Performance of Toyota Corolla – Diesel.

Exterior The car looked great.  My children and I preferred Metallic Grey as we felt the car looked like a robot in that colour.  I saw many people turn their heads to our direction whenever we drove.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) The seats looked great when I saw the through car from outside.  The seats are very spacious.  My son was very happpy because he could sit comfortably for longer time over a long distance.  He used to complain earlier when we had driven a smaller hatchback.  My daughter was in big smile when she travelled longer distance because there was no travel fatigue.  In summary, the quality of journey or comfort in Toyato Corolla has been Impeccable.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox I bought a new Diesel Corolla Altis (Model:  D-4D JS) in June 2015. In fact, I had booked for a Jetta Comfortline Diesel with a waiting time of 2 months; but after the waiting time, Jetta dealer said that I had to wait for another 8 months!!   Though disappointed, I spent two days to find an alternative to Jetta.   I narrowed my choice to Toyota Corolla. So, I called Annamalais Toyota located in Karur Dt, Tamil Nadu immediately  and expressed my tentative interest.  To my surprise, the Toyota Representatives brought a Corolla Diesel same day evening to my residence at Manapparai for a test drive.

I tested this car on a 40 km stretch of Trichy - Manapparai Highway. My  initial impression about engine performance was that the car was very comfortable in the speed range 100 - 130 kmph with good stability. I also drove the car in lower speeds at 40 kmph.  My conclusion was that it was a practical car meeting my requirements.  Toyota Representatives assured that the expected mileage would be about 20 kmpl. Since I normally drive in the range 100 - 120 kmph range and since I felt the car was practical I decided to buy the Toyota Corolla Altis. Needless to say the positive role played by Toyota Representatives also helped a lot to decide in favor of Toyota.

In the first two 2 months, I drove  my Toyota Corolla Altis car for about 2500 km. I was driving at a speed of 30 - 40 kmph locally and at a speed of 100 - 120 kmph on highways. The car was slightly sluggish in the top gear when I wanted to race from 80 kmph to 100 kmph in the sixth gear and the car was clicking a mileage of about 18.4 kmpl. However, the performance of the car began to improve  once I crossed 5000 km in my odometer. Meanwhile, I also understood the car better and began to shift the gear appropriately to the required speed. Since then, the car has been an absolute delight to drive. The car was  responding much better, after crossing 5000 km, and pickup from  80 kmph to 120 km was effortless in the same sixth gear. Now the car has been clocking 23.5 kmpl on highways and 18.5 on local roads thus giving 20.4 kmpl cumulative.  Once I competed with Jetta TDI on a Highway and I found my Corolla Diesel was responding with a speed of 140 kmph giving a mileage of 18 kmpl; I was shifting between 4th and 5th gear.

In Nov 2015, during my recent Diwali  trip from Manapparai, Trichy District to Salem, the car was loaded 75% full with the occupancy of 4 persons, including the driver, the car ran in rainy weather with a speed of 110-120 kmph. The car clicked a mileage of 21 kmpl.

The return trip from Salem to Manapparai  was in the morning hours with two persons and there was no  rain this time. I maintained a speed of 80-90 kmph. The car clicked 28.1 kmpl for a distance of 100 km up to Karur. (Unable to paste the picture that recorded 28.1 kmpl).  When I reached Manapparai, after completing about 190 km, the car clicked a mileage of 25.6 kmpl, which I consider extremely good. The odometer reading was about 7000 km.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride Quality is impeccable as I have very less drive fatigue over long distance travelling.

Final Words A luxurious car with good mileage.  The car can give respectable pick-up in the 4th and 5th gear as well as good mileage in the 6th gear.

Areas of improvement The Steering  of Corolla is not as responsive as Jetta. There is lot of scope to improve in this area particularly at low speed, 30 - 40 kmph. When I take the car for 10000 km service,  I hope this problem willbe addressed by Toyota Engineers.

1. Good Look, 2. Good Comfort, and 3. Great Fuel Economy.1.Not happy with the response of steering at 30 -40 kmph.