Without a trick has not done. New Toyota Corolla

In fact, the answer to the question of why the Japanese made two versions of the Corolla lies on the surface – along with beautiful stories that since the appearance of the model in 1966, more than 46 million units have been sold. The fact is that it is the sedan version that is the best-selling one, which means it generates the most profits. And if for a hatchback and a station wagon, a bold move with a bright appearance was fully justified, then it was worth tinkering with a sedan – to determine the consumer audience by country and give customers what they expect.
So two variants of a sedan with the obvious names “Sporty” and “Prestige” were born. Of course, from a technical point of view, there are no differences between them, and even the overall dimensions are up to a millimeter. The new generation Corolla, as it should be, moved to the global TNGA architecture as a GA-C platform, in which it joined the Prius, C-HR and Lexus UX. The advantages of this solution, respectively, are the same as those of others: increased body rigidity (for example, twisting – by 60%) with a concomitant improvement in controllability and passive safety, lowering the center of gravity and increasing driving comfort.
Some objective arguments speak in favor of the latter: in particular, this is a departure from the semi-dependent rear torsion beam in favor of an independent multi-link. But we still will get to this with addiction later, but it’s pointless to argue with numbers. For example, lowering the height of the body by 4.5 centimeters is quite noticeable to the naked eye, and it is accompanied by an expansion of the front and rear wheels, an increase in overall width by 5 mm, and length – by 10 mm. At the same time, the wheelbase has not changed a millimeter compared to the previous generation – in other words, at 2,700 mm, it is still a centimeter more than the new RAV4. A reduction in height had an impact not only on the landing of the driver, who is now sitting below, but also on the location of the engine, which was lowered along with the hood line, and on the notorious lowering of the center of gravity by about a centimeter.
It was not possible to estimate the landing in the driver’s seat and the salon as a whole at the premiere in Guangzhou: both cars on the stand turned out to be not just locked, but also toned. This, however, does not mean any “internal” secrets: the salon will be exactly the same as the previous versions. Retaining the simplicity inherent in the past generation, the interior is still not without fashionable solutions, the main of which is the 7-inch (and for an extra charge – 8-inch) screen sticking out on the top of the front panel. Another seven-inch screen is an optional dashboard version. For the rest, the salon is not really toyotovsky balanced – there is almost no glossy plastic except on multimedia units and the climate.
From a technical point of view, Corolla expectedly collected all suitable solutions already being used by the Japanese on other models. Here, however, there is a difference in versions for different markets: so, in the US, a “sports” role is prepared for the sedan, which is expressed both in appearance similar to hatchback and station wagon and in the, which at the time of the premiere did not include hybrids. The choice of engines here is limited to the 1.8-liter 2ZR-FAE, which slightly increased the return (bringing it closer to 150 hp) and the fresh 169-horsepower two-liter M20A-FKS from the Dynamic Force family: the latter makes the Corolla all the same Lexus UX . Among the features of the new engines, as we remember, is a more long-stroke design (an increase in the stroke of the piston relative to its diameter), an increased angle between the intake and exhaust valves and a combined injection. Due to the first two features, it was possible to achieve an improvement in the filling rate and cylinder blowing, as well as the speed and completeness of combustion of the mixture, while the injection allows optimizing the flow rate as well: at high loads, only the direct injection works, and at low speeds the distributed nozzles are connected to it.
In China and Europe, the main focus will be on hybrids. The main good news here is that, in addition to the 122-strong hybrid installation with a 1.8-liter gasoline engine, it will be possible to choose an electric motor tandem with the same modern two-liter Dynamic Force, which raises the return of such a bundle up to 180 hp.
In the transmission, everything is also “innovative”: in addition to the CVT with the long name Dynamic-Shift, the “smart” even made a six-speed manual box, which, bearing the name of iMT, can proactively synchronize the rpm when downshifting. The variator, however, is still more interesting, although it is no longer new in its essence: we have already seen the design at the beginning of the year under the name Direct-Shift CVT. Firstly, it combines a gear low gear, which is activated at the start, and the classic design with two pulleys of variable working diameter.