Toyota Corolla Hybrid 2019 review: SX

Akio Toyoda, the Japanese carmaker’s president for the last decade (and grandson of the company’s founder) has made it his mission to inject more emotion and personality into Toyota’s products.

Cars like the retro FJ Cruiser, 86 sports coupe and soon-to-arrive Supra GT have been markers for the brand, with premium subsidiary Lexus also challenged to push the styling and engineering envelope.

Protruding aggressively from the nose, a pronounced grille intake features a racy mesh insert.

Launched in August 2018, the current Corolla is longer (+45mm), lower (-40mm), and wider (+30mm) than the model it replaced, and although it’s always a subjective call, I reckon this car’s design lifts the evergreen small car from white goods on wheels to positively charismatic.

Sadly, our test example’s black finish masks a lot of exterior detail, but this ‘Rolla definitely drops the mercury towards the cool zone.

The leading edge of the bonnet curves sharply to incorporate the broad sweep of jagged, angry headlights, looking alarmingly like the arc of a samurai’s katana.

Protruding aggressively from the nose, a pronounced grille intake features a racy mesh insert, with fog lights either side and a broad spoiler underneath. The overall expression is reminiscent of a scowling Kabuki warrior.

Some signature Corolla elements, like small quarter windows in front of the mirrors (at the base of the A-pillars) are retained, but the rear extends the new theme of curved incisions and angular graphics.

The standard 16-inch alloy wheels look a little underdone on the SX.

Hooked LED tail-lights shine like lasers, contrasting dramatically with ‘our’ test example’s inky (‘Eclipse Black’) bodywork, and slim reflector panels are incorporated at the bottom of arched, recessed channels cutting across either end of the rear bumper clip.

The standard 16-inch alloy wheels look a little underdone (18s are standard on the top-spec ZR), but this black sheep Corolla is still light years away from its relatively conservative ancestors.

The interior is sleek and contemporary with an upright 8.0-inch touchscreen display dominating the dash. Broad, simple surfaces are layered to create visual interest without clutter. A combination of gloss black surfaces around the front ventilation controls and gearshift match with brushed metal highlights to impart a classy feel.

The interior is sleek and contemporary with simple surfaces layered to create visual interest without clutter.

A 4.2-inch digital display on the right-hand side of the compact main instrument cluster is a neat touch, and all the switchgear and major controls are clearly marked and intuitive to use.

Standard seat trim in the SX is cloth, the charcoal grey material in our car neatly trimmed, with a subtle scalloped design on the cushion and backrest inserts. But you couldn’t exactly describe the sensation as premium. Hardwearing and practical feels more appropriate.

At $28,370 before on-road costs the Corolla SX Hybrid competes with semi-premium versions of the usual small hatch suspects like the Honda Civic, Hyundai i30, Mazda3, and VW Golf. It’s $1500 more expensive than an equivalent 2.0-litre petrol-only SX ($26,870).

Although the Corolla and Mazda3 are top-sellers in their own right, the small hatch pool is shrinking as small SUVs continue to flood the market. So, value-for-money in this segment is more critical than ever.

The SX grade brings a solid range of standard features, including alloy wheels, bi-LED headlights (high and low beams in a single lamp), LED DRLs and tail-lights, front and rear fog lights, auto-retracting heated exterior mirrors, ‘premium’ faux leather-trimmed steering wheel and gearshift, rear and rear-side privacy glass, the 4.2-inch ‘Multi-Information’ display (in the instrument cluster), keyless entry and start, dual-zone climate control air, 8.0-inch colour multimedia touchscreen display, sat nav (with ‘Suna Live Traffic’), Qi wireless phone charging, and six-speaker audio (including DAB+ digital radio and wheel controls).

Taking centre stage of the interior is an 8.0-inch touchscreen.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility is notable by its absence, although the in-house ‘Toyota Link’ set-up syncs with iPhone and Android devices, bringing voice recognition, ‘Mobile Assistant’, ‘Siri Eyes Free’ and Miracast (Wi-Fi content sharing) with it.

The list of included active and passive safety features is impressively long, and we’ll cover the detail in the safety section. But suffice it to say the standard spec is high, including AEB (with pedestrian and cyclist detection), active cruise, lane-departure alert, auto high-beam and blind-spot monitor.

The Corolla Hybrid features a modified version of the powertrain found in the current, fourth-generation Prius.

A 1.8-litre ‘Atkinson Cycle’ petrol engine (2ZR-FXE) works in unison with a main electric motor to provide either combined petrol and electric drive to the front wheels or electric-only drive. Then there’s a second motor generator to recharge the hybrid battery.

The Atkinson Cycle is a modified version of the more conventional ‘Otto’ four-stroke combustion cycle. It uses altered inlet valve timing to create a situation where the compression ratio is less than the combustion ratio, which allows the fuel/air mixture’s ‘work’ to be fully expended.

Toyota claims a combined power figure of 90kW.

Short story is this car is around 30 per cent less powerful, but 30 per cent more fuel efficient than the conventional 2.0-litre petrol SX, which is why this engine design is so commonly used in hybrid applications.

The engine’s output is quoted at 72kW at 5200rpm and 142Nm at 3600rpm, while the main electric motor chips in with 53kW/163Nm. Toyota claims a combined power figure of 90kW, but is cagey (as always) when it comes to overall torque output.

An all-new, smaller ‘e-CVT’ transaxle sends drive to the front wheels, and Toyota claims it has been revised to reduce noise and vibration.

Claimed fuel economy for the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is a miserly 4.2L/100km, the Corolla Hybrid emitting just 97g/km of CO2 in the process. Which makes it 30 per cent more fuel efficient than the conventional 2.0-litre petrol SX

Over roughly 300km of city, suburban and freeway running we recorded 5.6L/100km, which is a pretty handy ‘real world’ result.

The other good news is the hybrid is perfectly happy running on 91 RON regular unleaded, and you only need 43 litres of it to fill the tank.

Safety is a big focus in the Corolla, and with the all-new, fourth-generation Mazda3 (due in April 2019) ready to raise the category bar for standard active and passive safety tech when it arrives next month, the SX’s specification becomes even more critical.

First up, the Corolla scored a maximum five ANCAP stars when it was assessed in August 2018, against the organisation’s most recent criteria.

Which means all the big-ticket safety boxes are ticked including AEB (with pedestrian and cyclist detection), active cruise (distance adjustable), lane-departure alert (with active steering guidance), auto high-beam and blind-spot monitoring.

Plus, there’s ‘Lane Trace Assist’, ‘Road Sign Assist’ (speed signs only), blind spot monitoring, a reversing camera (with fixed guidelines), ABS (with EBD and BA), stability and traction control, plus hill-start assist.

Worth noting all new Mazda3s will feature everything above plus driver attention monitoring, forward obstruction warning, rear cross traffic alert, and a tyre pressure monitoring system.

In terms of passive safety, the airbag count runs to seven (front, front side, full length curtain, and driver’s knee), which is parity with the upcoming Mazda3, and there are three child seat/restraint top tethers across the back seat with ISOFIX anchorage points in the two outer positions.