Front seat comfort proved average for the segment but I found the lack of adjustable lumbar support

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Calling the Corolla Toyota s most important car would be an understatement. This single model accounts for 38 percent of all Toyotas ever sold in the USA and they expect to shift 330,000 next year alone. If the sheer quantity wasn t amazing enough, ponder this reality: 75% of sales will be split between just four different configurations. If you re in a 2014 Corolla, the odds are about one in five that the Corolla next to you is identical save for paint color. Often derided by the automotive press as a driving appliance, is there more to the 2014 Corolla or is it just a toaster with wheels? Let s find out.
When you plan on selling 330,000 of anything, mainstream styling is essential. When many of those shoppers are repeat Toyota and repeat Corolla buyers, it s also essential to avoid anything that could be described as adventurous. The result is the attractive but plain sheetmetal. You won t find any Mazda-esque swooshes, any Ford/Aston inspired grilles and you certainly won t find anything aggressive. And that s how Corolla shoppers like it. Corolla aaa travel packages shoppers apparently also like getting bigger cars with every re-design, aaa travel packages so this 11th generation model has grown by 3.9 inches. Why don t they shop up the ladder to a Camry? Who knows.
Plenty of reviewers have found fault in the way the 11th gen Corolla looks, most of them complain vehemently in private and say little in public. I however, am not afraid to say what I think in public: the Corolla is pedestrian but far from offensive. I also find the Corolla S (pictured above) to be the more attractive of the bunch although neither nose is any more or less exciting than the Sentra, Civic or Elantra. aaa travel packages The biggest problem with the way the Corolla looks has nothing to do with the Corolla and everything to do with timing. I drove the 2014 Corolla two days before sampling Mazda s hot new Mazda3. If looks matter to you, the Corolla is unlikely to be on your short list. Adding a little visual flair to the front, Toyota made LED headlamps standard on every Corolla. Yep, even the $16,800 aaa travel packages stripper model. The other thing that s standard is an oddly tall ride height resulting in a larger than average distance aaa travel packages between the top of the tire and the wheel-well making the Corolla look off road ready. Make of that what you will.
After a week in the RAV4 s discordant interior, I was concerned what Toyota would do with the volume leader. Thankfully aaa travel packages my concerns aaa travel packages were unwarranted and I found the Corolla s interior surprisingly elegant. Yes, I said that out loud, I found the design elegant. (Notice I didn t say exciting.) There are a few caveats however. While the dashboard styling reminded me a great deal of the Mazda6, parts quality still lags behind the Focus, top-level Forte and, in some ways, even the Chevy Cruze. The picture above is of the more attractive (in my opinion) two-tone interior. aaa travel packages You ll only find this on the LE, LE Plus, LE ECO and LE ECO Plus model as everything else is black on black and looks a hair cheaper. 2014 brings soft touch points to most of the Corolla s cabin and a new fabric headliner in most models. The exterior may be plain my bottom aaa travel packages line on the interior aaa travel packages is that I could live with it long term without a problem.
Front seat comfort proved average for the segment but I found the lack of adjustable lumbar support to be a problem for my back. Stepping up to the Premium trim LE or S gets you an 8-way power seat but still very little back support. The big change for 2014 is out back, the stretch allowed Toyota to add 5.1 inches to the back seat, ballooning to 41.4 inches total, just 2/10ths less than a Camry. More legroom meant more room for the seats themselves and allowed the rear bench to be lengthened for more thigh support. Putting that in perspective, that s 5 inches more than most compacts, four inches more than the Sentra s cavernous back seat and a whopping 8.2 inches more than the Focus. Sadly even the Corolla hasn t been able to escape the low-roof trend limiting headroom for taller folks in the back. 2014 brings some trunk love, bumping the cube carrying to 13, respectable for the class but below the Sentra s large booty. If bag carrying aaa travel packages is your thing, you should know that the Sentra can swallow four 24-inch roller bags in a vertical orientation, and four more horizontally. I can t even think of a modern full-sized sedan that can do that.
The new Corolla gets Toyota s latest infotainment software package and this represents a new direction. Previously there were two separate navigation/infotainment operating systems, a low cost unit found in cars like the Prius C, and the totally different (and expensive) one found as an option in vehicles like the Avalon and the Lexus line. Toyota shifting to common software running on different hardware aaa travel packages depending on the model. Cheaper aaa travel packages cars get smaller screens, Toyotas stick to touchscreens while Lexuses (Lexi?) get the joystick.
