Toyota GR Corolla VS Corolla Hybrid Hatch: Opposite Spectrums Clash
What if I told you that you would be thoroughly surprised if you were to put the All-New Toyota GR Corolla and the Toyota Corolla Hybrid Hatch next to each other?
The truth is, you will be, but don’t expect a drag race between the two because that is not what this is about.
With the All-New Toyota GR Corolla recently being launched here on our local soil we can all agree that it has been a long time coming and that the excitement fills the air. South Africa has sadly over the past years experienced a lackluster of performance Hot-Hatches being introduced into the market, so whenever a new neck-breaking hatch touches our shores, it is truly a means to celebration.
Now I could go on about this, but the GR Corolla will have an article of its own. What I want to talk about is the comparison to a model lower, that sits on the complete opposite side of the spectrum in terms of the kind of car you buy.
The Toyota Corolla Hybrid Hatch.
The entire Corolla Line-up is great, and not taking the GR derivative into consideration here, the Hybrid sibling is the one that sticks out and deserves way more recognition than it currently has. Now I do enjoy cars in general and come across a handful that I fancy, but for me to fall in love with a car over a testing period of a week is rare, and to my surprise, I fell in love with the Toyota Corolla Hybrid Hatch.
Here is why:
You may get a shock to hear what I'm about to say, but this Japanese Hatch, definitely gives its German counterparts a good run for their money and I mean it both literally and figuratively.
The Toyota Corolla Hybrid gets an interior that just fills you with Joy to be in because, on top of being fuel efficient, you get a cabin that just feels very well put together with a really sporty persona.
For seating comfort, you get attractive bucket-style seats with a mixture of suede and leather as the materials of choice, which I will say, feels awesome. Not only is it a comfortable place to be seated, thanks to the use of suede, you get kind of a grippy sensation giving an extra sense to being safely secured. Let’s not forget this either, they are also heated!
Tech-wise you will find two digital displays, one housing your cluster, and the other being your infotainment screen. Both of these screens are of exceptional quality, to the point where I could use terms such as “high refresh rate” to explain the buttery smooth transitions you will witness when making use of the screens. The infotainment system itself is user-friendly with very quick responses when in use, which leads me to tell you that this is where the Hybrid sibling triumphs over the Toyota GR Corolla.
Surprisingly the GR derivative does not get screens that are as pleasing to look at.
Yes the GR is a performance-based machine and the digital cluster gives you more of a track layout display to it, but turn over to the infotainment system, and your jaw may want to drop.
The infotainment setup feels outdated especially when you put the Hybrid and the GR next to each other.
This in turn, kind of puts me off, I would have much preferred to see the utilization of the Corolla Hybrids infotainment system in the GR Corolla, which is not the case for some countries, but in South Africa so far, it is.
Exterior wise you get a car that is simply good-looking, and that is what I enjoy about Toyota as a manufacturer. They introduce a great product and then over the years they progressively perfect it.
I truly believe that the shape and styling of the Corolla range has and will continue to live the test of time and be relevant for the handful of years to come.
Ride comfort is also a big thing, The Toyota Corolla Hybrid hatch is definitely one of the most comfortable hatchbacks I’ve driven and tested to date.
This still tends to blow my mind because when you look into it, you get low-profile tires on 18-inch rims for the XR model, which will lead you to assume that, “Okay I can expect to feel the road on this”, but in turn it is the complete opposite.
The driving sensation you get is comfortable and relaxing, which leads me to conclude that the build quality of the Corolla Hybrid is superb, so Kudo’s to Toyota for getting that right!
Performance and Economy:
Now, the Toyota Corolla Hybrid hatch is not that Monsterous 221 kW, 360 Nm GR-Four, 1.6 Turbocharged 3 cylinder, tire shredding machine that is the GR Corolla, but it is almost just as entertaining.
The reason why I say this is because instead of urging you to go pedal to the metal to feel that adrenaline, the Hybrid sibling urges you to drive economically, and with that being said, it is quite entertaining and somewhat of a game. You will want to monitor your driving habits through the integrated monitoring system, and you just feel that sense of accomplishment once you get that right.
Toyota claims that you can do fuel-sipping figures of just 4.0l/100km combined and they don’t lie about that. I will vouch for it because I’ve done just that figure, but in order to get there it does require you to know and understand the Hybrid system.
The Hybrid setup is not simply to get into EV Mode as often as you can, though it does play a big role and you should. But you are restricted to a speed of 60 km/h before it will engage the Internal Combustion Engine. Once you understand the Hybrid System you will notice that if you are driving in Eco Mode you can engage the electric motor at higher speeds when you finesse the accelerator, which can drastically reduce your fuel consumption.
The Toyota Corolla Hybrid Hatch must not be mistaken to be a slouch either.
You get a fair amount of power to the front wheels thanks to a powertrain that is equipped with a 1.8 Naturally aspirated petrol engine producing 103 kW and 142 Nm, which may not sound like a lot, but with the integration of the electric motor you get quite a nippy hatch that is more than capable of easy overtakes on long-distance traveling.
Conclusion and Price:
The Toyota Corolla Hybrid Hatch that I have been raving on about is priced at R583 100 at the time of writing this article.
Which at first may sound like a lot for a hatchback, but in comparison to its closest German competitor’s “base-price” which is priced just shy of R56 000 more than the fuel-sipping Hybrid, I will say that the Toyota Corolla Hybrid hatch is a car to look at and test-drive for yourself if a hatchback is your style of choice.
Niki Louw - Proudly ALL THINGS MOTORING
