Toyota Corolla hybrid review 2020 A sporty, efficient and fun Corolla, you're ki
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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. The Toyota Corolla, it is the best-selling car in the world.
00:06Unbelievable, isn't it? They've sold almost 50 million Toyota Corollas since it was launched
00:10in the 60s. That means they have sold as many Corollas as there are people in Colombia.
00:15That is crazy. What you're looking at here is the new Toyota Corolla ZR Hybrid. This is the
00:20top of the tree, and now it's available in hybrid trim, but it doesn't look like a hybrid,
00:25which is what I love about it the most. It competes with cars like the Volkswagen Golf,
00:29the Hyundai i30, the Mazda 3, the Ford Focus. There are a stack of competitors there,
00:34and being the top of the tree, it's going to set you back just under $34,000.
00:39Today, we're going to do a detailed review of the Corolla ZR Hybrid. You can skip ahead to
00:43other parts of the review just by using the time codes up there, or if you're on YouTube,
00:47scroll down to the description. If you haven't done so already, please hit the subscribe button
00:51and also press the bell icon so you can find out every single time we publish a new car review.
00:56Let's talk exterior. I didn't think in my career as a motoring journalist I would ever say that a
01:02Corolla actually looks good, but I think the Corolla actually looks good. Have a look at this.
01:06It is edgy AF. It's got lights everywhere. It's got angles. It is everything you wouldn't expect
01:13from a Toyota. Now, if you have seen our other reviews of hybrid Toyotas, such as the RAV4
01:18Hybrid, you can see that review by clicking up there. You'll know that Toyota's logos,
01:23if they have blue in them, that means you're driving a hybrid car. So whenever you spot that,
01:28you know, this is the hybrid model. I quite like the way that they've got a big grille down here
01:32to let all the air in. We have kind of ugly number plates fitted to this car, but you can imagine
01:37with a set of slimline plates, this would actually look quite sophisticated. I do like this red colour
01:42as well. It really gives this car a mature and sporty feel, but still applies to a lot of people.
01:47I can see young people driving this and cooler older people as well. LED headlights with LED
01:52daytime running lights are slotted into there. If you come around to the side here, 18-inch alloy
01:57wheels on the ZR Hybrid. I'll be keen to see with such a low profile, whether this actually rides
02:02well. Toyota's on the new TNGA platform, which is a name for the platform they're using across
02:07a range of cars now. Actually ride really nicely, but I wonder whether this is going to affect the
02:12way this feels. Another hybrid badge there, just in case you forget. And have a look at this,
02:16a two-tone roof is now available. So offsetting that red, you've got the black that runs across
02:21the roof, but I hope that doesn't peel. It looks like it's a wrap of some sort and it kind of looks
02:26like it's got an edge on it, which probably isn't going to be a good thing. Black wing mirrors with
02:30indicator built into them. And if you whip around to the back here, you've got more hybrid badge,
02:36more LED lights and an interesting looking rump. It's got a bit of a round end on it. So,
02:42oh, hold on. I've just noticed something. Don't put exhaust pipes on this car. It doesn't need
02:47them. So imagine that was just red. That would be perfectly fine. You don't need to have fake
02:51exhaust pipes, Toyota. Welcome to the Corolla's interior. And if you're still awake, Toyota has
02:57done a good job here because the previous generation Corolla was so damn boring inside
03:02that it just sent you to sleep. This is looking a whole lot better. Although I'm not a fan of
03:08piano black and I can see a lot of it around here. Have a look at this. I mean, the reason I'm not a
03:14fan of it is it marks so easily. It scratches. You just have to touch it and it's scratched for
03:19life. It is really just a material that I wish they would stop using inside cars, but put that
03:24to one side. It's a good looking interior and dashboard. It feels soft to the touch, but we now
03:30have a tool that can tell us if it is or not. If you've seen our other videos, you would have seen
03:33me use this before. It's a durometer. It measures softness or hardness from a scale of zero to 100,
03:39where zero is super soft and 100 is super hard, just like my muscles. Let's see what it's like on
03:46the dashboard there. Wow, that's pretty impressive. 52. Let's check this center console. That is
03:55amazing. That's in the 30s. Seriously impressive. What about build quality? Well, this is pretty
04:02flexible, unlike me. Have a look at that. That's not great. That whole center console is moving.
