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So when I brought my FRS into the dealership for the valve spring recall my wife and I test drove the 19 corolla hatchback with both transmissions. Here are my thoughts.
The car had kind of has a different presence in person than from pictures. It is more small and compact than the pictures indicate. The hatchback feels small. The trunk/hatch is also quite small, the space saver takes up a good amount of space. However with the seats down and the removable shelf/cargo hider out of the way you can fit a decent amount of stuff. Rear leg room is also pretty tight, but headroom has some to spare, so tall adults in the back can get by but it isn't ideal. Kids however would be more than comfy in the back.
Driver and front passenger seats felt good, with a surprising amount of side bolstering for a hatchback. The infotainment system is one of the few things I really didn't like along with a electronic parking brake. The info screen felt arbitrarily placed and a little in the way, but the screen is quite large and has apple car play but no android auto. The sales person said there is another app you can get to get maps on the screen with android. The car also has fake as hell exhaust vents, which annoys me but doesn't bother me as much as the fake vents on the civics.
Now for how it drives, the manual transmission felt really good. The throw is medium long. Clutch engage point felt nice and smooth, the car was very easy to drive and shift gears. Compared to the FRS the manual transmission is more easy to drive and forgiving. It revs pretty high to about 6,700 rpm I think, felt rev happy. It was kind of slow but it was a hoot to rev that thing out and get up to speed. It felt pretty planted in the corners for a hatchback (obviously no where near what an FRS is but pretty good). The car had some spunk which I liked but didn't feel super fast, seems like a car that a good time can be had in corners.
The automatic felt good, pretty standard, doesn't quite feel like a CVT auto and it was one of the better CVTs I have ever experienced. However it felt I dunno..less interesting than the manual. The manual version just felt so alive. However the CVT was faster off the line which was impressive.
All in all I actually really enjoyed it and I think I might get one as our secondary car to replace the 07 Yaris. It was a pleasant experience and the car in general has a funky vibe which was nice to see on a corolla. Also that blue color they advertise is the best looking color by a large margin.
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