First Drive: 2009 Toyota Corolla

Did Toyota send Corolla designers back to the drawing board when it saw our 2006 Car of the Year, the Honda Civic? Toyota says no, the story we've reported for two years isn't true. Sources say otherwise, that designers tore up an earlier design to make the 7/8ths-scale Camry look edgier.

Yes, well, six years is a long time between new Corollas. Toyota counters it's not that long, because it's selling nearly 400,000 a year even as the car ages. Whatever you believe, the 2009 Corolla is what you'd expect from Toyota: good news if you need only a highly refined economy car with unimpeachable reliability; not such good news if you were anticipating an avant-garde challenge to the Civic. And it's not sporty, even in sporting iterations. Moderate understeer comes in early and predictably. While small-car tossable, its handling doesn't prompt you to seek out twisty roads or get it loose sliding around on- and off-ramps.

And why should it? Virtually everything in this class, including the non-Si Civics will record 0-to-60, figure-eight, skidpad, braking, and other dynamic measures within a couple tenths of each other. In this regard, the new Corolla is the corollary for the new Mitsubishi Lancer: skewed off-center toward comfort and refinement versus the Lancer's slight bias toward sportiness.

Consider Toyota's estimated 0-to-60-mph times: 10.3 seconds for the 1.8-liter with four-speed automatic, under 10 seconds for the 1.8 with a five-speed manual, and 8.8 seconds for the big 2.4-liter four with five-speed automatic. Both of these smooth, modestly powered engines are new to the Corolla. The 2.4-liter, which is the Camry's standard four, comes only with the XRS package, which features sport seats, leather-trimmed shift knob, some blackout trim, a tailpipe diffuser and finisher, spoilers, and rocker cladding.

The XRS's automatic is a five-speed, while the 1.8s get only a four-speed autobox-possibly the only reason to buy this car with a 2.4. The extra cog isn't enough to make up for a five-mpg city and highway EPA fuel-mileage deficiency though, comparing 2.4-automatic with 1.8-automatic. The 1.8-liter Corollas come in base (roll-up windows standard!), LE (the volume model), XLE, and S trim. All test Corollas at the introduction drive had automatics, save a single S with a five-speed manual. The S comes with the same front spoiler, rocker moldings, and rear spoilers as the XRS, and mostly because of that five-speed stick, proved more fun than the 2.4. Base and LE run on P195/65R15s, the XLE and S have P215/45R16s, and the XRS P215/45R17s.