Went down and test drove a few cars today. Seemed like a good day.
First drove a 2012 Corolla LE auto. Ultimately I liked it. People pan the car, and the transmission, but I thought it accomplished the goal of what I looking for: appliance. Simple controls, simple experience. I didn’t push it hard and if I had, I expect it would have been miserable. On the highway it was unmistakable; car wanders a bit in the wind, noise comes up relative to speed. No mistaking when you hit 70mph. On the on-ramp, and around town, I did find myself using the manual shifting mode to force it down a gear; but I like that, I’d rather it lug down for mpg’s in the normal case. Engine was definitely “thrashy” when pushed.
Up on the highway, I found the trans liked to unlock the convertor, but found it way less intrusive than my Tundra. On my Tundra, I have seen rpm jump from 1,500 to nearly 1,900 when it unlocks—an unreasonable amount of slippage if you ask me. On the highway the rpm jump is not so bad, but it grates on my nerves. But the Corolla would jump from 2,900 to nearly 3,000. Add in road/wind noise and it honestly was only noticeable if I looked at the tach.
Next up: a 2015 Corolla L, again with a 4spd auto. Here it was clear that NVH was much better. Ride was better. Lots of soft touches, looks like other cars on the market today. Engine was smoother too I think, and I don’t recall “thrash” when pushed. However: I don’t know if it was this model level or what, but I did not like the sea of black interior. Felt better, more features; but for some reason I did not care for it. Could be because I currently have a black interior, and I dislike how warm it is on sunny days. Or more likely, because it’s a Corolla, and I have a stigma that says Corolla should be basic cars that spent the owner’s money on reliability not soft surfaces where they hands normally do not roam.
We then tried a Prius C 2. Interesting car. Ultimately, and perhaps of no shock to anyone here, I didn’t care for it. “It’s a car” applies here, ‘cept it has more displays and buttons than a computer. Clearly not a highway car, although I didn’t think it horrible—but I also didn’t take it past 65 either. I will say though that the CVT nature did not bug me. Probably because I know it’s not a real transmission, and thus there is nothing being worn by the engine going up/down in response to throttle. But just the same, while the engine noise was not obtrusive, it clearly was working at highway speeds. I also think I’d get tired of staring at the LCD’s after about 10 minutes of driving. Less is more. But it had lots of interesting textures, soft surfaces, etc. [Only tested as it was a possible car for my wife, who does lots of rural slower-speed driving; I’d get her Camry. However, while it’d work for her, the larger Prius was easily a better fit—but at a price range we were not interested in.] I have nothing against the car, but I drive 90%+ highway, and it’s just not a good fit.
Hopped into a 2015 Corolla S, so as to try the six speed manual—I had indicated a preference going in for a manual trans car in a base model, and the low trim L and upper trim S have the manual, but not the mid-range LE (and no stickshift L’s on the lot). I have to say, I like the clutch and the transmission better than my Camry’s setup, although they both share the same problem: fifth and six are simply too close together. But the Corolla was more enjoyable to row through than the Camry, and I thought the split between fifth and sixth was a bit bigger than my Camry’s. Being an S I don’t know if they did anything else different, nor did I care (after economy here, and that includes insurance costs, tire costs, etc).
Finally, the sales woman dug through the system, and turned up a unicorn: 2013 Corolla L with a 5spd manual. Get this: power windows, locks, mirrors, keyless entry, stickshift, no cruise… and it was originally a lease. ? Anyhow, drove that, and I have to say, I preferred it over the 2015. The 2015 has the edge in NVH but loses me on exterior looks and more importantly, interior looks (have to look at that for the duration of any drive, after all). Plus every reviewer out there simply pans Corolla, no matter what vintage, so its competition must be that much better. Anyhow, clearly the 5spd was faster than the automatic; but it also revs slightly higher on the highway. Clutch was not what I’d call “fun”, and the gearshift a bit rubbery; but it avoids the faux sixth gear. I’d call it a tossup between automatic and stick: neither is fun, one is easier to drive (and slower to accelerate) while the other will do better on mpg. For an appliance I can see why auto wins most of the time. Either case, due to engine/road noise, I’d say I found myself not wanting to drive past 70; very much struck me as vehicles that you get up to 65 and hit cruise.
Clearly the previous gen Corolla is a bit of a penalty box on the highway; at 70 there is no mistaking that you attempted to save money by getting this over a Camry. Hopping back into my Camry to head home reminded me of that point. Below 70 I thought the noise ok; and it certainly was not a droning noise like the basest Versa I drove last week. It’s hard to get much out of a simple 5 minute blast down the highway. With the reviews over with now I can’t remember how much quieter the new gen is on the highway; I bet it is better, but since I didn’t write down my thoughts each time… shame on me. Honestly, I might be tempted by this 5spd Corolla, ‘cept for the fact it simply has not depreciated for a 3 year old car that is now a generation behind. I don’t think it is worth paying extra to go new (not to me) but I could see how for others it would be.
