In North America, which is the Corolla’s largest market and Australia, the Corolla is the number one choice for first time car buyers. In South-East Asia, especially in Thailand, the Toyota Corolla wears the blue and red or green and yellow colours of a taxi. In India however, the Corolla finds a place in the upper echelons of the society as a venerable luxury sedan. But what is common among Corolla owners across the globe is the love and respect that they have for the car. They say that one Corolla is sold every forty seconds on average! If this trend is to continue, the Corolla just might be the first car in history to cross the 50 million mark in terms of sales!

Design
The Toyota Corolla in its long and illustrious life has often been accused by critics of being dull and uninspiring as far as appearances go. The tenth generation Corolla, named the Corolla Altis has gone under the surgeon's knife with clear emphasis being paid to design. The front fascia now looks akin to the bigger Camry, with a more expansive bumper incorporating fog lamps and the radiator grille with the Toyota logo sitting on top, sharp looking bulging headlights and a muscular straight cut hood. The rectangular air dam lends a spot of relief to the otherwise curvaceous front, nicely balancing the design.

The flanks and the rear of the Corolla Altis have very little modification to differentiate them from the previous model's. The rear has been given a restyled bumper with new curves and scoops, extending into the visually tweaked LED rear lights and embedded with two circular reflectors, to look pleasant and interesting at the same time.

The new Corolla is now lower and wider, having undergone an increment of 10mm in length, 60mm in width, while the height has been reduced by 20mm. The Toyota Corolla in its current form looks refreshed and pleasant, but in no way has any uniqueness that would set it apart on the road.

See Specs. of Toyota Corolla Altis

The first thing that strikes you about Altis's interior is the bright beige and light gray colour combination with nice touches of aluminium-finish plastic and faux wood inserts. Garnishing the dash, gear knob, steering wheel and the door panels, faux wood inserts help to give the interior an up-market look.

Another noticeable feature which becomes more pronounced during the night is the 3D-effect 'Optitron' instrument panel with the built-in Multi Information Display (MID). The combination of black background with sharp white lighting for the figures makes it very easy to get all the required information at a glance.

However, design wise the interior is pretty conventional. There are no exciting design cues here to increase the heart rate, or give the Civic a run for its money. But needless to say everything's been redesigned – from knobs and buttons to the funky-looking coke bottle shaped door handles.

Customers have two colour tones and three textures to choose from for the interior. The Corolla's comfortable and spacious seats are well complimented by further improved leg room as well as knee room. Shoulder room although not as much as that of the Honda Civic is decent and facilitates to seat three adults with ease at the back. In the case of the top-end model, the seats are covered in leather, and the driver's seat in addition gets eight-way power adjustments.

The Corolla has always stood for practicality and in its newest avatar the car is no different. It rewards the passengers with a wide array of stowage spaces; twin glove boxes, front arm rest with double storage capacity, cubby hole under the steering wheel, slots on either side of the centre console, generous door pockets big enough to store umbrellas or water bottles, seat back pockets to stack away papers and a multitude of cup holders near the hand brake and in the rear arm rest to hold everyone's drink without spilling a drop. The Corolla also scores with a generous boot, big enough to swallow 4 suitcases and with a wider and lower loading rim, besting its chief rival the Honda Civic.

Comfort
The suspension system in the new Corolla Altis remains the tried and tested McPherson strut setup at the front and torsion beam for the rear, which has served Toyota cars with much zeal and dedication. Together they are efficiently able to tackle all kinds of road conditions. The suspension package has been tuned in favour of ride quality and so the handling gets slightly affected leading to body-roll during spirited driving.

Still the Altis has taken a giant leap as far as creature comforts and conveniences are concerned.

The top of the line model has most of the amenities found in the Camry, right from cruise control to the powered driver's seat with lumbar support. Altis is quite feature rich, surpassing its rivals and boasting of equipments such as automatic climate control, in-dash 6 CD changer with auxiliary port, electrically adjustable external rear view mirrors, multi functional and fully adjustable steering wheel, automatic HID headlamps and small thoughtful touches like a sunglass holder, sliding front armrest and a rear window sunshade.

Engine, Transmission & Performance
While the current Corolla model is being sold in other countries with a new generation 2ZR-FE engine under its hood, in India it is still powered by the older 1.8-litre, 4-cylinder, 16-valve VVT-i engine, codenamed 1ZZE-FE. This has been done to keep the price of the new Corolla as low as possible. The engine's ECU has been retuned and its thermodynamics has also been revamped to give the old warhorse a new lease of life, making it peppier and smoother than before.

Under the current state of tune, the engine develops a healthy 132PS of max power, almost identical to that of the Civic! Torque stands at 172Nm, plenty to make the Corolla a spirited performer in the city.

Despite the boost in power, the Corolla maintains it 'economical' tag delivering a city mileage of 9.87kmpl and returning 19.6kmpl on the highway!  

The base Corolla variants - 1.8G and 1.8GL make use of a 5-speed manual gearbox, while the top-end 1.8V has been given a 4-speed Electronically Controlled Transmission (ECT). This gearbox responds well in the automatic mode, selecting the driving mode (sporty or relaxed) depending on the pattern of throttle’s use and also offers the benefit of a manual shifter, as it can be used to manually shift gears as well!

Safety
Designed to withstand high-energy impacts while keeping its occupants out of harms way, Corolla uses what Toyota calls a Global Outstanding Assessment (GOA) body construction. Using front and rear crumple zones to absorb the impact of a collision, the GOA body ensures maximum protection to the driver and passengers. ABS with EBD is standard in the Corolla Altis and ensures smoother braking. The other safety features included in the Corolla Altis are dual front SRS airbags, front and rear disc brakes and Whiplash Injury Lessening (WIP) front seats.

The Toyota Corolla Altis contrary to what one might believe judging from the array of features that are present, is a reasonably priced car. Priced from Rs. 10,78,000 to Rs. 12,79,000 (ex showroom Delhi) for the top-of-the-line 1.8V, the new Corolla is very carefully priced against its competitors.

Surely this car has the goods to carry on Corolla’s age old tradition of ferrying its occupants in absolute comfort and without a worry, and doing so for years and years to come.