(Not) our cars: Toyota Corolla Touring Sports

Extended spell in hybrid estate shows its strengths

I HESITATE to suggest that anything positive has come out of lockdown, other than spending more time with the family. But there’s been one faint silver lining.

With Toyota’s first tentative steps toward collecting cars involving a swap, I got my hands on a shiny new Corolla Touring Sports for a two-week loan period when our Corolla hatch was finally collected in early June. Anyone familiar with my previous reports will be aware that while our Corolla hatch had so many positive attributes, I struggled with the small boot.

The space was just about OK because it took my new grandson’s buggy and the weekly family shop. But the raised floor to accommodate the 12V battery (there’s no space up front with the larger 2.0-litre engine) just felt like a compromise. I had to move the shopping about to pack it properly and think about what would go where, rather than just loading and going. There are no such problems with the Corolla Touring Sports, though. Within a day of receiving the freshly sanitised keys, I was off to the local DIY shop to buy a load of decking boards for some raised beds that I’d planned to build at my allotment.

The car came with a dog guard and retractable load cover, but these were easy enough to remove, even leaning in across the empty load area. They need to be stowed diagonally across the floor if you don’t drop the back seats – thankfully, that’s done without any further stretching by popping the handles on either side of the load area.

Once the seats were lowered, I had 1,606 litres of space to play with. My raised beds would require a mix of 2.4-metre and 1.8-metre decking boards, so I was a little concerned if the longer ones would fit. But it wasn’t a problem; by reclining the front passenger seat and removing the headrest, I managed to easily fit the longer boards across the top of the seat. Job done.

It also proved interesting to monitor the estate’s fuel economy. On delivery, the Touring Sports was around the 57mpg mark, way ahead of the 38.5mpg that I managed in our Corolla hatch. The reading quickly dropped as I began driving around the South London streets where I live, but a couple of lengthy motorway and A-road trips (and some very sensible eco driving) got it back up over 56mpg.

I like the Corolla hatchback’s design, but I’m less smitten with the look of the longer Touring Sports, even in optional Scarlet Flare paint (£900). However, I do love the extra space and would choose the estate car’s practicality every time, especially because I’m now a grandparent.

“I had to think about packing the hatch; there are no such problems in the estate”

EASY DOES IT Removing load cover and folding seats is straightforward, although some creativity was needed to fit long pieces of timber

SPACE 1,606-litre load area was able to gobble up 2.4metre decking boards and still have space to stow parcel shelf and dog guard

WE LIKE With a growing family, the practicality and extra space of the Touring Sports won over grandpa Darren with ease. The Corolla is a joy to drive, too. It’s smooth, quiet and as quick as it needs to be. But it also mixes this with superb efficiency from its hybrid powertrain