The Toyota Corolla has topped the popularity polls in South Africa for an amazing 22 consecutive years.
However, since Toyota puts the RunX hatchback and the Verso mini-wagon under the same umbrella as the Corolla sedan, this top of the pops claim may be a little skewed. Nevertheless, the point is made — the Corolla and its derivatives sell more than any other car in South Africa.
The Corolla is not an exciting car. Its reputation is built on its dependability and affordability, but I don’t think it rates highly in the wow factor stakes.
It’s not really a ‘Dear-diary-guess-what-I-bought-today!” kind of car. It’s more like a ‘chores-for-today” entry: Tuesday — do grocery shopping, take dog for shots, buy Toyota Corolla, collect dry cleaning.
In all fairness, though, in recent years the Corolla has certainly moved up the evolution scale. A couple of years ago Toyota increased the car’s physical dimensions and reduced noise and vibration levels.
In certain models little luxuries were added, such as electric windows and remote electronic side mirrors, leather seat inserts and a multi-function trip computer.
Toyota also made some dramatic safety improvements, including ABS brakes, and driver’s side and front passenger side airbags.
Now Toyota has given the Corolla a bit of a facelift, and the 180i GLE has been replaced by the 180i GLS.
The cosmetic tweaks include a new grille and bumper up front, and new tail-light clusters behind. Five new metallic colours have also been added to the whole Corolla line-up.
The interior has also seen changes, which include a six-disc CD shuttle with steering wheel remote controls, a front passenger airbag and passenger seatbelt pre-tensioner.
I drove the new 180i GLS for a few days, subjecting it to a day in the life of a working mother.
I found the GLS to be spacious, with all the gadgets I needed, and while it was fast enough to get me to all my appointments on time, it was gutless enough to need gear changes to get up long hills, as is generally the case with all physically big cars with anything less than two litres under the bonnet.
Apart from that, there’s nothing spectacularly memorable about the Corolla. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Who needs the wow factor when you’re stuck in peak hour traffic with a car full of school kids, anyway?
The 180i GLS looks and feels like a big comfortable family car. It bears absolutely no resemblance to the box on wheels that rattled from one house to the next when I used to tag along with my estate agent mom.
Over the years, the Corolla has evolved, slowly but surely, into a rather classy sedan without the classy price tag.
Th 180i GLS will chomp an acceptable R169 000-sized hole in your wallet. The price includes a five-year/90 000km service plan and a three-year/100 000km warranty.