The typical electric vehicle costs about 40% more than an otherwise comparable vehicle with an engine. Plus, it costs a lot — about $50,000 on average — regardless. So it's hard to make an economic case for an EV.
Or a practical one, given that the typical EV can only travel about 250 miles before it runs out of charge and requires you to stop and wait for at least 20-30 minutes to recover a partial charge.
It's much easier to make a case for the hybrid Toyota Corolla. It only costs about $1,450 more than an otherwise identical (just non-hybrid) Corolla, and it doesn't cost much, regardless — just $23,500 to start, about half the cost of a typical new EV.
You also get a lot for the little extra you pay.
How's about 20 mpg more than you get with the non-hybrid Corolla?
Pretty good, right?
What It Is
The Corolla is Toyota's entry-level sedan and one of the bestselling cars ever made. Probably in part because even though it's a compact car on the outside, it's spacious enough inside to work as a small family car and not just a commuter car. It also has an established track record of reliability and durability.
The hybrid version adds 53 mpg (in city driving) to the mix, and it's only about $1,500 more to start for the base LE trim ($23,500) than you'd pay for the essentially-the-same, non-hybrid version of the Corolla ($22,050).
What's New for 2024
The Nightshade trim returns for the new model year; this version of the Corolla hybrid gets unique black body cladding and rear spoiler, along with a special bronze-anodized, 18-inch wheel package specific to this trim.
What's Good
— Twice the range (almost 600 miles in city driving) of most EVs for less than half the cost of the typical EV.
— Fill up the tank in less than five minutes, as opposed to waiting 20-30 minutes to get a partial charge.
— Roomy enough to be feasible as a primary family car.
What's Not So Good
— There's no spare tire; not even a "mini" spare for temporary use. Instead, you get an inflator kit that can repair punctures in the tread (but not damage to the sidewall).
— The top-of-the-line Executive Luxury Edition is front-wheel drive only.
Under the Hood
The hybrid Corolla has a smaller (1.8-liter) four-cylinder engine relative to the larger (2.0-liter) engine that's standard in the non-hybrid Corolla. The latter's engine makes 169 horsepower and does all the work of propelling the non-hybrid Corolla, which is why the mileage of the latter (32 mpg city, 41 mpg highway), while very good, isn't as spectacular as the 53 mpg city, 46 mpg highway touted by the hybrid.
And the reason it's so spectacular isn't due primarily to the fact that the 1.8-liter engine is smaller or that it makes less power (136 horsepower), but rather because it only has to do some of the work of propelling the hybrid Corolla. Much of the rest is done by the hybrid's electric motors, which are powered by a battery pack that is kept charged up by the engine (when it's running) and by recovering some of the kinetic energy of the moving Corolla during deceleration and braking.
And that's why the hybrid goes 20-plus miles farther down the road on a gallon of gasoline in city driving — which is where the hybrid system is most efficient. There's also a 5-mpg gain on the highway, which isn't insignificant, especially when considered in the context of the hybrid's only slightly higher base price versus the non-hybrid Corolla. And unless you do all, or most, of your driving on the highway, your overall mpg gain will likely be much higher — which will quickly amortize the slightly higher MSRP of the hybrid.
On the Road
One of the best things about driving the Corolla hybrid is not having to think about how far you can't drive it. And how soon, and long, you'll need to wait to be able to drive it again.
As opposed to what it's like to drive an EV, which forces you to think about it obsessively, continuously, because of the wait to recharge, which can make a mess of your plans; if you didn't plan to drive farther than you expected to need to drive, now you'll need to plan around how far the EV can go before it can't go any farther.
That can really upset your plans, as well as your life.
The Corolla hybrid just goes — along with your plans and generally. Six hundred miles of city driving range (and more than 500 miles of highway driving range) equate to not having to plan around how far you can't go.
This Toyota does everything an EV doesn't, and for about half the price.
At the Curb
By the numbers, the Corolla (hybrid and not) is a compact sedan. It is 182.5 inches long. But don't go by the numbers.
At least, don't go by that number.
The numbers that matter more are inside .
The driver and front-seat passenger have 42 inches of legroom, almost exactly as much front-seat legroom as the midsize (192.1 inches, end to end) Camry sedan, which has 42.1 inches of front-seat legroom. The Camry does have more backseat legroom (38 inches), but the Corolla has enough backseat legroom (34.8 inches) to accommodate adult passengers (and more than enough to accommodate kids and teens). This makes the Corolla — several thousand dollars less expensive than a Camry — a viable, more affordable family car.
Even the trunk is only slightly less roomy than the Camry's — 13.1 cubic feet versus 15 cubic feet for its midsize sibling.
The Rest
Finding anything to nitpick about this car is not easy. You have to really look. And pop the trunk.
What you won't find there is a spare tire. Not even a "mini" spare — one of those temporary-use-only things that will at least let you limp on down the road to a tire shop. Instead, Toyota provides an inflator/repair kit. This takes up much less space under the trunk floor than a spare and jacking equipment, and it will get you back on the road again without getting your hands (and clothes) dirty if you get a flat because you ran over a nail or something like that.
The provided goop will seal the puncture, and the mini air compressor (which plugs into the cigarette lighter) will reinflate the tire. But if the sidewall gets punctured, the kit is useless — and you will have to call for a tow/roadside assistance.
The Bottom Line
The Corolla hybrid raises the question more people ought to be answering: Why would anyone want to drive an EV when they could drive something like this instead?
Eric's latest book, "Doomed: Good Cars Gone Wrong!" will be available soon. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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