Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid review: frowny, friendly, frugal
Despite its grumpy face, the efficient Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid is as friendly as it gets
Lee Lilian &
Leow Ju-Len
TOYOTA announced boffo third-quarter results last week on the back of rising sales, and cars like the Corolla Cross Hybrid are why the Japanese giant still sells more cars than anyone. It may be as sexy as a refrigerator, but it delivers on all the things that people want from a family car.
The premise here is a straightforward one. Take a best-selling nameplate that everyone knows and add Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) genes, plus a liberal dash of hybrid frugality. Since SUVs are currently hot and fuel is expensive, the Corolla Cross rides the crest of a big, fat wave where two market trends collide. I expect cowabunga sales.
Despite the rugged looks, don’t expect to venture far into the wild green yonder in it. The Corolla Cross sits on jacked up suspension to give you an elevated view of the road ahead, and not so it can tiptoe over boulders. As a bonus, you can slide on board without hearing your knees click.
The big frowny grille and squinty headlamps give it the face of something that just bit into a bad oyster, but the Corolla Cross is really about motoring at its friendliest. In classic Toyota fashion, you can slip behind the wheel and figure things out in moments.
Some of the displays and infotainment functions require a deeper dive into various menus, but after a bit of playing around with the buttons on the steering wheel or jabbing at the 8-inch touchscreen, you pretty much feel like you’ve nailed the controls.
One menu does throw up an assortment of bewildering acronyms like PCS, RSA, AHB and what look like spoonfuls of alphabet soup. They refer to all manner of safety and driver aids, and though it’s possible to switch them off selectively, I can’t see anyone wanting to do so. Besides, there are eight airbags, so this is a car that really wants to keep you alive.
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While the abundance of safety features is a bonus, the Toyota is all about excelling at the quotidian stuff. The airy cabin, with its soft leather seats, powerful air-con and highly effective noise insulation, is a comfortable place to be. There’s plenty of space in the back of the car, and the boot is both large and nicely-shaped.
The handling might be squidgy, but the suspension serves up a supple ride. This is a car meant to slow the heart rate, not raise it, so it’s at its best when driven gently, anyway.
The loudest thing you’ll hear are the tyres when some surfaces make them rumble, because the engine is hushed and unobtrusive, as if shy about burning fuel. That’s not far from the truth, given that the Corolla Cross is a hybrid designed to think of petrol the way a bride-to-be looks at ice-cream.
It leans heavily on an electric motor so the engine does as little work as possible, and its battery is simply topped up when you slow down or when the engine can spare a bit of energy.
That means it needs a claimed 5.3 litres to cover 100 kilometres, which is seriously frugal for a car this size. A bit of careful driving could see you eke out even better fuel economy than that. The trip computer said I averaged 4.1 L/100 km by the time I returned the car, or nearly 23 per cent better than the claim.
Doing so made me feel like Captain Planet, only without the green hair and blue skin. While heroes come in all forms (and apparently, colours), the family car market is better off for having a hybrid of this shape and size in it.
Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid
Engine 1,987cc, in-line 4
Power 150 hp at 6,000 rpm
Torque 190 Nm at 5,200 rpm
Gearbox CVT
Electric Motor 111 hp/206 Nm
System Power 198 hp
0-100km/h 7.7 seconds
Top Speed 180 km/h
Fuel Efficiency 5.3 L/100km
Agent Borneo Motors
Price S$178,488 with COE
Available Now
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