Toyota Corolla Cross review: practical hybrid SUV with good value but dated design
Toyota Corolla Cross review: practical and efficient — but does it lack the spark drivers want?
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TOYOTA COROLLA CROSS |
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★★★☆☆ |
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from €39,325 - €42,605 as tested. |
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A petrol hybrid with 145bhp |
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One of the most impressive things about the car |
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In the context of Toyota’s current line-up, something of a disappointment |
Toyota has been on something of a roll lately.
Normally associated with uninspiring but bombproof product, the Japanese automotive giant has gone off on something of a tangent of late. It has come up with a string of sexy, look-at-me cars which have been somewhat contrary to its long-standing ethos of making reliable, thrifty, inexpensive, and drama-less designs.
The Aygo X, the Yaris X, the new Land Cruiser, and the C-HR and C-HR+ have lifted a veil on a previously unexplored design and styling territory for the company. Even the steadfastly staid Corolla – one of the world’s bestselling cars, ever – is now something of a wow to look at.
Given that the lesser Aygo and Yaris model line-ups have been given something of an SUV treatment, it has been something of a surprise therefore that the Corolla itself did not also have this kind of makeover.
Well, they did do it in 2022 and now, four years later – as is the company’s wont – they’ve given it a facelift. One could understand the HQ’s reticence in this, given that Toyota also makes the similarly sized RAV4 and was therefore unwilling to overly crowd the market, but given the Corolla’s global popularity, it was probably inevitable that they eventually went down this route.
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The newest Corolla Cross is our tester this week, and a fine thing it is too, although if you’re looking for any semblance of excitement in your life, you might be better off looking elsewhere.
In the Toyota line-up, this car fits neatly in between the smaller C-HR and the larger RAV4 and is built on the same platform as the former and also the Corolla saloon.
But, unlike the majority of products now being wheeled off Toyota production lines the world over, the Corolla Cross is distinctly lacking in any sort of design audacity. Sure, that very characteristic will appeal to many, but it is a little disappointing given the boldness the company’s design department has been showing recently.
But then Toyota could justifiably argue that it is simply providing what the punter wants, and while that might be boring to some (i.e. yours truly, among others) is meat and drink to others. The look might be dull – and the driving experience too – but this is a car that provides everything most customers want and need and nothing they don’t.
It is a popular beast across a wide range of markets, including Japan (understandably), Thailand, Brazil, the US, Malaysia, China, South Africa and, now, Europe. In fact, the Europeans were slow to adopt this model, probably because distributors felt it was only taking away from in-house sales.
But adopt it they have and are watching it closely as it carves a niche for itself among the buying public.
It is possibly an unexpectedly good seller on the basis that it does many things well, but the other side of the argument is that historic customer preferences indicate a majority favour a lot of the other contenders in this very competitive sub-compact SUV market.
Much of that opposition matches the Corolla in performance and economy terms, but a lot of them are dressed a lot more sharply too.
But, for the moment, we will concentrate on what it does well. It is a hybrid, as so many Toyotas now are, has good economy, tap water performance (it’s not sparkling), is terribly well equipped, comfortable, spacious, has a very decent-sized boot and drives okay.
The tester came with the lesser of the two engine options, the 140 bhp HEV unit, which produces a top speed of 170km/h and a claimed 0-100 km/h time of 10 seconds. The claimed economy is 5.1l per 100 km, which suggests a 54.9 mpg consumption rate. I did not find it to be that good, however, and recorded a 6.2l per 100 km rate, which translates into 45.9 mpg, which is pretty okay, even in a time of fuel crisis.
That’s still decent enough to please all but the most demanding owners/car bores and the performance levels will find similar favour.
In the Sport specification (which is the second tier of four on offer) we tried, the car comes with features such as a panoramic sunroof, electric rear door, 18” dark grey alloys, a heft of safety kit, adaptive cruise control, a 12.3” infotainment screen, dual-zone air con., all-round electric windows and front and rear parking sensors. It’s a decent package.
The seats are comfy, and the rear seat passengers don’t want for much in leg and head room, and the boot is quite sizeable.
So, that’s all good – so why am I not exuding good vibes here? Well, there are a few issues.
Like most Toyota hybrids, it has a CVT (constantly vocal transmission, anyone?) and it is a noisy companion if you have a heavy right foot. I could be wrong here, but this felt like an older version of this sort of gearbox, prone to screeching when you demand acceleration.
I can’t swear to the truth of that, but it did not seem to me like this was up-to-the-minute tech. You had to be very light on the accelerator if you didn’t want your ears assailed. Cross-country driving was, therefore, something of a chore, although urban hacking around and motorway work were not so bad.
When full of gas, the range is only around the 500km mark, so it’s a car that will certainly suit those for whom a lack of excitement is good. The ride and handling are decent, if not particularly notable.
I didn’t find the infotainment system to be particularly driver-friendly, and some of the safety features were near-suffocating. The front emergency brake system seemed to have a mind of its own, and finding how to disable stuff like the intrusive lane-changing and speed warning alarms was something of a challenge.
On top of that, it looks like nothing at all really and while the ever-conservative Corolla hatch and saloons now look terribly smart, this car, despite some visual tweaks over the original, looks a bit dated – or meh, to be honest.
There is a case to be made here that this is an excellent car for ordinary folk who want ordinary and uneventful motoring, and that’s fully accepted. I actually really wanted to like this car, but left it with a feeling of coldness and, frankly, disappointment.
Coming from a company which has transformed its long-established staid image in recent times, there was the definite feeling that they could have put in a bit more elbow grease into too many aspects of the design and engineering.
Indeed, I’m going to be testing vehicles such as the RAV4 and C-HR – not to mention the Aygo and Yaris Cross models in the coming weeks and months and I am looking forward to driving them as much as I was glad to have this test in the rear-view mirror.
