Whenever you talk about sport or politics or film stars or even cars, one tends to zero in on the two or three who keep on competing against each other making the competition even more fun and intriguing than the final outcome itself. In all these dogfights the one which has been played to a great extent continuously now for the past two decades has been the all-Japanese rivalry between the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla. These two have battled it out on their home turf, in the US (probably the largest and most important battlefield for this duo to perform on), in Asia and also in India.
It is a fight that not one single car ever wins comprehensively, the duo exchanging places at the forefront while continuously sparring at each other and in the process delighting the millions of users who flock to buy one or both of them!
This is exactly the impression I got when Toyota Kirloskar gave us the exclusive use of a preproduction 10th generation Corolla Altis which was launched yesterday in New Delhi. It comes just about two years after Honda's quantum Civic-leap and it promises to keep the executive segment slugfest simmering in all earnestness.
Being Toyota the all new 10th generation Corolla is all evolution where the Civic was a barking mad revolution. However it depends on one's point of view as whether evolution is the preferred taste of the hour or revolution is what is needed to light those latent desires. We'll leave the Civic out of the picture now and concentrate totally on evolution and why it is good and great for the Corolla.
One cannot fault Toyota for their planning and their intense creed for detail and perfection. This is what makes the Corolla one of the most refined automobiles on the planet and at the price point it is pegged at, it makes for terrific value. Many a time I have myself mentioned the Corolla being a very boring car because it does things so perfectly well. Clinically efficient with nary a whimper or protest and that's why it is the car of choice for the sensible and the staid. The 10th generation Corolla Altis is the modern face of the sensible and staid and you have to really look closely as to how it has advanced in generation.
The Corolla Altis is an all new car with a completely new chassis but with the changes so subtly wrought on the outside that you need to have a protractor and a tape measure to know that the A-pillar has been moved a bit forward at its base while the C-pillar has moved further aft so as to try and give a sportier line to the cabin and also enhance the aero efficiency of the overall automobile. There is a new look grille treatment and the head lamp lenses have been restyled both in shape and form and also what rests within them – HID lamps as standard on all but the base offering.
Step into the cabin though and it suddenly seems that you are into a larger and more lavishly equipped lounge. In fact the Corolla rides on the same 2600mm wheelbase as its predecessor but wait what's this, a near flat floor at the rear? Has the Undertaker been hammering away for the benefit of the back benchers? Whatever be the case this denotes a significant detail behind not just the all new chassis but also the revised floor which helps provide better comfort and luxury to those who would love to be driven. This is clearly the forte of the Corolla Altis for it is in entry and exit plus also in comfortable seating that it scores greatly over its illustrious rival, the Civic. Where the Civic has been reviled for its evil sink seats by many a owner's family, the Corolla Altis comes across as a paradigm of evolutionary brilliance.
I have always maintained that there are certain cars which delight in their own way and the Corolla Altis customer is a completely different piece of cake from the cookies who devour the Civic wholeheartedly. Two philosophies of car building are at play here and Toyota has adopted the more pragmatic, middle-of-theroad approach so as not to be offensive to any one. Showering everyone in sheer luxury is another aspect and in the interior it is the Corolla which sure whips up the emotions in a sporty and comprehensive manner given all the bells and whistles from both a luxury and an ergonomic point of view.
Multi-function steering wheel, great detailing on dashboard and centre console, finely crafted upholstery and trim all around make the interior of the Corolla a very welcome yet soothing place to be in.
Get down to the oomph zone and that fuel injected 1794cc twin cam 16-valve four-cylinder engine is stunningly smooth and silky, as long as it lasts in its universal operating range. I will elaborate on this as we go ahead but it's not for nothing that the Toyota V8s in F1 are quite clearly one of the most powerful on the Grand Prix circuits and Toyota is in no way behind on the engine front. The Corolla's four-cylinder mill proves that as does the fine short throw 5-speed gearbox (we couldn't lay our hands on the 4-speed automatic but will do so soon), the 132 horses start galloping as soon as you tweak the loud pedal and work the gearshifter enthusiastically.
However to borrow a reflection from F1 yet again and the Toyota TF108s, while they may have the power, it is in the chassis dynamics where some work is needed. The Corolla Altis is yet hung in super soft mode so it is not handling which is given its due (at the top end of the performance spectrum) but the ride quality and the road holding which is tailored to deliver comfort to kids and moms and family.
Not a bad case this because given our road surface, this line of thought might alienate certain automotive journos and boy racers but will delight a whole host of those who have been damned and shamed by Jeremy Clarkson. On the flip side, were Toyota to tighten up the underpinnings and hook up a better set of low-pro and wider rubber, the Corolla could deliver a stunning blow to the nay sayers. And it also has disc brakes all around to take care of quick and safe retardation.
Build quality is typically Toyota efficient and attention to detail is terrific. The car comes with the latest generation ABS coupled with EBD (electronic brake force distribution system) while the company's GOA body structure is intelligently designed for best impact dissipation should the car be involved in a mishap.
The new Corolla Altis is typical of the way Toyota does cars – subtle and unhurried but with ample substance packed into it. It is not a fire breather in any way but some might have hoped that it could have an element to make the rabble rouser in the meekest of homo sapiens to sometimes surface when behind the wheel. It is a classy no-fuss no-nonsense car that just keeps on going and going. No wonder then that it is cars like the Corolla that has seen Toyota go a long way towards snatching the crown of the world's largest car maker from GM.
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