Hands off: Test-driving the 2017 Toyota Corolla XSE

Once upon a time, Toyota urged you to “get your hands on a Toyota. You’ll never let go!”

Now you can.

The Toyota Corolla XSE has a lane departure warning system with steering assist. The company, of course, doesn’t recommend hands-free driving. Yet experts agree: Driver assistance promotes safer motoring.

Toyota dubs its driving aids Safety-Sense P. This includes a pre-collision safety czar. It alerts you and then applies the brakes when it detects an impending impact with a vehicle or pedestrian. The radar-monitored cruise control adjusts speed to maintain a preset distance between you and the vehicle ahead.

Toyota discourages drowsiness. There’s an onboard sway adviser with coffee-cup pictograph. It scolds you when your one-lane slalom isn’t approved. Automatic high beams aid night vision, too.

Donning a black Darth Vader-like helmet as its front bumper and grille, this compact sedan cloaks its gadgetry with a sci-fi cover. Its forward thrust is both a chin spoiler (aerodynamic device) and a driveway-approach kisser. Under this visual aggressiveness resides a wimpy power train. Optically, the Blue Crush paint job sparkles, but orange peel mars the effect. Body panels fit well, however. Further investigation reveals other aerodynamic tweaks, from ribbed taillights to underbody turbulence-reducing fins.

Hop in. It’s nearly clown-car roomy. Drivers get a sporty, vinyl-clad, power-adjustable, bolstered seat with blue accents. A soft-touch dashboard insert echoes that motif with azure stitching. Your hands grab a leather-wrapped steering wheel. Other occupants get transit authority-approved overhead handles. Matte silver-like accents and glossy black panels house the float-effect info-tainment screen. Interior door panels, however, are hard plastic. They’re indented, providing more elbowroom. Rear seating is supportive.

Biased toward economy — in details and in fuel

The latest Corolla is biased toward economy rather than sports-sedan hijinks or comfortable luxury. Items such as the ill-fitted trunk carpeting, cardboard-like headliner, poorly placed throttle and dead pedals, and elbow-knocking center armrest aren’t welcoming. In addition, the sun visor cannot extend to cover a side window and there’s not a vanity mirror light in sight. Plus the right front-seat belt buckle bangs on the B pillar between the doors — and the dashboard rattled. Toyota doesn’t illuminate the power window and lock switches. And, the instrument panel’s brightness knob is in the dark. There are, however, amber-illuminated doorsills.

Aping Motel 6, this rig turns on the interior light as you approach. Pushbutton-start fires up a 132-hp, 1.8-liter, 16-valve, four-cylinder, twin-cam mill with variable valve timing. That power plant, attached to a continuously variable transmission, has several do-it-yourself over-rides operated via paddle shifters and the console’s lever. These arcade game-like devices simulate a seven-speed transmission. In manual, engine braking is increased. Selecting sport mode douses the tachometer’s eco-reminder light, while upping throttle response.

+1 

This Corolla feels taxed. There are times — such as entering a freeway or climbing an expressway overpass — when you want more gusto. Provoke the engine and it churns. During one windy highway trek, the engine rpm at 60 mph went up and down in steps: 1500, 4000, 2000, 1500 and repeat. Road noise, suspension thunks and wind rustle mask this annoyance.

Ride quality is firm. Sharp kicks, jolts and concomitant road-impact noise produce an active, not resilient comportment. Find smooth pavement, apply the go pedal lightly and the racket subsides. My folks thought it an acceptable transport pod for our excursion to Milwaukee’s Story Hill BKC eatery.

Unlike its iM hatchback cousin, which has an independent rear suspension, the XSE sedan’s rear wheels attach to V-profile beam axle. This nets a low trunk floor with spare tire. Using that trunk exposes unsightly hinges with a naked wiring harness. Handling is safe with front-drive push; the rear end stays planted. The moderate-effort steering is numb.

Radio operators: Tunes tweaking is awkward. While we applaud Toyota for providing volume and tuning knobs, one’s fingers will bump the touch-screen presets when twisting these wafer-thin discs. Toyota doesn’t illuminate these knobs either. In contrast, the steering wheel’s trip/info-tainment four-way rocker switch is smart.

For some, the Corolla’s onboard entertainment is its fuel-conservation measures. My weeklong test produced 32 mpg overall. The EPA numbers are 28 city, 35 highway, 31 combined.

Toyota’s venerable Corolla is an institution. This year marks the stalwart nameplate’s 50th anniversary. Toyota’s compact offers reliable, economical transportation. This one’s MSRP, which includes 17-inch alloy wheels, hit $24,416. It’s best suited to Uber drivers who need an easy way to ferry fares. For better handling, try the Corolla iM hatchback. Oh, what a feeling!