04:11That's a little bit gross. Toyotas are known for their build quality, reliability and all that
04:15kind of thing, but it seems like it is slipping a little bit here or that is insecure. Something,
04:19but anyway, that's not a very good look at all. Let's talk infotainment. Just like the Corolla's
04:23styling, Toyota has finally got with the modern age when it comes to technology. This new unit
04:30is eight inches. It's now common across a lot of Toyota's products. We have an in-depth, detailed
04:35review of this infotainment system. You can see that by clicking up there, but today I'll walk
04:38you through just some of the basics. This is the home screen. It's divided into three sections.
04:42I'll run you through the map. You can manually manipulate that map. It zooms in and out pretty
04:48quickly as well, so it looks like it's got a bit of processor grunt behind it. I'll then show you
04:52the extra menus you can go through. Audio, you have FM, AM, DAB plus digital radio. You can stream
04:59through your phone or another USB connected device or Bluetooth. I'll show you what Apple
05:02CarPlay and Android Auto looks like. That now comes standard with Corolla. It's a good integration. It
05:07takes up the entire screen, flips through the screens very easily. Jasmine Ray. I don't know
05:14what the hell that is. I think my wife's been putting some music on my phone. Back to the main
05:19menu here. You have other apps available with the Toyota infotainment system. Don't bother using any
05:24of them. If you look them up on the Google Play Store or the Apple Store, they all have really low
05:28ratings. They're tricky to use and almost entirely redundant when you do have smartphone mirroring
05:33built into the car. The only other thing I'll point out here is the hybrid information you can
05:37see under the car details. This shows you where all the power is coming from within the hybrid
05:44system and when we go for a drive I'll show you how all of this works. But one of the other great
05:47features here is the trip history. It shows you your best consumption in the past and also how
05:52you've been performing in terms of fuel consumption during your recent trips. What about the other
05:56features that you're getting with the car? We'll talk safety first. Autonomous emergency braking
06:00that works at city speeds. Detects pedestrians and cyclists as well. You get blind spot monitoring,
06:06a lane keeping assistant, rear cross traffic alert and the AEB, which is the tech that stops the car
06:11if you don't, works in forward and reverse. So if you're going to whack into something while you're
06:15reversing it will stop the car dead before you hit anything. That includes pedestrians as well.
06:19Jump down here we have dual zone climate control and I thought I might point this out as well.
06:23There's a function that allows you to stop cooling to the rear of the car. This is really
06:27handy for cars like hybrids because it stops your energy consumption increasing. There's also an
06:31eco heat and cool mode and then of course you can set the zones for the passenger and also the
06:36driver. Jump down one more level you have wireless phone charging. We'll see if that fits my big phone.
06:41Oh look at that, fits nice and snug. You have heated seats for the driver and front passenger.
