2023 Toyota Corolla Cross SUV petrol (inc. 0-100) review

CarExpert

If you don't have big dollars to splash on the top-specification hybrid Corolla Cross - Paul Maric jumps behind the wheel of the entry-level 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross GX 2WD to see how it stacks up without the all-wheel drive or hybrid drivetrain.  Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  More Toyota content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota More Toyota Corolla Cross content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota/corolla-cross  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 0:44 Interior 2:42 Infotainment 3:59 Safety tech 5:16 Practicality 5:57 On the road 9:03 0-100km/h 12:28 Verdict 14:59  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #toyota #corollacross #review

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul, Toyota Corolla Cross.

00:02 We reviewed it a little while back and the review went crazy, so we thought, let's get

00:05 another one in, but this time, let's go to the lower end.

00:08 This is the entry-level model, it's called the Corolla Cross GX.

00:12 This is the petrol two-wheel drive.

00:13 We've got matching white, which makes it impossible to video.

00:16 But anyway, this is priced at $33,000.

00:19 It competes with things like the Hyundai Kona, the Honda HR-V, the Nissan Qashqai.

00:25 It is like a jacked-up version of the Corolla.

00:27 Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car, so if you do want to skip ahead

00:31 to other parts of the review, you can use the time codes on the screen, or if you're

00:34 on YouTube, you can scroll down and use the chapters below.

00:37 If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon, so

00:40 you can find out every single time we review a very white car.

00:45 Let's talk exterior design.

00:46 So you have eight colours to pick from, all but white and green is going to set you back

00:50 just under $700.

00:51 Look, I think that probably white isn't the best colour here, especially on the base model,

00:56 because it kind of shows up the fact that it is the base model.

00:59 But in just general design terms, you've got a big grille there.

01:02 Have a look at how much of that is closed up.

01:04 It's like most of that is closed, which is just crazy.

01:06 It shows you how little cooling they need and how much the grille is there just for

01:10 display purposes.

01:12 Big Toyota logo there as well, and a little bit more cooling down the bottom.

01:15 Over here, you've got a set of LED headlights with halogen daytime running lights.

01:20 No fog lights down there either.

01:22 Whip around to the side.

01:23 Around here, you're going to find yourself a set of 17-inch alloy wheels, pretty basic

01:28 design, so it's just got that silver finish on it.

01:31 Big chubby tyres as well, 60 profile, so it should mean that it actually rides really

01:34 nicely.

01:35 This is front-wheel drive here in base spec, so you're not going to be doing any off-road

01:39 driving, but it doesn't stop them from fitting that wheel arch cladding there to make it

01:43 look like it's an off-road warrior.

01:45 Up the top here, you have body colour on the wing mirror with an indicator built into there.

01:49 This only has a reverse camera, so you don't get puddle lamps or a 360 camera built into

01:53 there.

01:54 That black plastic finish continues down the side of the car there.

01:57 Come around to the back.

02:00 So around the back here, pretty sort of basic setup.

02:02 You don't really have much going on there in terms of fanciness, a lot of incandescent

02:07 gloves, but you do get this little aero element off to the side here.

02:10 More of that black plastic cladding that runs down the back of the car there with body colour

02:14 at the bottom.

02:16 Corolla Cross written in here as well.

02:18 No badges to signify it's the base model, so they kind of removed that from there, so

02:22 you can't really tell this is the entry level.

02:24 A shark fin aerial up the top there as well.

02:27 So let me know what you reckon in the comments section below.

02:29 I think probably one up from the base model is where you want to be if you don't want

02:33 it to look as sort of entry level as this, but I know that some of you will be buying

02:36 on price and perhaps this is something that you are considering.

02:39 So let me know what you reckon about the design in the comments section below.

02:42 So we're inside the Corolla Cross.

02:45 We will start off with the key.

02:46 We've got lock, unlock, panic, Toyota logo down there and then blank on the back.

02:52 It's proximity sensing key, so you can leave that in your pocket.

02:55 Once you're inside you have a push button start just here.

02:59 So this feels very much like an entry level vehicle and kind of solidifies my opinion

03:06 that this is probably going to be a bit of a rental special, especially with this plastic

03:10 steering wheel here.

03:12 One thing I will point out is that the next step up from the GX is probably going to be

03:17 the sweet spot if you are going to be driving this as a daily, but if you're not, I guess

03:21 this is going to be okay for some people, but it is sort of pretty barren here in terms

03:25 of design.

