Toyota Corolla Axio

	Toyota Corolla Axio
	Debut: 2012 Maker: Toyota Predecessor: Corolla Mk10

Published on 12 Sep 2013

The world's most popular nameplate has reached another milestone! In July, Toyota built the 40 millionth Corolla, leaving Volkswagen Golf (30 million units) further behind. 40 million people can't be wrong, so this must be the world's best affordable car? Of course not. As you might have observed, the world's most popular car is also the least popular among automotive journalists. When was the last time you heard it topped a comparison test? 1966 I think? Yes, the Corolla is that hateful to car journalists. The fact that it sells so well is purely down to its low cost, high practicality and reliability as well as Toyota's good after sales services. Its success has nothing to do with how the car looks, sounds and feels, because it has long been known for conservative, boring and dynamically mediocre. Like a white appliance, you talk about functions and price rather than fun or desirability.

How about the latest, 11th generation Corolla? To answer this question, we must first identify which Corolla you mean. Unlike before, this generation actually consists of 2 different cars. The Japanese version, sold in only its home market and (unfortunately) Hong Kong, is a smaller and cheaper car. The world version, to be available in America, Europe, China and South East Asia among others, is larger and probably a bit more interesting. We will leave the latter to another article later on. Now let's concentrate on the domestic version.

Two things you may observe from these pictures. First, the new Japanese Corolla looks even more boring than the last generation. Its glasshouse is more upright, losing the sleekness that the last generation introduced. Its front grille, headlights and taillights have no style to speak of. The body sides lack any kinds of crease lines or shoulders. It is so bland that you can't help feeling it gets cheap – both cheaper to design and cheaper to build. Another thing you will find is that the car gets smaller. It is 50 mm shorter than the old Japanese version. Although the wheelbase remains unchanged at 2600 mm, it is now the shortest in the class. Ditto the 1695 mm body width, which is still dictated by the domestic tax rules. A new Volkswagen Golf, for example, is 104 mm wider. No wonder it cannot afford a proper shoulder line.

Both the reduced size and cheapened looks point to the opposite direction of market trend. I believe Toyota had a lot of boardroom debates before making the decision. In the last generation, it attempted to inject some sportiness to the design to lure back young drivers. Unfortunately, this did not work. Domestic sales numbers show that the Corolla slid to 5th place in the car sales chart excluding K-cars in 2011, registering just over 70,000 sales, while the best selling Prius outsold it by nearly 4 to 1. As a response, Toyota decided to skip the young people strategy and return to the no-frills philosophy. As there was little hope to improve its domestic sales, it decided to boost profit by cutting costs and building the 11th generation on the smaller B-platform which underpins small cars like Vitz / Yaris and Ractis. This explains why the new car looks downgraded in every way. It also signals a divorce from the overseas version, which continues to sit on C-segment platform.

Using the smaller platform means the new car no longer needs to reserve space for fitting double-wishbone rear suspension for certain models. In addition to the upright body profile and thinner seatbacks, it manages to squeeze out an additional 40 mm of rear legroom. There is plenty of head and legroom for four regular-size adults, especially thanks to the nearly flat rear floor. The 3-box saloon's ("Corolla Axio") 471-liter boot is also a lot larger than those of Golf and other family hatchbacks. The estate version (Corolla Fielder) is larger still. Nevertheless, the cabin looks just as cheap and boring as the exterior. The console looks so aftermarket, the switchgears feel cheap and the fake wood trims are dreadful. It sounds like orientated to emerging markets.

Predictably, such a no-frills, conservative car is not going to be exciting to drive. Its drivers, supposed to be in 40 or 50 years old, will be pleased with its light and calm (numb) steering, small turning circle and soft ride. It is as easy to drive as any small cars. On the downside, there is really no communication between the man and machine. Its body control, grip and brakes are to be rated near the bottom of the class. The powertrain also lacks sparkles. The entry-level model is equipped with 95 hp 1.3-liter Dual-VVT-i engine whose performance is marginal. Most people would choose the 109 hp 1.5-liter VVT-i, but this engine is rather old thus no longer shines in both output and refinement. Manual gearbox is available in Japan, but by far the majority will opt for the CVT, which is refined as long as you are light on throttle.

To save the game, Toyota added Hybrid version to Corolla last month. Its whole powetrain, consisting of an Atkinson-cycle 1.5-liter engine, electric motor, CVT and boot-mounted NiMH battery, is transplanted straight from Aqua (Prius C), so performance and fuel consumption should be close. The Aqua looks funkier and have a useful hatchback, while the Corolla Hybrid might appeal to conservative buyers and fleets. That said, I don't think it can offset the inherent problems of the car. Having seen it many times on streets, I still can't get over its cheap and ugly appearance. It could be a big strategic mistake.

Verdict: