average Corolla spends a mere 11 days on a dealer's lot before selling, according to the Power Information Network, turnover that's almost as fast as the Civic's eight days, and faster than the Mazda 3 [15 days] and the Ford (F) Focus and Chevy Cobalt [24 days].



For driving enthusiasts, though, the Corolla just got duller. That's because as of the '07 model year, Toyota (TM) has dropped the sportier XRS version, which had a feisty 164-horsepower engine. The Corolla now comes in just three trim levels -- all of them four-door, front-wheel-drive sedans with the same little 1.8 liter, 126-horse engine. By contrast, you can get the Civic in numerous variations, including a hybrid and the sporty Civic Si.



The entry level Corolla CE, which starts at $14,825 with a manual transmission and $15,625 with an automatic, comes fairly well equipped, with a CD player, air conditioning, power mirrors, tachometer, 60/40 fold-down rear seat, tilt steering wheel, and a height-adjustable driver's seat.



The Corolla S, the version of the car I drove, is similar except that it has what Toyota hyperbolically describes as "aggressive styling" [in my opinion, there's nothing aggressive about the Corolla], including a rear spoiler, body styling kit, fog lights, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. The S starts at $15,870 with a stick shift and $16,670 with an automatic.



The fanciest version of the Corolla, the LE, starts at $16,035 with a stick, $16,670 with an automatic, and adds fake wood interior trim [Toyota describes it as "wood-like"], remote keyless entry, and power windows and locks. Even on the LE, though, you can't get a navigation system as a standard option like you can on a Civic.



The Corolla's big selling point is fuel economy. With a stick shift, it's rated to get an incredible 32 mpg in the city and 41 on the highway. In 360 miles of driving my automatic-transmission-equipped test car, I got 32.9 miles-per-gallon.



That's very high mileage considering how hard I drive test cars -- and about the same as the 33.1 mpg I got in the Civic. One reason the Corolla is so stingy on gas is that its co-efficient of drag, a measure of how slippery a car's exterior is, is just 0.30 -- same as the new BMW 335i Coupe.



The Corolla buyer profile is older and more feminine than rival compact cars. Women make up 51% of Corolla buyers, as opposed to 45.5% for the Civic, 44.6% for the Ford Focus and 44.2% for the Mazda 3, according to the Power Information Network. Only 28.8% of Corolla buyers are under 35, according to Power, about the same as for the Focus but far less than for the Civic [37.4%] and the Mazda 3 [48.9%].



The Power Information Network, like BusinessWeek.com, is a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP).



The Corolla also can be a good compromise for those who prefer a domestic model built by the United Auto Workers. That's because about half of all Corollas sold in the U.S. are made at New United Motor Manufacturing, a Fremont [Calif.] Toyota-General Motors (GM) joint venture that also produces Toyota Tacoma pickup trucks and Pontiac Vibes.



The other half -- in general, the ones sold east of the Mississippi -- are made at a regular Toyota plant in Ontario. If you prefer one or the other, there's a plaque under the hood that lists the manufacturing location, the company says.



Behind the Wheel

The Corolla is an unabashed economy car, and it drives like one. Toyota says that with a manual transmission, the car will accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than nine seconds, but the fastest time I got in my test Corolla with an automatic was a pokey 10.1 seconds. That's much slower than the Honda Civic, with a 1.8 liter engine and automatic transmission.



Another big difference is the sluggishness of the Corolla at speeds between 25 and 65 [the range in which most driving is done]. Honda engineered the Civic to be the quickest car in its class in that speed range, and the difference is striking.



The Civic's engine has a sporty whine when you punch it, and it's a lot zippier than the Corolla. So, for that matter, are the Mazda 3 [see BusinessWeek.com, 8/22/05, "A Mazda for Youths [and You]"] and VW Rabbit [see BusinessWeek.com, 10/23/06, "VW's Rabbit Redux"].



The Corolla handles reasonably well for a small car. It has rack-and-pinion steering with speed-sensing power assist. The suspension isn't as sporty as the Civic's. It's damped as you would expect for a family sedan and smoothes out the bumps reasonably well. There's no manual shifting option on the five-speed automatic transmission.



The interior is well-made but plain. Leather seats aren't offered, even as an option on the LE. The plush inserts in the black cloth upholstery in my test car looked like they were cut out of a terry cloth robe.



But my big problem with the seats is how uncomfortable they are. My back ached after I took this car out on the highway for a few hours. However, I have chronic back problems that were acting up, and I'd be curious to hear if Corolla owners find the seats uncomfortable, too.



Another quibble: There isn't much storage in the Corolla's cabin. The bins in the two front doors are all relatively small, and there are no storage bins in the rear doors. The trunk is large for an economy car [13.6 cubic feet], but my test car had no pass-through between the seats for skis and other long objects. The rear seats fold down in a 60/40 pattern, but the seat bottoms don't fold up against the back seats [as they do in the Hyundai Accent and some other small cars] to create a flat storage area in back.



Head and legroom in the front seat are adequate, unless you're well above six feet. The rear seats, as you would expect, are cramped, but not overly so. The Corolla has more rear headroom than the Civic and nearly five inches more rear legroom [35.4 inches vs 30.3 in the Civic]. I'm 5' 10", and with the Corolla's front seat in a comfortable position for me, I had enough knee space in back.



Buy it or Bag It?

Toyota is holding the Corolla's base price down, despite the model's soaring sales. On average, Corolla prices only rose $100 from '06 to '07, an increase of just 0.6%.



However, adding options causes the price to mount rapidly. For instance, you really should load up on airbags in a small car like this. Without side and side curtain airbags, the Corolla has a "poor" rating in side impact crashes from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety [though it got an acceptable four stars from the National Highway Safety Administration]. Yet side and side curtain airbags cost an extra $655.



Stability control adds $650, antilock brakes $390. A sunroof goes for $750, alloy wheels $499, and an auto-dimming mirror $269. Even cruise control is optional: It's available as part of a $200 sound system upgrade.



The Civic costs more, but that's partially offset by the fact that it comes with more standard gear, including antilock brakes and side and head airbags. On average, buyers pay $16,311 for a Corolla, according to the Power Information Network, nearly three grand less than the Civic's $19,068 average selling price. The Mazda 3 costs an average of $18,850. Among domestic nameplates, the Dodge Caliber [$18,141] is pricier, but the Chevy Cobalt at $15,122 and the Ford Focus, which at $14,386 is being heavily discounted, are cheaper than the Corolla.



Should you buy a Corolla? If all you want is an economy car with a long history of reliability, it's an excellent choice. If I bought one, though, I'd go with the Corolla LE or CE, rather than the S. It just seems dumb to me to put a rear spoiler and other performance gee-gaws on a car this pokey.



In this category, I'm a major fan of the Honda Civic, which got a thorough redesign last year. It has more distinctive styling than the Corolla, and it's a lot more fun to drive. Other fun-to-drive alternatives include the Mazda 3 and VW Rabbit.



Diehard Corolla-lovers might consider waiting a couple years to buy a new one. The company confirms that Corolla will be revamped for the 2008 model year. A snappier design, a few more available options, and a little pizzazz would do wonders for this car.



Click here to see more of the Toyota Corolla.