2021 Toyota Corolla Hybrid

ELANA SCHERR: The 2020 Toyota Corolla's redesign has been a surprise hit, winning over even die hard Corolla naysayers. Does the hybrid version maintain that new fun energy, or is it just a Prius in a different outfit? We're in Savannah, Georgia to find out. Before we do though, head over to edmunds.com for all your hybrid shopping needs. The redesigned Corolla is lower, a little bit wider, a tiny bit longer than the outgoing generation. It's a pretty distinctive style. I mean it certainly isn't what you would think of when you think Toyota Corolla design. Whether you like it or hate it, it's kind of cool looking. It's got this big grill. It has these very distinctive headlights, and that's on all of the different trim levels. It has fender flares. They look a little bit dorky with these small 15-inch wheels that are on the hybrid version, but they look cool with the optional 18-inch wheels that are on the upper trim levels. Speaking of the upper trim levels-- Toyota calls them the sport models-- they have aero on them. This is not your old Corolla. We are driving the back roads of Savannah, Georgia. It's very pretty here. I recommend it for a vacation spot. I recently reviewed the Toyota Corolla Hatchback with a manual and the two liter, and I totally surprised myself. I think I surprised everyone, because I got out of it and was like, I kind of love it. It's super fun. In fact, the edit team actually made fun of me, because they were like, if you played a drinking game on how many times you said fun in your hatchback video, we'd all be wasted. That fun adjective doesn't quite apply as much to the hybrid version. So why is a Hybrid not as much fun as the two liter? Well, some of that's obvious. It's a 1.8 liter hybrid engine rated at 121 horsepower versus the two liter which is rated at 169. More is better. Another thing is the transmission. It's an e-CVT transmission, which is nowhere near as much fun as the six-speed manual that I drove in the hatchback. The hybrid-- you can only get in what is basically the LE trim level, which is sort of just in the middle. It has a similar infotainment system to the upper trim levels. It has all of the safety stuff, but the interior isn't quite as fancy. And you can't get a two liter. At slower speeds, I feel like the 1.8 liter engine in the hybrid Corolla is pretty great. I mean it responds pretty quickly. You can move away from a traffic light with, you know, not noticing-- not feeling like you're in a slow vehicle. However, I did notice a difference on the highway between this and the higher horsepower two liter engine that's a non hybrid upper trim level Corolla. And that is when you're actually on the highway, and you want to go fast, and you floor it. It takes a really long time to get to passing speed, so that kind of bums me out. The drive train that's in the hybrid Corolla is the exact same one that's in the Prius. So if you've driven a Prius, and you're fine with that performance level, then you will be equally fine with the Corolla. So why would you get the hybrid instead of, say, the two liter six speed manual? 52 miles per gallon combined city and highway driving. That is exactly the same as the Prius. So then why would you get Corolla versus Prius, or why would you get Prius versus Corolla? Well, they're different cars. Toyota says that it expects sort of a different audience for the different cars. I mean, if you've ever been in a Prius, it's got all these gauges, and displays, and stuff that tell you how many turtles you're saving. And the Corolla is like a little more low key about the mileage, and it's really more like you're saving a lot of money. The hybrid feels different. One reason is the wheels. Hybrid gets 15-inch wheels versus-- well, there's an optional 18-inch wheel on XSE. But even the normal LE trim gets a 16-inch wheel. So the hybrid has a very small wheel, and I feel like that translates into more road noise, which is unusual. Normally, it's a bigger wheel that gives you more of an uncomfortable ride, but I definitely feel the bumps more in the hybrid than I did in the other trim level. Toyota's been working a lot on cabin comfort, both in the seats, and the seating position, and the visibility-- all of which, great. They've also been working on, sort of, road noise and cabin noise. They were very specific in their press release, talking about all of the NBH. That stands for noise, vibration, and harshness. I feel like there's still a lot of wind noise. Maybe it was worse before. Toyota is doing an awesome job of making safety standard all up and down the line. Even if you're buying the most affordable entry level Corolla, you still get fairly high tech safety stuff like pedestrian warning and lane assist. And, you know, that stuff is great. Everybody deserves to be safe when they drive. There are a lot of features on the Corolla that you used to only find on luxury cars like adaptive cruise control. So you can just set it, and it pays attention to whatever's in front of you. And then it has like a fairly smart lane monitoring system, as well. It doesn't just track the painted lines. It can actually tell if the side of the road is grass or something, and it can steer for you and make little adjustments to keep you centered in the lane. Just an FYI, I friggin hate that. It is so wrong feeling. Not into it. But, you know, whatever. If you're into it, it works. I already talked a lot about how, in general, the redesigned Corolla's interior is really nice. The upper trim levels are particularly amazing, but even this, which is the LE trim, has a lot of interesting different colors happening. And these seats are very comfortable. They're two-tone cloth. It's all right. The dash and the infotainment display are both a bright digital display. They're very easy to read. They're full color. The dash display will tell you the different drive modes-- a power mode. There's an eco mode. And then there's an EV mode, which is really only for like tootling around like in a parking lot at very slow speed. Like, it automatically goes off if you go faster. Another thing that Corolla shows you in the dash display is all of the safety stuff. So if you've got like the lane assist stuff on-- if you've got adaptive cruise control, it'll show you that it's on. It also can read the signs like stop signs, and speed limits, and stuff. And it will flash those. So it's not a GPS based system. It's actually seeing traffic signs and reporting them to you on the dash here, and it's pretty cool. Toyota's infotainment is much improved, especially in how it looks. 8-inch screen is standard on all of the trim levels except the very base, which gets a 7. I feel like there's too many buttons that kind of all go to maybe the same thing, and it's always asking you questions that you're like, that's irrelevant. No, I don't want that. But once you get it figured out-- like, if you owned the car, you would be able to do pretty much anything. In general, controls are all extremely easy to get to-- actual knobs for temperature control-- actual knob for volume control, spectacular-- And shifter in the console. Drive modes are down here, which totally makes sense-- as well as parking brake and a hill assist hold. There are two cup holders. They're pretty small. There's one phone holder way up here in the front, which to me is a little bit far away from the driver, but I guess you're not supposed to be looking at your phone anyway. There's one USB port in the front that actually would connect to the Apple CarPlay. No Android Auto, sorry. There's another USB port in the console here. It's a small console charging USB port and a 12 volt. It will hold a little water bottle at an angle, and then there's some storage compartments in the door. Not huge, but pretty much all you need. I mean, what? Are you living in here? Backseat is spacious. I mean, granted, the seat is all the way up here, but even over here I'd have plenty of room. Middle seat isn't even that uncomfortable. If you're sitting over here, a cup-- all right, that's a little bit wonky. The other thing is, you know that pretty roofline-- how it swoops down? Well, you pay for all that beauty, because not a whole lot of headroom over by the edges. The hybrid interior isn't as pretty as some of the other trim levels, but it has all the same functionality. Earlier, we asked, is the Corolla Hybrid just a Prius in a different outfit? And with the same hybrid synergy system as the Prius and similar driving characteristics, the answer is basically yes it is, but it's a more stylish outfit. And if you're interested in getting a car that gets great gas mileage, but you're not interested in living that Prius lifestyle, the Corolla is a good option. If you liked this video, subscribe. And follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.