2022 Toyota Corolla ZR Hybrid Hatch review

The Toyota Corolla has been with us since 1966 and introduced a curved windscreen to the automotive world, along with MacPherson struts. Who knew? Since then over 50 million have sold globally, making it the world’s best selling car, ahead of Ford’s F-150 and VW’s Golf.

In a sign of the times, the Corolla is now only available here with hybrid powertrains, driven by consumer preference apparently. It also happens to dovetail nicely into Toyota’s aim to reduce its carbon footprint.

The latest Corolla we’re driving, the top-shelf ZR, is a development of the 12th generation which arrived in 2019, and is powered by Toyota’s fifth-generation hybrid technology featuring more compact, lighter, higher powered motors, along with a more compact, lighter and higher output lithium-ion battery.

This hides under the rear seats so doesn’t impinge on the somewhat limited luggage capacity (205L). Rear seat occupants don’t get much space either.

The driveline advances equate to ‘increased electric drive ratio in the hybrid system’. We often saw 50 per cent of driving time on EV, even in rural running.

When you lift off the gas it generally flicks into EV mode. Thinking back a decade ago to Toyota’s hybrids, electric drive was measured in metres and seconds. It’s now into kilometers and minutes, with speeds as high as 100km/h.

These self-charging hybrids never need to be plugged in and they have a range of around 800km (977km if you manage to meet the firm’s combined fuel use figure). A ‘recharge’ takes under five minutes to replenish the 43L tank with 91.

Under the hood is a 1.8L IL4 running on the Atkinson cycle and it’s good for 72kW and 142Nm, not much really but with a 70kW motor along for the ride (adding 185Nm) the total system output is a claimed 103kW, up from 90kW previously and Toyota states a combined WLTP fuel use figure of 4.4L/100km (101g/km).

Acceleration is evidently better too as the motor adds more urge when the throttle is pinned. Not that you do that much with a hybrid but on occasion it’s reassuring to know that you can get out of the way quickly should the need arise.

We found a second improvement on the 0-100 time to just under 10sec but performance is largely irrelevant; it’s fuel use that’s key here. It seems to go well in any of the three drive modes without trying too hard, even in Eco around town.

On a longer drive out of town, we found performance in both Normal and Sport modes entirely satisfactory.

You’d not credit how impressive fuel use is given available performance. On a free flowing motorway at up to 100km/h, think low fours, and high fours on chip seal highways. As you get closer to town that decreases further.

Exiting the car at home in the burbs it was reading 3.5L/100km. When returning the car I tried to EV as much as possible during the cross town journey and saw fuel use figures as low as 1.7L/100km, it EVing 75 per cent of the time.

Even on a road trip out of town in Sport mode fuel use never climbed beyond six point something. Given the reasonably good rubber it runs we were disappointed with ultimate stopping power but appreciated the B setting on the gear lever that adds regenerative braking, not that you’d mistake this for single-pedal driving.

However, on rural roads you don’t often need to brake if you select B a second or two before entering a curve. This makes it more interactive to drive too.

The latest Corolla is a smart looker, especially in ZR two-tone guise which costs $500 more than the regular ZR hybrid. The black roof paint extends to the mirror caps, while both versions come with fancy looking black/machine polished alloys, as is the way these days it would seem.

You’re spoilt rather for gear in this too, right down to a powered driver’s seat with a lumbar pump, butt warmers, head-up display, full LED lighting up front with auto high beam, leather and suede-accented seats, dual-zone air, a Qi charger and more safety gear than you can shake a stick at. It garnered a five-star ANCAP rating in 2018.

The interior gets a digital update with various readouts available in the 12.3-inch driver instrument binnacle and an eight-inch infotainment touchscreen featuring sat nav, live traffic updates and the like. About the only downside is road noise, averaging out at 75.4dB.

At $42,790 this isn’t exactly a bargain compact hatch, though that’s a drive away price.

If you need more space there’s always the Corolla Cross, also a hybrid….only the wait for that is likely to be even longer.