03:27 In terms of your touch points, so pretty sort of scratchy up the top there.

03:30 That is softer as you work your way down.

03:33 This sort of cloth material here is soft enough as well and it's soft on the door too.

03:38 And how soft are those surfaces?

03:40 Well, we've got our durometer, we've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.

03:43 If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before, have a look

03:46 at the link in the description below.

03:49 Now build quality, a little wonky there in the centre.

03:54 Rest of this feels okay.

03:56 Door test, sounds pretty solid.

03:59 Moving on to infotainment.

04:01 So you have a couple of different versions of the infotainment system here in Corolla

04:05 Cross and the entry level gets the smallest, which is an eight inch display.

04:09 Thankfully though, it's not the old Toyota eight inch display.

04:12 It's still a version of the new infotainment system, but just obviously much smaller.

04:17 You also get, which I thought was pretty impressive, basically an LCD display ahead of the driver

04:21 too, which isn't something I was expecting to see here on the base model.

04:25 So inbuilt satellite navigation, that all seems to work pretty well.

04:28 In terms of audio, you have AM/FM, DAB, digital radio and that's all plumbed through a six

04:33 speaker sound system.

04:34 There's no branding on the sound system, it's all just sort of generic branding.

04:39 In terms of smartphone connectivity, you have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

04:45 Apple CarPlay is wireless, Android Auto is wired.

04:47 I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like.

04:49 So full screen integration, nice and quick and snappy as well.

04:54 So pretty impressed with that.

04:56 And this is what Android Auto looks like.

04:59 So same story again, full screen integration, very quick as well.

05:03 I'll quickly show you the screen ahead of the driver here.

05:05 So pretty straightforward.

05:06 You've got a tacho there.

05:07 Obviously you can change the display in terms of what appears there ahead of the driver,

05:11 but it's all sort of pretty straightforward.

05:13 It's just nice to see a digital display there instead of just analogue gauges.

05:16 What about your safety?

05:18 You have autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection.

05:22 You have a lane departure warning with a lane keeping assistant.

05:25 You've got cruise control, you have a blind spot monitor built into the wing mirror, you've

05:30 got rear cross traffic alert.

05:32 On the parking front, you don't actually have any parking sensors at all, you just have

05:36 a reverse view camera, I'll show you what that looks like.

05:38 I'll put it into reverse, sorry about the annoying beeping.

05:42 So it's actually not a bad camera, I can clearly see what's on the suitcase there.

05:46 You can also see what's happening around the car, so yeah, that's fine, no dramas.

05:50 Now our horn test, here we go.

05:52 Very cute sounding horn.

05:56 Moving on to practicality, and we'll start off with your connectivity.

06:00 You've got one USB-A port down the front here.

06:03 If you don't have wireless Apple CarPlay, you're going to be hooking up to that for

06:07 Android Auto, which means it'll be out of action for anyone else wanting to charge.

06:11 No wireless phone charging, but you do have a secondary USB-C port in here, along with

06:15 a 12 volt outlet as well.

06:17 In terms of storing your phone, you kind of have plenty of space, you can stick it there

06:21 in the cup holder, you can pop it down the front there as well if you want.

06:25 Bottle and coffee cup storage, coffee cup nicely fits into there, and on the bottle

06:30 front, the bottle fits into there as well, but there's no teeth, so it kind of moves

06:34 around a little bit.

06:36 Fits inside the door without any problems.

06:39 Try our big bottle.

06:42 You kind of have to cram it in there a little bit for it to fit in.

06:48 On other storage, you've got a centre console here.

06:51 It's actually not badly sized, although it was going to be way smaller than it was.

06:54 A glove box down here, which is pretty reasonably sized.

06:58 And finally, up the top here, where you would typically have a sunglasses holder, you actually

07:02 have the switchgear for the Toyota Connected Services, so you push and hold that for it

07:07 to go into emergency mode, so you can actually get connected to someone.

07:10 You can also then connect to the car with your phone app as well, so it's pretty cool

07:13 to see that that stuff is standard here on the entry-level model.

07:16 Now, what about your comfort?

07:18 So you've got automatic climate control up the front here, just a single zone, sort of

07:23 nothing too groundbreaking there.

07:24 Then on the seats, they're actually really comfortable.