06:46Electric seat adjustment for the driver. Radar cruise control for when you're out on the open
06:51road. Front and rear parking sensors and an auto dimming rear vision mirror. If we jump down a
06:56little bit further you have the full EV modes. You can drive the car in EV only. We'll talk about
07:01that later on when we're driving. You have drive modes you can pick from. An electric park brake
07:06and then let me show you the key. This is what the key looks like. Has lock and unlock and then on the
07:12back you have the Toyota logo. Remember the blue means it is a hybrid. It tells you it's a Corolla
07:17just in case you've forgotten. That sits in your pocket. It's a proximity entry key for opening the
07:21doors and also for starting the car. Let's talk practicality and we'll start with storage. You
07:27know your phone can go there but what about bottles? There's two cup holders up the front
07:31here that fits in snugly. The bottle can also go inside the door and there's extra storage around
07:36the bin there. Centre console. It is pretty small which is setting a theme for this car. You do have
07:43a 12 volt outlet and a USB point there plus another USB point here and the glove box. It's
07:49actually pretty generous. That's not too bad. Once you've got the manual in there there's still room
07:53to put bits and pieces. What about comfort? Yeah these seats are nice. I like the driving position
08:00but check the seats out. They look sporty. I really like all this highlight stuff and this
08:06suede Alcantara business and the perforations. Looks like a very sporty car and I'm keen to see
08:12whether it drives as sporty as those seats look. Holy moly! Leg room in the back here is terrible.
08:20I've got my seat in my normal driving position and sure I might be a little taller than some people
08:25but I'm still not massively lanky and my knees are in the back of that seat. I have no toe room
08:31whatsoever. I just can't understand at the point that you're engineering this car that you don't
08:36get someone to sit in the back and then maybe think about the dimensions to make it a little
08:40bit bigger. This is really not very good. So let's put the leg and knee room to one side for one
08:47second. The seats themselves are quite comfortable. You get rear air vents. There is a centre armrest
08:53with two cup holders. Cups fit into those and then cleverly your cup storage is inside the doors so
09:02you can hold things in there. There's actually nothing beneath it which is why they've integrated
09:05that and that means you're not going to be able to put anything else in those bins that you would
09:09normally fit in the doors. Headroom is good but yeah seriously disappointed with the amount of
09:14leg room here. I understand you're not going to have people in the back seat of a Corolla all the
09:17time but seriously I mean if you have friends or people that you need to have in the back of the
09:21car they are just not going to be comfortable back here. At least it's got mat pockets and then
09:25ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats and then top tether points as well if you do want to squeeze
09:30a baby in here. That theme of no space is continued in the boot unfortunately. Have a look at this
09:36333 litres of cargo space. It's not a great deal and it's also not a great deal compared to some of
09:41the competitors in this segment but anyway we'll see if it fits our luggage. Under the floor here
09:46first though you have a tyre repair kit because this car has no spare tyre with all the hybrid
09:51components. This is a system where you effectively just put a bit of goo inside the tyre. It then
09:56finds its way to the hole and then fixes itself. Not really an excellent solution if it is a big
10:02hole you're still going to have to get the tyre fixed. Let's have a look at how this takes our
10:07luggage. It actually works quite well so despite the fact it's not a huge amount in terms of
10:14leaderage this cut down here doesn't eat too much into your luggage space and then the lip isn't
10:18overly high. It drops in nicely and then you have some hooks inside the boot here to secure things.
10:24Plus have a look at this one. A maximum of two kilos you can lean onto this which is on the
10:29cargo blind and you can get rid of that pretty easily as well just by detaching this.
10:42Just by detaching this
10:46and you're gonna have to leave that at home because it doesn't really go anywhere else.
10:49And if you do need more room you can drop the second row as well. The clips are on the back
10:54of the seat and there you go you have a little bit more room if the 333 litres isn't enough.
11:00We're behind the wheel of the Corolla ZR Hybrid. Let me run you through the package under the
11:04bonnet and how all this works. So it uses a 1.8 litre naturally aspirated petrol engine
11:09in addition to a hybrid drivetrain. The hybrid drivetrain is powered by a 1.3 kWh battery that
11:14sits under the back seat over there. To put that into context something like a Tesla Model 3 is
11:19around 75-79 kWh so it's about a 70th of something you'd find in a full electric car.
11:26In terms of power and torque from the internal combustion engine it's 72 kW of power and 142 Nm
11:32of torque. Pretty typical from a 1.8 litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine.
11:37It's then backed up by an electric motor that produces 53 kW of power and 163 Nm of torque.
