I'm here with the all-new 2019 Corolla hatchback now the reason that I say this
car is all-new is because it really doesn't share anything in common with
the Corolla sedan that's currently on sale here in the United States the
Corolla hatchback is based on the European version of the car which Toyota
calls the Auris and it rides on a brand new platform it rides on Toyotas global
architecture and it's an improvement in pretty much every single way over the
current Corolla sedan now under the hood of the Corolla hatchback is a new
2-liter four-cylinder and it makes a 168 horsepower that's a 31 horsepower
improvement over the outgoing Corolla I am in that car felt a bit sluggish but
this car doesn't the bigger changes to the powertrain for me actually come with
the transmissions there will be two available transmissions on the hatchback
a CVT or a 6-speed manual and both get changes that make them a bit more
drivable and a bit easier to live with starting with a CVT it is a CVT but at
the bottom of it is what we call a fixed gear so essentially what it has is a
first gear that behaves like a normal first gear in an automatic wood and that
gives it better off the line acceleration one of the big complaints
about CVT is that you have that rubber band you feel and they're really bad
from the stop however in the Kuril at hatchbacks is it has a fixed first gear
acceleration from a stop feels more linear and it makes the whole car feel
much more responsive now the bigger change for me comes from the 6-speed
manual in the Corolla I am you were also offered a 6-speed manual but it was not
a good one the clutch action was sloppy the throws were long the gates weren't
very good it was so bad that it actually made me prefer the automatic version in
this case it's been cleaned up the clutch action is a little bit more
linear and the gates are more well defined it's an easier manual to drive
and it comes with two features that you wouldn't necessarily expect from my
Toyota manual the first one is downshift rev-matching so when you're going from
like 3rd to 2nd gear or even 4th to 2nd gear the engine will rev up to match the
new gear and it makes it smoother when you're down shifting services it also
has some fuel benefits but we don't have actual fuel
economy numbers for the Kuril a hatchback yet so we'll have to see if
that's true the second feature which will be very welcome for some people is
an anti stall feature essentially what happens is if it feels the car is going
to stall in first gear it will actually bump up the revs on the engine slightly
so you don't stall and this is kind of perfect for those who are learning how
to drive manual and the Corolla hatchback might be the most friendly car
for beginners that I've ever driven
now how does the Corolla hatchback do in corners it does okay you can drive
circles around the Corolla sedan but it doesn't quite live up to sporty members
of this class like the Mazda 3 and I think the Civic is a little bit sharper
overall but on the right kind of road you can have fun pushing the Corolla
hatchback now the hatchback also comes with some new suspension technology
called active cornering assist and what that will do is it will actually use the
the brakes on the inside front wheel when you're coming into a corner to help
give you a better approach angle and will actually help to keep the car
flatter and prevent understeer as well
now another string for the Corolla hatchback would be styling because I am
wasn't a bad looking car but the Kohler hatchback
kind of takes it to the next level I especially like the treatment of the
front grille where there's this floating body color piece on the bottom that
helps to give the front dimension the whole package looks more aggressive
overall and even the big wing spoiler found on the XS II it doesn't overdo it
it actually matches the overall aesthetic of the car quite well now the
Corolla hatchback also gets a few interior upgrades as well an 8-inch
multimedia touchscreen is standard across both trim levels that would be
the SC and X SE and it does come with engine 3.0 - whether it is new
multimedia system that includes apple carplay and Amazon Alexa connectivity
and those are two features that we've been clamoring for for a long time in
Toyotas one other thing that I appreciate about the Corolla hatchback
is the actual placement of the screen it's pretty high in the dash so it's
easy for you to look at briefly while driving without taking your eyes too far
off the road and you can reach it from the driver's seat without having to lean
too far forward so I can just reach out and touch the far right side of the
screen without having to lean forward the dashboard design is very clean and
I'm a big fan of it there aren't too many controls I want Toyota has done is
they've pluster them all up pretty high so there's nothing you have to really
reach for down low besides the heat warmers all your climate controls are
right here and your multimedia controls are here X se models also add a 7-inch
digital display in the instrument panel and it's high resolution and easy to see
even in bright conditions like the ones that we have today
now the Corolla hatchbacks interior has one weakness it would be the backseat
Toyota actually hasn't released official specs and dimensions for the backseat
area yet but I can tell you that there isn't much legroom if I set up the seat
here where I want to drive and I'm 511 I can actually can't fit in the backseat
without putting my knees into the back of the front seat Headroom is good
though there's a some cutouts in the hood and the overall shape of the car
gives you a lot of air so you won't feel claustrophobic but there are no visible
air vents in the backseat either so the back of the center console just has a
small storage bin but no air vents no USB ports there's only two USB ports
one found up here under the dash and the other one here in the central storage
bin so there's no way if you're in the backseat for you to get air or to really
charge your devices and for someone like me who has a tendency to get kind of
motion sick that would make riding in the back
difficult now the Corolla hatchback also carries with it a few important safety
updates and that includes both new technology and updates to existing
safety technology Toyota has done a very good job of making safety features
standard across their whole lineup of vehicles so the last generation of coral
that did have standard features like adaptive cruise control automatic
forward emergency braking and lane keep assist but those technologies have been
refined in the Corolla hatchback and it would be the first Toyota to come with
what they're calling Toyota's safety sense 2.0 so two of those technologies
that are worth highlighting are updates to the adaptive cruise control and
updates to the lane cue system so the lane cue system before would keep you in
the lane but it didn't have any centering now it has centering so
instead of ping pong in from lane line to lane line it actually keeps you
firmly in the middle of that lane now the second innovation is the one that
I'm excited about is someone who lives in Los Angeles where stop and go traffic
is a norm the exact of cruise control will now take you all the way down to a
stop before it turned off at around 15 miles an hour which got annoying when
traffic got slow but in CVT foot models of the Corolla hatchback it'll take you
all the way down to zero now if you do opt for the manual it will still only go
down to fifteen because if you drop below that you'll need to change gears
anyway however it has one helpful feature and that is if you downshift
let's say you're on a hill and you're using the cruise control it will still
hold your speed but just do so at a lower gear now no official word yet on
pricing or fuel economy for the Corolla hatch but we assume that we'll get those
numbers closer to the cars on sale date in July of 2018
you