Toyota Corolla Sport (E210)

Toyota is no stranger to compact hatchbacks since the Corollas of the Showa era, the Allex, the Runx, the WiLL VS, the Blade, and the Auris because in times a saloon is not enough to trickle down their fancies, a good-looking five-door hatchback is always there for critical purposes like practicality, usability, and fun factor. With the advent of crossovers, a normal hatchback is starting to lose shape but slightly ruling over against the diminishing sedan race in some manner. For their latest attempt to make a compact hatchback, Toyota brought in the Corolla nameplate to the rescue for their newest hatchback served as the replacement to the Auris.

2019 Toyota Corolla Sport

This is the all-new, first-ever, Corolla Sport and while this is a great pleasure to have the Corolla nameplate back in hatchback, something that hadn't been done since the Runx of the last decade, the new Corolla Sport promises to be the stylish and most technologically-advanced small car ever made.

First and foremost, let's observe the design and looks like they've gone overboard on the front styling, giving a more intimidating stare like a Pierrot intimidating bystanders in a middle of the purge, and while it looks downright scary for an innocent-looking hatchback of that size, the rearview can be downright mistaken for an Opel Astra, one of the key competitors of its class. Horrifying the styling may be, the Corolla Sport is more than enough to be slapped as a rental car the next time you rent one and scare the animal crossings away while dealing with some unexpected shortcuts.

2019 Toyota Corolla Sport interior

2019 Toyota Corolla Sport interior

While the exterior design is as frightening as a traitor jackknife, the interior looks like it came from the C-HR, with a few numerous retouches of course. Although driver-focused in spirit, the Corolla Sport is surprisingly as roomy as the old Auris it replaces, and in some models, the sport seats at the front add a nice touch to it. In some models, the Corolla Sport comes with a fancy instrumental panel, heads-up display, heated seats, heated steering wheel, an optional sat-nav, and more. For the first time, the Corolla Sport is the first of Toyotas to allow LINE users to check their car's progress via LINE My Car Account.

2019 Toyota Corolla Sport

Running on an earful TNGA-C platform, the new Corolla Sport delivers a very promising driving feel and fuel efficiency the best match for a new kind of hatchback. Couple that with the front MacPherson strut and rear double-wishbone suspension, Active Cornering Assist, and Adaptive Variable Suspension, the result is a much rewarding dynamics that equates itself to expensive European imports. It may not be as perfect as the Euro rivals but the Corolla Sport gives them more time to enjoy their driving pleasure at work or at play, especially on the weekends.

The Corolla Sport is powered with a choice of 1.2L 8NR-FTS turbocharged engine and a 1.8L 2ZR-FXE engine mated to an electric motor and nickel metal battery, the same choice of engines as found in the outgoing Auris it replaces. Thanks to the TNGA-C platform, their fuel efficiencies got improved slightly with the hybrid variant delivering 30.0km/L of fuel economy while the turbocharged variants get up to 16.4km/L, all based under the now relevant WLTC Mode standards, which is very nice, but not as nice as the CVT it comes with. Although the turbo one has a Super CVT-i, which is typical by normal city car standards, there's a 6-speed manual variant that will get you noticed because this is not your kind of 6MT. A first in Toyota, the first-ever 6-speed intelligent manual transmission works in tandem with different drive modes, delivering a no-shock gear change as smooth as fabrics.

Because the Corolla Sport is the most technologically-advanced small car ever made, it's been given the second-generation Toyota Safety Sense with new active-safety technologies and capabilities that enhance protection. These features are Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, Full-Speed DRCC, Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist, Automatic High Beam, and Lane Tracing Assist, among many others.

The new Corolla Sport starts at 2,138,400 Japanese Yen for the turbo model while the hybrid starts at 2,419,200 Japanese Yen. With such a reasonable price, some would get a head start for this new Toyota hatchback, although some would need to wait for the manual variant to arrive because that combo really appeals to the speedo boys and looks like Toyota's on the roll now with the first-ever Corolla Sport. While the Corolla Sport is downright intimidating for a normal hatchback and the CVT is nowhere near good to live with, the handling pleasure, the tech, and the packaging really made the Corolla Sport a worthy contender in this category and they're really on to something with this one. Well, let's wish the new Corolla Sport good luck on its maiden trip.

Available Colors: Super White II, White Pearl Crystal Shine, Silver Metallic, Attitude Black Mica, Blackish Ageha Glass Flake, Scarlet Metallic, Oxide Bronze Metallic, and Cyan Metallic.

Photo: Toyota Motor Corporation