An acquaintance of mine was inquiring about cars over theFacebook, and among the numerous responses she received, I happened to notice someone mention “Corolla hatchback.” Now I haven’t heard of the Corolla having a hatchback since like the hachi-roku, so unless this person were recommending that this acquaintance go out and get a nearly 30-year old car, which if you’re looking for a reliable daily driver is a terrible idea IMO, then Toyota’s clearly made something that I didn’t know about.
Lo and behold, it turns out that Toyota has decided to enter the 2010s and make a hatchback vehicle to compete against the Souls, Fortes, Golfs and Mazda3s, and that aren’t the sad Yaris or x-Whatever shitboxes. And frankly, they’re taking this shit seriously, because at first blush, there’s a lot to like about it; it looks really pleasing to my personal aesthetic, it’s available in a manual transmission, it has a ton of the gadgets that all cars seem to require these days, the fuel economy is solid, and the price is extremely competitive.
Dare I say, I actually really dig just about everything about this car . . . except for that one little part where it’s called Corolla.
Yes, I know it’s silly to pass judgement on anything based on the cover of the book or the name of the vehicle, but come on, it’s the fucking Corolla. The Corolla hasn’t been cool since the aforementioned hachi-roku back in like, 1986, and since then, the Corolla has been the automotive embodiment of what it looks like to give up on life. I know it’s harsh to compare the Corolla to the Ford Taurus, Chevy Lumina, Saturn Vue, or even it’s big brother Toyota Camry, but the reality is that they existed in nearly the exact same role as those larger full-size senior movers.
