Output is up across the board, with 134 horsepower and 158 pound-feet of torque improving on last year's 121 hp and 146 lb-ft, but even with a mere 2,850 pounds to move, the Corolla Hybrid is not a speedy thing. Still, the gas-electric setup remains refined, with perfect interplay between the 1.8-liter gas engine and the two electric motors. Unfortunately, dry conditions on my test route around Franklin, Tennessee, meant I never really felt the Corolla Hybrid's extra motor come into play. The Corolla Hybrid also uses a separate rear-mounted electric motor that works in a wider range of conditions and isn't quite as geared toward economy because of it. The Prius' setup ditches the lithium-ion battery for a nickel-metal hydride pack and uses a totally independent, magnet-free electric motor on the rear axle that only works up to 43 mph. Toyota offers two confusingly named hybrid all-wheel-drive systems – AWD-e, available in the Prius, and Electronic On-Demand AWD in the RAV4 Hybrid and Corolla Hybrid. The Corolla's gas-electric hybrid powertrain already made good sense as a fuel sipper, but aside from the GR model, it's now also the only way to score all-wheel drive without stepping up to a Camry, Prius, or one of Toyota's assorted crossovers. But really, it's more like 2.1, since cyclist/motorcycle detection and a new Proactive Driving Assistant, which can provide light brake or steering inputs to maintain a gap through curves, are the main new additions. Still, the new display's responsiveness, updated graphics, and simpler layout make it a net win.īeyond the updated infotainment, Toyota is adding to the Corolla's active safety suite, replacing Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 with – wait for it – Toyota Safety Sense 3.0. People complain about slab-style displays and iPads glued to the dash, but the updated Corolla demonstrates the danger of bulky housings instead of thinner, standalone screens. Without them, the Corolla's now-standard screen is swimming in a sea of black, shiny plastic. Navigating the system is as quick as tapping these icons, although some customers might be flummoxed by the lack of a dedicated home screen.īut those physical controls did more than give customers quick access to different pages of the infotainment system they interrupted the huge bezels that surround the 8.0-inch display. Instead, and like the suites in the Tundra, Sequoia, and others, there are menu icons on the left side of the display. The crisp icons and quick reactions are a marked upgrade over the blurry symbols of the past, and they need to be – volume knob aside, the Corolla loses all the infotainment's physical controls. An 8.0-inch display is now standard across the board, dispatching the smallish 7.0-inch setup, improving resolution in the process, and adding standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Toyota continues the quest to improve the infotainment experience, long a weak point, in its vehicles.
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