What is it?
The latest evolution of the world's best-selling automotive nameplate. Given Toyota's clockwork product cycles with Corolla over nearly five decades, it's also the Corolla North Americans will be buying for the next five years.
The 2014 Corolla marks the 11th major overhaul for a car that debuted in the United States in March 1968 with a 1.1-liter, 60-hp engine, and it follows a predictable pattern. The new Corolla is incrementally better in just about every respect, playing its quality, durability and reliability card in a package intended to generate more sex appeal. And as it's done with each successive cycle -- it grew from sub-compact to compact with the seventh generation in 1993 -- the 2014 Corolla has gotten bigger.
It's at least incrementally larger in every dimension, save its roof height, which drops .4 inch. The Corolla's length increases 2.6 inches to 182.6, and its wheelbase stretches nearly 4 inches to 106.3. It all makes the new Corolla the longest car -- with the longest wheelbase -- in a competitive set including the Chevy Cruze, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra, Mazda 3 and VW Jetta. Yet Corolla remains among the lightest.
The expanded footprint means substantially more legroom inside, particularly in the rear seat. At 13 cubic feet, trunk capacity increases slightly, but still falls near the bottom of the class -- 2.5 cubic feet less than the largest. The 2014 Corolla adds two airbags -- a knee-protection airbag for the driver and a unique bottom-cushion airbag for the front passenger, intended to lift thighs up and out of harm's way -- for eight total. Toyota predicts a five-star score in NCAP tests and a Top Safety Pick rating from IIHS.
Sex appeal? Toyota has taken to adjusting Corolla's exterior design according to specific market tastes, so what you see above is what it thinks Americans, specifically, want. (The United States is the only market that gets only a Corolla sedan.) The 2014 is certainly less frumpy than its predecessor, and maybe the most imposing Corolla yet. Its medium distance, quick-glance impression recalls the previous-generation Focus. Closer inspection reveals an amalgam of cues and elements visible across the compact-sedan class from the Cruze to the Nissan Sentra.
The standard engine is carryover with refinements for durability and friction reduction. Toyota's 1.8-liter port-injected four makes 132 hp and 128 lb-ft of torque, surpassing only the base Jetta and Sentra engines in horsepower.
The 1.8 in the new Corolla LE Eco package adds Valvematic -- the first time Toyota has used variable valve lift in North America. Valvematic is intended to reduce pumping losses, and works something like BMW's original Valvetronic system. The throttle stays wide open in most operating circumstances, and varying the lift of the intake valves controls the intake air supply. Toyota says Valvematic improves fuel efficiency 5.3 percent in bench testing, but also raises the 1.8's redline 1000 rpm and increases peak horsepower to 140 (peak torque drops to 126 lb-ft). Thus the Corolla aimed most directly toward the Prius set is also the most powerful.
The Eco theme continues with a new a continuously variable transmission. This lightweight, belt/pulley CVT introduces a couple interesting features, including a fluid pre-warmer and hydraulics designed to minimize parasitic power loss. So equipped the Corolla LE Eco delivers 30 mpg city, 42 highway in the EPA cycle -- the highest rating for any gasoline-fueled compact, according to Toyota. The LE Eco also comes standard with an Eco switch limiting climate-control capacity and making it harder to get full-throttle operation. Corolla engineers say it can improve fuel economy another 5 percent.
The CVT comes standard in all Corolla LE trims (40 percent of anticipated volume), and it's offered in the sport-themed Corolla S (another 40 percent) with seven step ranges and shift paddles. The base Corolla L uses a carryover four-speed torque converter automatic. A six-speed manual is available in the L and the S (up from five speeds).
Underneath, the new Corolla gets refinements to its existing L-arm/strut suspension in front, mounted with a sub-frame. The torsion-beam rear axle adds a new damper and better toe control. The brakes have been engineered for less pedal pressure and shorter pedal travel but rear disks are available only on the Corolla S with an option package.
For $16,800 and an $810 destination charge, the Corolla L comes with a manual trans, 15-inch steel wheels, painted mirrors, cabin air filter, folding rear seat and four-speaker audio with Bluetooth, voice control via smartphone and iPod and USB ports. The USB delivers enough juice to charge two devices simultaneously.
At $18,300 the LE adds the CVT, cruise control, 16-inch wheels and six-speaker audio with a 6.1-inch touchscreen and back-up camera. The LE Eco with Valvematic is $18,700. For $19,000, the Corolla S gets a bolder front end with fog lights and a gloss-black honeycomb grille, turn-signal indicators in the mirrors and a rear-deck spoiler.
