2014 Corolla Test-Drive Review

It was on a recent Wednesday that would soon come to be known as the beginning of Winter Storm PAX that we found ourselves headed north on Capital Boulevard, past I-440 and then I-540 on our way to Leith Toyota in Raleigh. Thankfully it was about 11 in the morning, a scant two hours or so before the snow began to wisp about in front of bemused drivers.

Our mission was to review the 2014 Toyota Corolla. We had been in touch with the dealership for a few days to come in for a test drive, and we all agreed on Wednesday because it fit our schedules best. Little did we know that Mother Nature had a schedule of her own.

In any case, we arrived a few minutes before 11, and hurried inside the octagonal-shaped showroom to escape the cold. Stepping inside you would never have thought that winter was on its way. Sales professionals led people to and fro, pointing out features on the models parked in the expansive showroom, which had a cheery look thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows that wrapped around the enclosed space, and let in lots of natural light, cloudy though it was.

It was there that we met Cameron Moore, our sales guide with whom we’d arranged to drive the new Corolla. We were especially grateful for the modern, spacious showroom because it meant that we could get to know the Corolla without having to huddle together out in the freezing parking lot. Not exactly the best way to get to know another person or a car.

The 2014 Corolla S Plus was the model we had some to see, so we were pleased to find it parked inside, all shining with its silver exterior. There were several features that gave us the feeling that the Corolla is a very modern car, up-to-date with the small markings that we assume all new cars have, but are in fact signs of a more up-scale vehicle.

LED low beams in front provide exceptionally clear and far-throwing illumination without being excessively blinding to oncoming vehicles. Lights on the side mirrors help vehicles alongside better see when you’re about to turn or merge, and the carbon-fiber look of the bottom-most portion of the rear bumper gave a refined look to an often brushed-over area of a vehicle. Seventeen-inch wheel rims are a feature of the S Plus, and certainly gave the matte black and silver alloy rims a chunky, weighted feel that communicated the aspirational nature of the Corolla.

One feature that we especially appreciated was how you lock the car from the outside. Like many up-scale cars, the Corolla features a key fob that allows you to unlock, enter and start the car all without having to take the fob from your pocket. As long as the fob is with you or someone near you, the car knows when it’s appropriate to let you unlock or start the car. Putting your hand in the passenger’s door handle unlocks all doors; doing the same from the driver’s side unlocks only the driver’s door, a handy distinction if you don’t feel safe at the time.

But it’s the way to lock the car that really got us. There are two raised lines above the front door handles; swipe your finger across them and the door locks or unlocks. It’s that simple. No more searching in your pocket for the fob, then pressing the button. Just swipe and walk away. Very nice.

Now that we’ve checked out the exterior, we’re ready to move inside. Our sales guide Cameron started with the rear seats first, showing how either one or two seats can be folded forward if you have extra-long parcels that need to be stored in the trunk. This customizable seating configuration would come in especially handy if you could only enter through one side of the vehicle, but still needed maximum trunk space.

From there, built-in cup holders in the doors’ cubbies gave more options for storage, and the floor mats features stitching in the car’s blue accent color. This slight touch of color was a cheerful way to subtly contrast the darker interior colors of the mats themselves and seats, and we can imagine the alternative amber color would be an excellent choice, as well.

The rear and front seats supported us nicely, and showcased an interesting two-tone scheme with leather on the tops and sides, and mesh fabric down the middle. The reason for this, Cameron explained, is that fabric cleans much easier than leather.

Besides the front and side curtain airbags, we also noticed air bags located near the floor. These inflate under the legs to keep passengers or driver in a relaxed, extended posture during a collision. The reason for this is Toyota research which shows that in the event of a collision, people are actually less injured if their legs are kept from under them. It’s a cool safety feature that we haven’t noticed on many other cars, and earns the Corolla its feeling of exclusivity.

Now in the driver’s seat, the first thing we appreciate are the materials used on the center console and instrument panel. A glossy black gave the three levels of dashboard controls an elegant feel. Climate controls were simply manipulated via a row of push buttons and knob for temperature, and a central touchscreen let us scroll through the various software apps: navigation, traffic, eco, driving stats, connectivity, etc.

The touchscreen display in our Corolla also paired with the rearview camera so that when you shift into park, the screen shows a feed of what’s behind you. All of the toys we might have missed on the driveway can now be easily seen thanks to this modern safety feature.

We found it a snap to pair our smartphone wirelessly with the car’s audio system via Bluetooth, but even if we had not, a USB and 3.5 mm auxiliary jack would have made connection easy. Soon we had our contacts synced and music up and running, and Cameron pointed out the live radio rewind function that works similar to DVR.

Imagine that you’re driving along when the DJ puts your favorite song on the radio. All right! Now today is turning into your day! Just as you start to get pumped, however, your synced phone shows that an important call is coming through, one that you have to pick up. What are you going to do? No one can time travel through radio, right?

In the Corolla, you can. Either press the pause button, or just take the call like normal. Once you’re finished, you can either resume playing or rewind to the beginning of the song. Either way, your favorite song is preserved and you can go right back to your awesome day. Easy.

As we push the start button and shift into drive, Cameron shows that we can toggle between several drive modes. There’s regular as we are used to; there’s regular with sport mode engaged, which gives you longer revs and more torque; and there’s the smart-shifting which lets you shift gears similar to a manual transmission—just nudge the shifter forward to upshift or backward to downshift.

Smart-shifting with sport mode engaged gave us the most fun driving experience for the simple reason that we could always keep our rpm at 4,000, whether in turns or on the highway. Paddle shifters on the steering wheel allowed us to keep contact with the wheel as we shifted, but we preferred nudging the shifter, a personal preference in keeping with the manual transmission in our personal vehicle. The Corolla’s six-speed automatic transmission gave us the fun we hoped for without the business of having to push the clutch in as we would have had to in a manual. Plus, if we ever forgot to downshift as we came to a stop, the transmission did so for us.

Coming up on an entrance ramp to the highway, we had lots of fun blipping the throttle to keep our Corolla right on the edge, somewhere between four and six thousand rpms, feeling the body lean ever so slightly as the wheels maintained their grip just below the breaking point. The engine note was clearly discernible at levels that high, which is gratifying when you’re driving with spirit.

In normal driving mode, the Corolla completely took over and helped to eke every gas-saving mile out of our driving style. For most drivers the normal mode we’ll be exactly what you expect out of a car. The sound was barely noticeable while driving in this mode, which ensured a quiet cabin space that was perfect for conversation, phone calls, music listening, or contemplation of life’s existential mysteries. Were we to own a Corolla, however, you can bet that sport mode would be engaged with smart-shifting on permanently.

A final touch on the display’s apps let us see our driving statistics (miles traveled, average mpg, etc.) both for our trip today, and also back into the car’s history. This works similar to a trip odometer in that you can reset it at any time in case you want to measure performance with a fresh tank of gas or at the start of a road trip.

Our impressions of the 2014 Toyota Corolla were quite pleasant, and getting to drive the S Plus model gave us many, though not all, of the features we enjoyed most. Several more basic versions of the Corolla would still give us the swipe-locking, floor mat stitching and sporty shifting that we found most enjoyable, which lets us heartily recommend the 2014 Corolla.