2009 Toyota Corolla

Cars

By Bill Visnic, Motor Matters

Last update: April 23, 2009 - 9:25 AM

Toyota makes few excuses about the price-to-value relationship on most of its mainstream models, but the 2009 Corolla probably is the best example in the company's showroom: it's not the most exciting car you'll drive, but if you can find a more broadly competent machine for the $18,453 as-tested price of the Corolla I drove, buy it.

Sometimes the auto-enthusiast crowd laughs at cars like the Corolla because they're bland and don't offer much in the way of driving feedback. I'll agree the Corolla's styling is about as intriguing as a cigar box.

And for the enthusiast set, driving exhilaration usually involves some kind of handling peccadillo that borders on uncontrollability. So if that's the yardstick of desirability, then the Corolla fails in that respect, too, because you couldn't find a car with more predictable responses.

What the Corolla lacks for the pure enthusiast is paid back in economy and value - crucial factors for people who drive just to get there, rather than for the experience of getting there.

How about 27 mpg in the city and 35 mpg on the highway from a car with a reasonable, if unambitious, 132 horses coming almost noiselessly from its sophisticated little 1.8-liter four-cylinder? There are cars in this class with bigger and better numbers, but the Corolla rarely feels underpowered, gliding along with a frictionless ease that usually has you rolling five or 10 mph faster than you think.

My test car also had what has to be the biggest steal in the auto industry: Toyota asks just $250 for the option of stability control, a safety "overlay" for the standard anti-lock brakes that helps prevent the car from skidding or fishtailing, a particularly useful feature in nasty weather.

You'd probably call the Corolla's interior a what-you-see-is-what-you-get proposition. The controls are logical and uncomplicated, and there are features that still aren't universal in this class of cars, including a tilt-and-telescope steering wheel and height adjustment for the driver's seat. I also appreciated the prominently placed AUX jack to plug in my audio device.

Interior materials are mostly what you'd expect from an $18,000 compact car - a fruit cocktail of stuff that's yummy (nice plastic on the center stack and upper dash) combined with some less-tasty ingredients such as the raw-looking plastic for the inserts surrounding the power-window switches.

Regardless of some stumbles in tastefulness, though, the Corolla's interior feels screwed and glued together with an inimitable tightness that is embodied throughout the car, underscoring the impression the Corolla is a value-laden transportation module designed to give numerous years of low-cost and unassuming service, leaving the excitement to something else in your life.

EPA fuel economy:

City: 27, Highway: 35

Base Price:

$16,650 (as tested, $18,453)

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