A Superior Household Appliance?

Appearance is pleasing

On a recent tour of FNQ* I had the opportunity to spend a week driving a hired Toyota Corolla. 

It was the barebones hire car version, but nevertheless was equipped with just about every conceivable feature, some more useful than others. Apple Carplay was extremely useful, especially as I have become used to what you can do with it based on experience with the CX-3.

Toyota interior finish is solid

We are in the habit of watching the ABC's Insiders on Sunday, and we were able to do this on the iView App playing on the audio. Sound is all you need on a panel show, and I was surprised how well the signal held despite negotiating at the time the convoluted and relatively remote Palmerston highway.

One feature I did not appreciate was the lane keep assist. It seemed to kick in over 60 kph as we headed North from Townsville, and nearly drove me bonkers as we proceeded along the Bruce Highway. It is supposed to prevent the car wandering out of its lane, but seemed to cantankerously want to take over the steering at the most inconvenient times. My guess is that it is engineered for your well-designed dual carriageway, and there aren't too many of these in FNQ. 

Plenty of space here

I pulled over, grabbed the driver's handbook and figured out how to turn it off. this transformed the car, and made it almost enjoyable to drive. Even the CVT (which I did not appreciate at first) managed to be in the right gear most of the time, and actually provided quite respectable engine braking in the mountains.

Full size alloy spare is a bonus

The seats were comfortable, the road noise less intrusive than in the Toyo Kogyo competition, and it was very economical. We saw 6 lit/100km cruising. It seemed to handle a lot better than Corollas I have previously driven, and is a little bit further along a continuum with household appliances at one end, and fun driving machines at the other.

I don't know that I could ever own one, but it was a very pleasant little thing, and served our purposes well across a wide variety of roads and conditions.

Eight out of ten I reckon....

*Far North Queensland - generally North of Cardwell.