Not content with just getting stuff from Honda's compact car, Toyota has lifted some items straight off from Stuttgart and Bavaria's own design books. The range-topping variant dubbed "Luxel" has a Smart Entry & Start system (ala Camry or Previa), while an "Intelligent Parking Assist System" (IPA) helps you parallel park in tight spaces by giving you suggestions on appropriate steering angle and such. There's even a system called "Pre-Crash"--lifted from, you guessed it, Mercedes-Benz's own PRE-SAFE system. There's even a radar-guided cruise control system.

In-car entertainment comes from a Lexus-derived audio system with a 30 GB hard disc drive that can store a variety of multi-media files. Video can be played back through the Corolla's 6.5" wide-screen display.

The all-new Corolla's design philosophy is supposedly "Vibrant Clarity" because of the exterior's evoking a sense of relaxation and the interior a sense of vitality. Well, we'll give Toyota's marketing people the benefit of the doubt here. But any which way you'd look at it, the Corolla continues being safe with just a minute of new features and specification adjustments. Now, all we have to wait is whether Hugh Jackman will indeed end up shaking his bon-bon for the new Corolla--but in any case, it's clear that the new Corolla will strike a very different chord from the Honda Civic (or even the Mazda 3).

< back to main >