Toyota Corolla Sedan 2014 Review

There was something appropriate about Toyota launching the new eleventh-generation Corolla Sedan just days after announcing its time as a manufacturer in Australia was coming to an end.

Corolla has been a stalwart of the Toyota local line-up since 1966. It was built here for 32 years and all up more than 1.25 million have departed local showrooms. It is symbolic of the reliability and earnestness that has inexorably led the company to a dominant position.

Appropriately, it was Corolla that took Toyota to top the Australia best-seller charts for the first time last year, with the new Hatch launched in 2012, backed up by the previous-gen Sedan that first appeared all the way back in 2007.

So what better way to beef up your morale and defend your position atop the sales ladder than to introduce fresh ammunition? The firepower the new Corolla Sedan brings with it will definitely be needed in 2014 as Mazda comes charging back at Toyota to reclaim its top-dog status with the new 3.

And clearly Toyota has shown it’s up for the fight. The new three model Sedan range has price cuts, equipment improvements and a new source – Thailand, rather than Japan where the Hatch hails from. That means the Corolla Sedan makes it into Australia duty free, courtesy of one of our increasingly controversial free trade agreements.

Despite that, the Corolla Sedan does not drop to the same $19,990 (plus on-road costs) entry-level price of the Corolla Ascent Hatch. As we have detailed previously, Toyota has instead elected to endow all three Corollas with a high level of equipment, including a standard reversing camera, rear parking sensors, seven airbags, and a 6.1-inch LCD touchscreen display with Bluetooth, single-CD player and USB and iPod inputs.

The three models are the $20,740 (plus ORCs) Ascent, $22,990 (plus ORCs) SX and $30,990 (plus ORCs) ZR. The SX replaces the Ascent Sport and the Conquest and the ZR replaces the Ultima, while the Ascent continues on. These designations bring the Sedan in line with the Hatch.

The Ascent is expected to account for 80 per cent of sales, the SX 15 per cent and the ZR five per cent.

The Sedan and Hatch also share drivetrains. The 103kW and 173Nm 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine is mated to either a six-speed manual, or for an additional $2250 (except in the auto-only ZR), a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with seven automated steps for manual changing.

Manual variants average 7.0L/100km on the ADR Combined cycle while CVT-equipped models use 6.6.

The Sedan body shares no panels with the Hatch and it is certainly a more formal look, reflecting the older buying audience (average age around 50, Toyota says) that will be shopping the Corolla Sedan against the likes of the three-box Mazda 3, Holden Cruze, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Cerato, Nissan Pulsar et al.

Inside, the presentation also varies from the Hatch. Indeed, the dashboard is significantly different between the Ascent and the upper grade sedans because it has an orthodox analogue three-dial instrument panel, whereas the SX and the ZR have dual back-lit Optitron dials.

Toyota makes a big play about soft touch materials, improved user-friendliness and increased quality; and there is certainly some credence to that. The big steering wheel adjusts for reach and rake, the front seats offer generous under-thigh support and the various controls are easy to reach and consistent in their touch and operation. The damped action of the glovebox door and overhead grabs are further small indicators of attention to quality details.

But the step up from base model presentation to top-speccer isn’t that compelling. The Ascent’s piano black in the centre stack looks classier than the ZR’s faux carbon-fibre. The roof material is a bit industrial too. And all models miss some little equipment touches like auto down for all windows bar the driver’s and soft touch indicators.

Mind you, stuff like the alloy wheels, Optitron instruments and the new MultiLink multimedia system in the SX and the ZR variants, and climate control, sat-nav and leather accented seats in the ZR, make the equipment upgrade more noticeable.

In the back there is the sort of stretching room normally associated with a medium-sized car. Two adults – or lanky teenagers – will find no problem making themselves comfortable back here.

Storage is decent, with bottle holders and bins in all the doors. The rear seat split-folds to increase luggage capacity from the standard 470 litres (+20 litres). However, there is a step in the boot floor, goose neck hinges to crush your bags and no cubby holes or nets to store small items.

All models get a full-size spare wheel bolted in under the boot floor.

The reason the Sedan is so spacious is because it grows its wheelbase 100mm to 2700, releasing more space in the rear seat and boot. The longer wheelbase is also claimed to help ride and handling which, along with steering, has been subjected to local tuning by the gurus at the Toyota Technical Centre in Melbourne.

And it certainly shows. No, it’s not an 86 rival, but there’s no doubt the Corolla Sedan’s combination of MacPherson struts and torsion beam suspension delivers a decent compromise between ride and handling. It exudes competence, which in this sort of car is exactly what you want.

The electrically-assisted steering is sharp enough to feel responsive yet not so tactile to be coarse. It’s no surprise to find the Australian tune has ended up becoming the global baseline.

The Corolla has good balance in corners, body roll is contained and there is a decent level of grip on both the Ascent’s 15-inch tyres and the 16-inch rubber employed by both the SX and the ZR.

Brake performance and feel is also well modulated, so much so the Corolla could be pitched with some enthusiasm through a series of bends without getting ruffled.

Yet the Corolla also managed to soak up the bumps, patches and potholes of our sometimes agricultural northern Tassie drive route, especially when rolling on the Ascent’s slightly taller sidewalls. Probably the weakest point of the whole dynamic package was the amount of tyre noise created on coarser surfaces. It’s one of the more obvious places where the car’s price point conflicts with Toyota’s desire to make the car feel upmarket.

Another is the engine. It’s earnest and willing enough, but it just does not deliver strongly. The Corolla weighs in at a minimum 1250kg and the 2ZR-FE unit seems conscious of it. Fourth or third-gear in the manual were required for sharp overtakes or significant hill climbs. Thankfully, the shift is light and quite precise.

The Multi-drive CVT is going to be transmission of choice for the vast majority of Corolla Sedan buyers and judging by our experience it’s the right one. It incorporates a torque converter which drops into lock-up mode when cruising, wiping significant revs off the engine, helping both fuel economy and cabin quietness. At 100km/h it will sit below 2000rpm. It’s a far cry from the whining CVTs of old.

There’s also little hesitation when accelerating, another traditional issue for CVTs. The manual change is pretty quick and can be operated via paddles in the ZR or the lever in the Ascent and the SX.

Not that we can imagine too many Corolla Sedan drivers wielding the manual gearchange function too often. This is a car that can drop into a ‘set and forget’ mode, just like Toyotas have always been capable of. The nice thing is that it also offers driving interaction if you want it.

It’s a dimension of the new Corolla Sedan that was, quite frankly, not expected. Added to decent value, solid quality and Toyota’s strong dealer back-up and there’s no doubt it’s going to attract plenty of interest.

And clearly, if Corolla is going to fend off Mazda 3 and the like, it’s going to need to.