Toyota Corolla Touring Sports Hybrid – test 

Corolla for the twelfth time and the first time a little bit different 

The heavily styled front with slanted headlights and a huge grille immediately catches the eye. He is intriguing and bold. Inflated wheel arches and rising window lines give the silhouette an athletic look, but I mean more of a crossfiter than a bodybuilder flexing his muscles in the teapot position. The Touring Sports model replaces 2 models on the Polish market at the same time. First of all, it is a natural successor to the Auris Touring Sports, and secondly, it fills the gap left by the Avensis Kombi, which was withdrawn from the offer. Therefore, Toyota set the difficult task of the XII generation Corolla to win the success of two extremely popular cars, because on the one hand it must keep a compact form, and on the other hand it must replace the car intended for the management team. So how did Toyota come out of this difficult play? In my opinion, better than good and I am explaining why: firstly, the current Auris customers have an interior made of better materials, secondly, the Corolla Touring Sports has a wheelbase of 2700 mm, which is exactly the same as in the Avensis and as much as 100 mm larger than the Auris. And this is the difference you can feel while driving.

And now the biggest surprise. When I compared the dimensions of both cars, it turned out that the Corolla is 170 mm shorter than the Avensis and 30 mm narrower, but the differences are only due to longer overhangs at the front and rear. The cabins are practically identical, and the Corolla has a trunk larger by 53 liters (596 l)!

Fast but still economical 

The car drives confidently and is very predictable. The steering is not overly direct, but the Corolla is all about comfort. The classic Toyota hybrid system works under the hood, i.e. a 1.8 VVTi gasoline unit and an electric motor. The set has 122 HP and accelerates to 100 km / h in 11.1 seconds (it’s only 0.4 seconds slower than the Avensis 1.8 VVTi with automatic transmission). The maximum speed of Corolla is 189 km / h, but I only inform you about it as a matter of obligation, because apart from some sections of motorways in Germany, you will not be able to check it. You can also see that Toyota has worked on the CVT program, because when accelerating, the internal combustion engine no longer revs at such high speeds. It is pleasantly quiet in the cabin, and only when accelerating rapidly does the engine make itself felt.

I also imagine that the owners of hybrids discuss the fuel consumption of their ecological chariots during meetings in a bar, sipping organic beer. Corolla Touring Sports is able to settle for just over four liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers during leisurely driving outside the city. Driving on the highway is less than 6 l / 100 km, although if you insist on checking on the German highway whether Toyota will actually drive 189 km / h, the on-board computer will display a two-digit result with undisguised embarrassment and then a 35-liter fuel tank may not be enough, to travel from Berlin to Hannover without refueling.

However, the best results can be obtained in urban space. This is absolutely understandable, because the electric motor, playing the first fiddle here, uses energy recovered during braking, and the combustion engine is only an auxiliary. The result of 4.3 l / 100 km is not a huge feat, and I know those who can achieve results below 4 l / 100 km with the hybrid Toyota Corolla.

Overall, the new Toyota Corolla Touring Sports Hybrid continues the good history of its predecessors with a modern design and generous interior. The cars have just been added to the “C + Automat” class at PANEK Rent a Car and they are waiting for you to check their qualities yourself during your holiday travels, and as an additional argument, the Czechs have exempted electric and hybrid cars from motorway tolls from January 2021.