11:44Both of those combine to produce 90 kW of power in total. What does that all mean? Well you can
11:50click up here to see our IONIQ plug-in hybrid review where I explain how combining power figures
11:56between an internal combustion engine and an electric motor kind of all comes together.
12:01That all combines to give you a fuel economy of 4.2 litres per 100 kilometres. That's really good
12:06for a hybrid and better than other cars in this segment because they don't really have the
12:09advantage of the hybrid system. In terms of what we've been achieving it's around mid-5 litres per
12:15100 kilometres so it is fairly realistic the claim that Toyota gives. Let's talk about ride for a
12:20second. TNGA, that's the platform that this car sits on. It's shared with other Toyota products.
12:25Toyota has fitted this car with an independent rear suspension setup. Some other cars in this
12:29segment use a torsion beam so this gives you a bit more control over the rear. The entire package is
12:34excellent. This is one of the best riding cars in this segment. Even on 18 inch alloy wheels it is
12:39soaking up everything we throw at it. So big tick for ride and handling for Corolla. There is a nifty
12:44feature built into this car and it's the camera up here. It's able to detect road signs as you
12:49pass them and then it reminds you what the speed limit is. It works pretty well but the problem is
12:54that on the nav screen this picks up road speed signs from the navigation whereas this one picks
13:00it up from what it sees in front of you. Sometimes you have conflicts where the speed is actually
13:05different to what it is so from that point of view it's not a very good system. Turning circle comes
13:09in at 11.4 metres, kind of big for a hatchback. I would have thought it'd be a little tighter than
13:15that but that kind of gives you an idea of all the equipment you have under the front there that's
13:19preventing the wheels from making a full turn. Visibility out the cabin is great. Front I can see
13:24everything. I've got the heads up display in front of me there that shows me when I transition from
13:27eco mode into power mode. That's when the whole combination comes to life. Visibility out the side
13:34is okay. The wing mirrors aren't overly big but they are big enough for this little car. I have
13:38blind spot monitors there that monitor everything around the side of the car. There is not a huge
13:42amount of visibility out the back though and that's because the window is quite narrow. Let's
13:46talk about how quiet it is in the cabin. You get a little bit of noise from those 18-inch
13:50alloy wheels. The tyres transmit a bit of road noise into the cabin and if you go into EV mode
13:55it's dead silent because the engine is completely switched off but if you jump on the throttle
14:02there is a bit of a racket inside the cabin so while it is responsive when you've got the
14:06slipper in it, it is a little bit noisy in here. Okay, R.I.P. my credibility with you guys. I
14:14actually like this car. I never thought I'd be telling you about how much I like a Toyota Corolla,
14:19especially a hybrid one. It's really fun to drive, the ride is great and it's just,
14:24I don't know, it's just engaging which you never thought you'd say about a Corolla. It gets my big
14:29tick of approval and it sets itself apart from other cars in this segment because no one else
14:33really offers independent rear suspension that makes the car handle nicely, incredible fuel
14:38efficiency and then just an engaging drive thrown in with it all. You don't have to spend mega bucks
14:43to be driving a car that is fun sometimes but practical the rest of the times. Now I did lie a
14:49little bit there on practicality because there is next to no rear leg room. The boot is incredibly
14:53tiny as well so don't get this if you need to transport bigger people around in the second row
14:58or if you need to put lots of stuff in the boot but for everything outside of that it presents
15:02excellent value for money and the efficiency means you're never going to be paying for fuel.
15:05Let me know if I'm crazy. Have you driven the new Corolla or any of the new Toyota products on the
15:10TNGA platform? Let me know in the comments below. I'd also love to get your feedback on the videos
15:15whether you're enjoying them or not. If you have enjoyed this one, press the like button, follow
15:19it up with a subscribe and also then press the bell icon as well so you know every single time
15:24we publish something new. But until next time, drive safely.