Toyota marks the official launch of the new Corolla Hatchback for North America, the one we recently saw in New York. We can already tell that it's going to be way more popular than the Chevy Cruze.
Ford just pulled most of its cars, including the Focus Hatchback. However, the spirit of Scion is still active within Toyota, as the company is now offering the most heavily styled blue hatchback in the world. If Thor Ragnarok were a car, it would look like this.
Dimensionally, the 5-door is 1.5 inches longer, 0.6 of an inch wider and 0.4in shorter than its predecessor. It's also based on that new Toyota platform, which means it rides much better and has a 60% stiffer chassis.
Under the hood, we now have a 2-liter 4-cylinder engine which is said to be lighter and more efficient than the old 1.8-liter. A car with double fake exhaust also deserves a fake CVT, as the gear-less auto has shifters behind the wheel. You can also get with a sporty manual that does rev-matching for you.
The unit delivers 168 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque, which makes it 31-hp more potent than the outgoing Corolla iM. However, the Civic Turbo and a couple of those Korean hatchbacks still offer more.
Fell in love with the car in the photos? That's the range-topping Corolla XSE, equipped with 18-inch wheels, LED fog lights, chrome front grille, and a body kit. The color, Flame Blue, has an 80's retro touch to it and is new for 2019, along with Blizzard Pearl, Silver Metallic, Midnight Black, Galactic Aqua Mica, Scarlet and Oxide Bronze.
Being the 12th generation of Corolla, Toyota has put a lot of effort into the interior. It looks good in black combination leather, and everything you touch is soft. There's powered seats, SiriusXM radio and an 8-speaker sound system from JBL. All we need now is some pricing information.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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