First drove a 2012 Corolla LE auto. Ultimately I liked it. People pan the car, and the transmission, but I thought it accomplished the goal of what I looking for: appliance. Simple controls, simple experience. I didn’t push it hard and if I had, I expect it would have been miserable. On the highway it was unmistakable; car wanders a bit in the wind, noise comes up relative to speed. No mistaking when you hit 70mph. On the on-ramp, and around town, I did find myself using the manual shifting mode to force it down a gear; but I like that, I’d rather it lug down for mpg’s in the normal case. Engine was definitely “thrashy” when pushed.
Up on the highway, I found the trans liked to unlock the convertor, but found it way less intrusive than my Tundra. On my Tundra, I have seen rpm jump from 1,500 to nearly 1,900 when it unlocks—an unreasonable amount of slippage if you ask me. On the highway the rpm jump is not so bad, but it grates on my nerves. But the Corolla would jump from 2,900 to nearly 3,000. Add in road/wind noise and it honestly was only noticeable if I looked at the tach.
Next up: a 2015 Corolla L, again with a 4spd auto. Here it was clear that NVH was much better. Ride was better. Lots of soft touches, looks like other cars on the market today. Engine was smoother too I think, and I don’t recall “thrash” when pushed. However: I don’t know if it was this model level or what, but I did not like the sea of black interior. Felt better, more features; but for some reason I did not care for it. Could be because I currently have a black interior, and I dislike how warm it is on sunny days. Or more likely, because it’s a Corolla, and I have a stigma that says Corolla should be basic cars that spent the owner’s money on reliability not soft surfaces where they hands normally do not roam.
We then tried a Prius C 2. Interesting car. Ultimately, and perhaps of no shock to anyone here, I didn’t care for it. “It’s a car” applies here, ‘cept it has more displays and buttons than a computer. Clearly not a highway car, although I didn’t think it horrible—but I also didn’t take it past 65 either. I will say though that the CVT nature did not bug me. Probably because I know it’s not a real transmission, and thus there is nothing being worn by the engine going up/down in response to throttle. But just the same, while the engine noise was not obtrusive, it clearly was working at highway speeds. I also think I’d get tired of staring at the LCD’s after about 10 minutes of driving. Less is more. But it had lots of interesting textures, soft surfaces, etc. [Only tested as it was a possible car for my wife, who does lots of rural slower-speed driving; I’d get her Camry. However, while it’d work for her, the larger Prius was easily a better fit—but at a price range we were not interested in.] I have nothing against the car, but I drive 90%+ highway, and it’s just not a good fit.
Hopped into a 2015 Corolla S, so as to try the six speed manual—I had indicated a preference going in for a manual trans car in a base model, and the low trim L and upper trim S have the manual, but not the mid-range LE (and no stickshift L’s on the lot). I have to say, I like the clutch and the transmission better than my Camry’s setup, although they both share the same problem: fifth and six are simply too close together. But the Corolla was more enjoyable to row through than the Camry, and I thought the split between fifth and sixth was a bit bigger than my Camry’s. Being an S I don’t know if they did anything else different, nor did I care (after economy here, and that includes insurance costs, tire costs, etc).
Finally, the sales woman dug through the system, and turned up a unicorn: 2013 Corolla L with a 5spd manual. Get this: power windows, locks, mirrors, keyless entry, stickshift, no cruise… and it was originally a lease. ? Anyhow, drove that, and I have to say, I preferred it over the 2015. The 2015 has the edge in NVH but loses me on exterior looks and more importantly, interior looks (have to look at that for the duration of any drive, after all). Plus every reviewer out there simply pans Corolla, no matter what vintage, so its competition must be that much better. Anyhow, clearly the 5spd was faster than the automatic; but it also revs slightly higher on the highway. Clutch was not what I’d call “fun”, and the gearshift a bit rubbery; but it avoids the faux sixth gear. I’d call it a tossup between automatic and stick: neither is fun, one is easier to drive (and slower to accelerate) while the other will do better on mpg. For an appliance I can see why auto wins most of the time. Either case, due to engine/road noise, I’d say I found myself not wanting to drive past 70; very much struck me as vehicles that you get up to 65 and hit cruise.
Clearly the previous gen Corolla is a bit of a penalty box on the highway; at 70 there is no mistaking that you attempted to save money by getting this over a Camry. Hopping back into my Camry to head home reminded me of that point. Below 70 I thought the noise ok; and it certainly was not a droning noise like the basest Versa I drove last week. It’s hard to get much out of a simple 5 minute blast down the highway. With the reviews over with now I can’t remember how much quieter the new gen is on the highway; I bet it is better, but since I didn’t write down my thoughts each time… shame on me. Honestly, I might be tempted by this 5spd Corolla, ‘cept for the fact it simply has not depreciated for a 3 year old car that is now a generation behind. I don’t think it is worth paying extra to go new (not to me) but I could see how for others it would be.
