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Farming Motoring
Friday, May 8, 2020
www.guardianonline.co.nz
Corolla tradition rolls on M any tales unfold of frustrated golfers’ efforts over past weeks. A few that come to mind include: The Guardian’s senior reporter Sue’s story of a back lawn pitted with holes, a cracked garage window and golf balls being ‘misplaced’ on neighbouring properties. Pat Turton’s cattle quickly finding out that the safest spot to shelter in their paddock was as close as possible to Pat’s target bucket, placed some 200 metres from his favoured launching pad in the yard. The front lawn of a certain Pages Road property being almost smothered in golf balls – they were eventually picked up by a neighbour from two doors away who suggested he had chipped these over the house between. An upper Hakatere resident with his personalised elevated tee, followed by many return treks to recover balls from the riverbed. But now with the golf courses reopened, albeit with restrictions, there’s general sighs of relief – not just from said frustrated golfers but their wives, husbands, partners and perhaps even neighbours! So its back to loading the gear into the car or SUV. For some this maybe not now seem as easy as it was before. That’s where this smart-looking wagon comes to the party, with it’s high lifting rear door, low-floored load space and its ability with the rear seats folded (easily accessed levers to quickly do this) to hold up to 800 litres of golf bags, trundlers and/or other gear. But then, because of its compact dimensions/size, it’s certainly easy to park
and also doesn’t take up too much garage space. What’s more it has the same $29,990 drive-away price as the Hatch, although it comes with a 1.8-litre engine rather than the 2-litre, slightly more powerful one which both the Hatch and newly arrived Sedan get. This well-proven 1.8-litre produces 104kW at 6100rpm and 171 Nm at 3900rpm, which in conjunction with the seven-step, intuitive and seamless CVT provides a suitably keen performance, taking off quickly, and also quick for overtaking manoeuvres on SH1, even when fully loaded. The sequential shift function/sport
Roger Hart ROAD TEST
mode will most likely only be used for hill work. With the rev-counter showing 1800rpm while cruising at 100kmh, achieving the claimed overall fuel consumption of 6.8L/100km is realistic. While the Wagon is only available in GX specification, the test Wagon is dressed in optional TRD gear, including black 18inch wheels with wide Michelin 225/50 tyres (rather than the usual 15-inch alloys and 195/65 tyres) which are inclined to be noisy at times on the very coarse chip-seal. The Wagon, as do the other new Corolla models, sits on a new chassis with a sophisticated fully independent, front strut/rear wishbone suspension setup. This shows, for together with the precise steering this package ensures that whether about town, on the open road or through corners it always, irrespective of loading remains predictable, so is always very easy to drive. Getting in or out may not be quite as easy as doing so in a higher riding SUV, but the doors open wide and the seats are well placed to make this as easy as possible. Inside, the dash with its large touchscreen, equipment and controls mirror the Hatch’s comprehensive array, with the exception of sat-nav (it does have phone projection though).
There’s keyless entry, adaptive radar cruise control, road sign recognition, climate-air as well as the comprehensive safety package mentioned below. I liked the driving position as well as the shape and comfort of the seat, and while three people will fit in the rear seats, two are a much better fit. Toyota’s excellent Safety Sense active safety system includes a pre-collision system with autonomous emergency braking, lane departure alert with steering assist and rear cross traffic alert.
FINALE This easy, pleasant-to-drive, well-equipped and competitively priced Wagon just gets on with the job of carrying people or stuff about and doing exactly what you want it to. And of course is endowed with all the traditional Corolla values.
COROLLA GX WAGON ■■ Driveaway Pricing: $29,990. ■■ Engine: 1.8-litre four cylinder petrol - 104kW@6100rpm and 171Nm@ 3900rpm. ■■ Transmission: CVT, front-wheel drive ■■ Claimed overall fuel use: 6.8L/100km ■■ Turning circle: 10.00m. ■■ Size: Length - 4495mm. Height 1460mm. Wheelbase - 2640mm ■■ Warranty: 3years - 100,000 km ■■ Safety: Comprehensive ‘Safety Sense