Distance: 89km
Location: Vancouver
Date: June 2, 2018
Up front: I’ve been in plenty of same-generation Corollas and I can say that I’d rather drive the Corolla than whatever this is. The little gear shifter on the centre control stack is hard to reach, the seats are terrible, and everything is scratchy hard plastic. I get it: it’s a cheap car. But if I wanted to be treated poorly I’d run to a Hyundai dealership and torture myself with an Accent. Toyota is supposed to show us that even economy cars can be well-designed despite its cheap materials.
In the back: It’s not quite a hatchback and not quite a saloon. It has the utility of a rear hatch but not the practicality of a box-shaped cargo area. You’ll need to fold the rear seats down to make use of the cargo space for anything more than backpacks and groceries. It’s best to treat this as a flex sedan that can seat four adults around town or two on a holiday. You have to be heartless to be a family of four and intend to put kids in the back regularly. It’s not that great back there.
Driving: Its small size is supposed to make it easy to park, but the weird rear hatch makes it difficult to see out the back. Its hybrid powertrain is supposed to be good for the environment, but the regular Prius has better fuel economy. Its short wheelbase is supposed to make it easy to navigate in the city, but it doesn’t have enough power to get off the line when the traffic lights turn green. I don’t know who this car was made for.
