Review of 2022 Toyota Corolla Hybrid with automatic (CVT) transmission - via 2 day rental in Southern Europe

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I had to get a rental car for a couple of days to see some sights near but not in Lisbon, Portugal.  For others, public transit such as the Metro worked well … or even better.

Overseas, you want to land on deals that wrap all the insurance coverages into the deal and this was one such package – and one you want in a European capital.  Surprisingly, the traffic wasn’t all that, bad but the roads outside the belt roads aren’t as clear and neither is Google Maps.

To that end, I ordered something with an automatic transmission.  The invoice said I’d be getting a Toyota Corolla Hybrid or similar.  That’s what I was given.

I don’t know how they manage over there with cars the size of Mercedes.  I had to do some maneuvering to get the car around other cars and the concrete pillars in the rental agency parking garage.  The Corolla is large enough to make for a comfortable ride an American can live with, but didn’t fit everywhere I needed it to.

The best thing about the Corolla Hybrid is its predictability and ease of getting used to it, including setting it all up with one’s portable devices before taking off.  The car is (virtually) identical to the one sold in the U.S. and Canada.  As you pull out of the airport and to explore, the feeling is familiar.  That means that the ride and handling are controlled, and even pleasant.  I first sampled this on the highway ring road that passes by Lisbon’s airport and which funnel onto and over their grand suspension bridge since I was staying on the south shore.  Before I did that, I went on some side roads to see a lookout point which was difficult to find and was one of the strangest places you might ever see function as a lookout point … an abandoned reinforced concrete hotel-restaurant covered in graffiti, but it was teeming with locals and visitors alike.  On the city’s two-lane roads with some imperfections, the ride and handling weren’t as serene, but certainly good enough.  As with its gasoline powered version, it’s a reliable and pleasant vehicle, but not an exciting one.

Upon arriving at the hotel, checking in, and writing down the information about the car that would be parked there, the hotel front desk employee told me he had one and that it has been very reliable.  I’m not surprised.

The build quality is good.  It’s not as substantial as a Camry, but the assembly appears to be every bit as good.  I’m referring to how door panels materials meet, how the seat upholstery is laid out, and also the look of some parts that appear to be stitched.  Fortunately, the dashboard is more user friendly than that of the Camry and lacks that annoying diagonal where the console meets the cubby for electronic devices below the infotainment and climate control panels.

The powertrain gets mostly good marks from me.  The engine is up to the task, picking up briskly enough from a light and even good enough for mid-speed and high-speed passes. Since the locals drive faster and more rowdily than I do, I only needed to put the car through that task on a few two-lane roads.  The engine is hushed enough, but not so much when the throttle is opened up.

Unlike the geared automatic transmission in the Camry, which is a long standing and refined unit, the Corolla goes utilizes a CVT.  It’s better than others and certainly better than the one I first drove, such as in a Nissan Altima of the mid-2010s, where the spooling out and hunting were common.  Not so with the CVT on today’s Corolla.

Ride and handling are one thing.  Noise is another.  On today’s more expensive cars, all three tend to be thoroughly addressed.  With the Corolla Hybrid, the wind noise and tire thum at highway speeds were acceptable, but more audible than that of larger Toyotas such as Camry and Avalon.

This model was a 5-door hatchback, so it’s much like a sedan with an expanded and squared off back.  I’d be lying if I said this is an attractive vehicle.  The front has the typical Toyota vocabulary which many have come to dislike over the years.  The sculpting and chunkiness of the side view isn’t the most harmonious and the rear view is utilitarian.

While the graphics and controls on the dashboard are easy to use, the hybrid graphics can be a mixed bag.  They are more informative than those of the simpler green ones on the Honda Accord Hybrid, in that they show how the power is being made, stored, and transferred.  However, they can also come off as busy as you try to understand and conceptualize what’s going on.

The seating was comfortable and most vantage points provide decent visibility.  The car’s interior was also roomy and the cargo area, which is covered, also had sufficient trunk space which could be expanded by folding down the rear 60-40 seats. 

The fuel economy was good.  I was a little spoiled and surprised by the mileage of the more refined and larger Honda Accord Hybrid.  In all fairness, it could have been that the Honda Accord Hybrid was driven on South Florida interstates, turnpikes, and large wide boulevards with signaled intersections spaced far apart.  With this car, it was on a more go-go and smaller European highways, two lane roads where conditions varied, and small and not so well-kept streets in Lisbon and small towns near it.

We all know the Toyota Corolla is a reliable vehicle that approaches heirloom status.  However, in deciding between its positive attributes and the few things I didn’t like about it, and which other people may weigh differently, that personal weighing is how the decision to purchase one might go.  Either way, it would never be a mistake to buy a Toyota Corolla Hybrid.

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PHOTOS FORTHCOMING

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EXTERIOR PHOTOS

General side view

Front angled view

Rear angled view; this shows the chunkiness of the transition from the rear door to the liftgate area

Close-up of rear liftgate; I believe opening it required lifting the Toyota logo ... I've seen that gimmick with other brands and it's sort of cool

Dropping it off into a rental car parking structure that is a little cramped! This photo was interesting because the door colors look different to me or it's the lighting at work over the sculpted lines of the side profile.

[trinacriabob]

INTERIOR PHOTOS

The dashboard made sense and a symmetrical one is always easier to deal with; there is no highly defined cubby at the front of the console that would hold personal devices without some sliding around

 

Straightforward console and shifter, just as if it were a conventional geared automatic transmission - I have seen some that, even if they have dials or other mechanisms, aren't that simple to use 

The seating was comfortable and here you can see some of the detail of the fabric and the stitching, as well as the two cupholders and the armrest, under which there is a console box ... many functions are moving to consoles, either through buttons or tabs you push down/pull up

The rear seat room is about average and there are air conditioning vents to the rear

That's what the rear pillar looks like, but, surprisingly, it wasn't too bad to see around when maneuvering; when I get into cars, I always push down all the headrests as much as possible, such as to the right of this photo

This is what the trunk looks like with the liftgate open and you can see that the cover is integral and attached, which is how it should be

Obviously, this trunk area has the protective surface cover, which is great for luggage and hard objects, and it can be expanded by pushing forward the 60-40 rear seat you see in the back

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END OF PHOTOS

Edited September 6, 2023 by trinacriabob