All Corollas come standard with steel wheels. Alloys (17-inch on the S) come in Plus or Premium option packages available on the LE and S. The top-line audio includes navigation, HD display, HD radio, XM, traffic, weather and a range of available apps.
The Corolla has come a long way since Tatsuo Hasegawa, the first Corolla's chief engineer, famously directed his people “to develop a car that brings happiness and well-being to people around the world.” Today it's sold in 154 countries from 16 assembly locations. Total sales have surpassed 40 million worldwide.
The United States remains Corolla's largest single market. Local production began in 1984 at NUMMI in Fremont, Calif., and since 1997 all U.S. Corollas have been built in North America. In calendar 2012, when Corolla was the oldest car in the compact sedan segment, it came a close second in sales behind a fresh Civic -- about 50,000 ahead of Cruze and Focus, and 90,000 ahead of Elantra.
Toyota has sold 24 million cars in the United States since Corolla debuted in 1968, and more than nine million have been Corollas. More than half the Corollas are still on the road, according to Toyota.
That explains what this car is as well as anything.
How's it drive?
Forty million customers can't be wrong, can they? That doesn't necessarily mean you want to be one of them. The 2014 Corolla drives more or less as it always has, only better, infused with familiar Toyota strengths. It might not be the most dynamic compact out there, but it's solid, presumably bullet proof, comfortable and easy to get a handle on.
Toyota focused on improving the cabin's quality and feel and it has delivered. Materials -- most notably the soft-touch on the top of the dash and door panels -- are more pleasing in the tactile sense. The seat foam is denser, though the seats remain comfortable, and the bolstering actually keeps your torso from moving. The dash design is more modern. The piano-black trim looks better than a lot of stuff in this class. The knobs are trimmed with chrome, and the layout is much easier to master than the switch-dense stacks in the Cruze or Focus.
A rear seat that was already one of the roomiest gets even better. The tiny fraction lost in headroom will bother only the tallest occupants and it's more than balanced by a substantial improvement in both legroom and ease of ingress. Better packaging is one of the new Corolla's obvious strengths.
This isn't the most inspiring compact sedan you'll find, but NVH control might be the class exemplar. It's clearly better than the previous generation though the issue is confused a bit by lower profile tires on 17-inch rims. The general level of vibration is down.
The new Corolla might be, um, sportier, too. The suspension is certainly tuned for comfort more than response. The electric steering rack has the slowest ratio of any car in this class but turn-in seems a little more emphatic than before, even if it's just the tires. There is incrementally more firmness or directness to the steering feeling, and there is definitely less flex and vibration through the shaft. The standard stability control system has an all-off function, though we aren't sure why.
The CVT works, if you get used to the drone, or if you use the step shifts and paddles. Of course drivers who want to shift manually all the time will choose the manual. We'd prefer the conventional four-speed auto in the Corolla L to the CVT even at the expense of 4 mpg overall. Obviously Toyota thinks that will be a minority opinion.
Regardless, the first choice for anyone concerned with the process of driving will be the six-speed manual. There's no easier way to improve a placid car than by adding a clutch pedal and stir stick, and that definitely applies here. The manual raises the engagement factor about 80 percent, and through normal rounds it removes concern about how the transmission will respond from the real-time decision making process. The Corolla S, with the Plus option that adds rear disks and 17-inch rims, is the one any enthusiast will want, hands down.
Do I want it?
The 2014 Corolla is not a Mazda 3, or a Civic or even a Dodge Dart. Other compact sedans are tuned much better to an enthusiast driver's tastes. But if you are buying for someone else, and security, space, peace of mind, the learning curve or near-mythical QRD are important issues, the Corolla remains hard to beat. It's no fluke that Toyota has sold 40 million.
On sale: September
Base price: $17,610-$22,110
Drivetrain: 1.8-liter inline four, 132-hp, 128-lb-ft six speed manual, four-speed automatic, CVT
0-60 mph: N/A
Curb Weight: 2,845 lbs (Corolla S manual)
Fuel Economy: (EPA City/Hwy/Combined): 27/37/32(est)
Interior shot of the 2014 Toyota Corolla
Read More...
NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation in November of stalling complaints with the Toyota Matrix, shown, and the Corolla. 
