SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.
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Pics by Motorpress
Posted: April 26, 2022
The numbers
Prices: Xs at R425 400, Xr at R461 700
Powertrain: See text
Acceleration: See text
Top speed: 170 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 5.1 l/100 km
Tank: 36 litres
Luggage: 440 litres
Turning circle: 10.4 metres
Ground clearance: 161 mm
Maximum towing capacity: 400 kg
Standard tyre sizes: 215/60R17 (Xs), 225/50R18 (Xr)
Spare: Spacesaver
Warranty: Three years, 100 000 km
Service plan: Six services, 90 000 km at annual or 15 000 km intervals
Hybrid battery warranty: Eight years, 195 000 km
Things happen at forty: We start wondering where Life’s excitement got to, we lose patience with juvenile bosses, we consider changing careers, some buy impractical “toys” and others wonder whether they’re in the right relationships. But let’s not go there.
Forty is also the speed at which two things happen in the Toyota Corolla Cross 1.8 Hybrid: There’s a B (Braking) position on the CVT’s gear selector that slows the vehicle when coasting down hills against compression. Around 40 km/h is when the engine complains that you’re moving too quickly for the ratio automatically chosen. It's also the speed at which any attempt to drive in purely electric mode is abandoned because the fuel engine kicks in automatically. First reports claimed that, with a full battery, the car’s all-electric range could be 50 km. Good luck with achieving that. Other road users will lose patience.
On the other hand, one can attain decent averages almost accidentally because power delivery switches, continuously and seamlessly, between engine alone, battery alone and sometimes both together. Note: This car does not plug into one’s household mains supply; hybrid battery charging is all “in-car” via power from the engine and regeneration while coasting and braking.
Moving on: There are five Corolla Cross models available here. Three, in grades Xi, Xs and Xr, share a plain 1.8-litre petrol powerplant developing 103 kW and 173 Nm. Two, in grades Xs and Xr, are fitted with a lower-output, Atkinson Cycle, version of the same engine supplemented by a 53 kW, 163 Nm electric motor. Rated power of the combination is 90 kilowatts and 142 Nm. All use a CVT transmission without any manual override apart from the B (braking) option mentioned earlier.
The above figures, combined with the CVT gearbox and kerb weight around 1400 kg, do not promise electrifying performance. Some writers have in fact been downright rude. Truth is that it isn’t that bad. A magazine in the Philippines puts its zero to 100 km/h time at 11.2 seconds although most sources, including Toyota SA, opt to remain silent. But this car is more about fuel saving than outright go. It doesn’t even have a rev counter. That spot is occupied by a Charge/Eco/Power dial with an inset battery level indicator.
What is it? It’s a medium sized Crossover that’s 4460 mm long, 1825 wide and 1620 mm high with a seatbacks-up luggage capacity of 440 litres and comfortable seating for five regular-size people. Our “midrange” Xs version sported 17” alloy wheels, leather upholstery with mechanical adjusters, front and rear fog lamps, disc brakes at both ends, auto-on LED headlights with follow-me, automatically retractable wing mirrors, rain sensing wipers, automatic door locking, reversing camera with rear pdc, dual zone climate control, six airbags, ISOFix mountings with tethers and most handling aids.
Xr versions increase wheel size to 18 inches while adding auto high beam, blind spot monitors in the side mirrors, a self-dipping rearview mirror, adaptive cruise control, an armrest in the back seat and additional safety systems including lane keeping aids and pre-crash brake loading.
Living with it: Although one might expect it to be most contented in city traffic, it’s quite at home on the open road too, cruising easily at 120 km/h without labouring. Because there’s no rev counter, we can’t comment on how hard the engine is working at that speed or whether there’s any evidence of “CVT slip” under hard acceleration. We occasionally thought that we heard some but couldn’t be sure.
Handling and parking is easy thanks to a comfortable turning circle, light steering and good all ‘round visibility. Being recycled teenagers we would probably choose one of the engine-only versions for day-to-day use but for high-mileage commuters, with a wary eye on the ever-escalating price of petrol, either of these hybrids is worth considering.
Test unit from Toyota SA press fleet.
Terra Rossa upholstery, illustrated here, is available optionally on Xr only
This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.
If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles. And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8