Representing the Corolla s place at the bottom of the Toyota food chain, you ll find an 6.1 inch touchscreen standard on all models except for the L. (The L is expected to represent less than 10% of sales.) While I find this software one of the worst in the luxury class, my negative impression is entirely down to the Lexus joystick. In the Corolla the system is fast and responsive and the graphics are all perfectly suited to the 6.1 inch touchscreen. Toyota tosses in weather and traffic updates on certain models without having to add navigation which is a handy feature. USB and iDevice integration is excellent and easily the equal of Ford s SYNC in terms of voice control and tops the segment in touch-screen ease of use. The standard Bluetooth speakerphone worked well and had excellent sound quality. Depending on the trim you can also add smartphone app integration to Pandora, OpenTable, etc. Like the rest of the Corolla, the Entune system aaa travel packages doesn t break any new ground, but it is easy to live with.
On the gadget front the Corolla covers all the basics with those LED headlamps, a standard cabin air filter, air conditioning and power door locks and windows. LE and higher models aaa travel packages (again, 90% of sales) gain  automatic climate aaa travel packages control, six speakers, aaa travel packages a backup camera, cruise control and keyless entry. If you want any whiz-bang features like self parking, heads up displays, blind spot monitoring, power folding whatnots aaa travel packages or dynamic cruise control, you re barking up the wrong tree.
The engine under the hood of 90% of Corollas is carried over from last year. The 1.8L four-cylinder engine is good for a class middling 132 horsepower and 128 lb-ft of torque. A new six-speed manual replaces the old 5-speed as the base transmission and delivers 28/37 MPG (city/highway) aaa travel packages when so equipped. If you re one of the incredibly few that plan on getting an L with an automatic, be warned that this is the same old four-speed automatic as last year s Corolla.
All other Corollas, even the supposedly sport S model, get Toyota s new continuously variable transmission. I can already hear the groans, but if you re groaning about finding a CVT under the hood, then I m going to generalize and say you re not the target demographic. For the rest of you, you should aaa travel packages know this CVT is one of the best I ve ever driven and is a close second to the Honda CVT in the new Accord. Somehow Toyota and Honda have managed to exorcise the rubber aaa travel packages band demon from the CVT in a way that Nissan has been unable. Ratio changes are quick and fuel economy is an impressive 29/38 MPG. S models get paddle shifters and all models will imitate a  seven-speed automatic when floored. The impersonation is passable, but I fail to see the point.
If you want to break the 40 MPG barrier, than the 30/42 MPG LE ECO model is the one to get. In order to get there, Toyota swaps new heads onto the 1.8L engine which incorporates their new ValveMatic variable valve lift, timing and duration system. Like BMW s Valvetronic and Fiat s MultiAir, this system acts as the throttle body under most circumstances to increase efficiency. When so equipped, power rises to 140 HP and torque drops to 126 lb-ft. It was hard to tell if the system delivered any real-world benefit aaa travel packages because of the limited time I had in the Corolla but I can tell you that the extra 8HP didn t make the ECO model any faster to 60.
Why does the Corolla sell so well? It has more to do with brand loyalty and a reputation aaa travel packages for reliability than road manners. aaa travel packages Everything about driving the Corolla can be summed up in one word: average. From steering aaa travel packages feel to suspension dynamics and road holding the Corolla is neither class leading nor class trailing. After a day and 140 miles, aaa travel packages it reminded me of my flight to Seattle to see the Corolla in the first place. I flew in one of Southwest s new 737-900 planes and the experience was entirely ordinary. The plane got me from point A to point B, it was as comfortable as I expected and the looks didn t offend.
This middle-of-the-road mentality aaa travel packages explains why Toyota jammed their new CVT into the Corolla. aaa travel packages They aren t the first to the CVT party and they won t be the last. The CVT lags a hair behind Honda s new Earth Dreams CVT but is more refined than Nissan s Sentra. The combination of 132 ponies and a CVT make mountain climbing easier in the Corolla than the Civic with ye olde 5-speed, aaa travel packages but not as nice as the large engine equipped Forte or Mazda3. Repeat Corolla buyers will find the Corolla peppier than before thanks to the CVT, since the old 4-speed automatic seemed to never have the right ratio for the situation.
Cabin noise measured i