07:27 So it is a fabric material, but you can see here it's got a bit of a design to it.

07:32 It looks kind of fancy.

07:33 Yeah, fully manually adjustable.

07:35 The only electronic part is the bolster adjustment that you can go forwards, backwards with.

07:39 Steering offers both tilt and reach adjustment, and on our reach test, all of this stuff is

07:44 easy to reach while you're driving.

07:46 Second row, the Corolla Cross.

07:48 Yeah, look, room is pretty cramped back here.

07:50 I thought it was going to be a whole lot more spacious, but yeah, knees are kind of in the

07:54 seat there.

07:55 Plenty of toe room though, and headroom is really good.

07:58 Map pocket in the back there on the passenger side, air vents as well, but no USB charging.

08:03 There's also no center armrest as well, you can't tip that down.

08:06 You do get two ISOFIX points though, and also top tether points as well, which is good.

08:11 Cup holder is nice and high, so you can pop your bottle in there, but yeah, not good for

08:15 coffee and stuff because it just moves around a whole stack.

08:18 And on our window test, oh, auto up and down, very nice.

08:22 Look at that, it goes all the way down as well, very impressive.

08:26 So cargo space, let's have a little look, see.

08:31 It's actually not bad, you've got a little over 400 litres of cargo space, storage under

08:35 the floor there with a temporary space saver spare tyre.

08:39 A little bit of storage off to the sides as well.

08:41 So bags, let's have a look.

08:43 Laptop can get into that little corner.

08:46 Now, big suitcase fits in as well, which is pretty cool.

08:49 And if you do want a little bit more space, what you can do is drop the second row out

08:55 of the way, and that kind of gives you very much an elevated load floor.

09:01 All right, we've hit the road in the Corolla Cross.

09:07 So very different driving experience to the last Corolla Cross we drove, which was the

09:11 hybrid.

09:12 Now, this is powered by just a 2-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine.

09:16 It's made into a continuously variable transmission.

09:19 It produces 126 kilowatts of power and 202 newton metres of torque, so it's teeny tiny.

09:24 What does all that feel like behind the wheels?

09:27 So it does make a fair old racket once you do get stuck into it, but it's surprisingly

09:34 responsive and it's surprisingly quick feeling as well, and the reason for that is that this

09:38 weighs barely anything.

09:40 So because you don't have to have all the hybrid components adding weight to the vehicle,

09:44 you strip it all back and it means that you get the bigger fuel tank in this, although

09:47 it does use more fuel, you get the bigger fuel tank and it also means that it does feel

09:51 a little bit more agile and responsive thanks to the shed back weight.

09:56 So from that point of view it's good, but you do pay the cost of having a bit of thrashiness

10:00 there when you do get stuck into it, because it is having to work hard to replace that

10:04 acceleration gap that you miss out on by not having hybrid components.

10:08 Now in saying that as well, this isn't like a Honda, for example, that charges significantly

10:12 more for their hybrid variants.

10:14 So our only charge is something like two and a half grand extra for the hybrid version

10:17 of this, even in two-wheel drive trim.

10:19 So unless you're specifically against the hybrid, I think it is worth stepping up to

10:23 that and paying that little bit extra, because it does give you that extra refinement and

10:27 the better fuel economy as well.

10:29 Now speaking of fuel economy, six litres per 100 k's is the official number.

10:35 We're currently sitting on 8.3, so it is higher than that claim, a fair bit higher actually.

10:41 So we have been doing a little bit of faster driving here for photography this morning,

10:45 but I still think it's probably on the higher side for a vehicle this size, and you do gain

10:49 significantly more in terms of fuel economy if you do step up to the hybrid instead.

10:56 Let's talk about the ride.

10:58 Again, those big profile tyres mean this rides really nicely.

11:02 They take a lot of the brunt before the suspension has to do anything, and as a result of that

11:06 in and around the city it's nice and easy going and relaxing.

11:09 There really isn't anything too much to stress about in terms of the ride quality.

11:13 Alright, let's pump this up to 130 for our sine waves.

11:17 So the sine waves mimic overtaking in Australia.

11:21 It's also the maximum speed you can do in Australia, 130.

11:25 So let's see how that feels like.

11:28 So there's 130 there.

11:31 Whoa, it is pretty bouncy.

11:33 So yeah, because the suspension has been softened up for city driving, you do pay the costs

11:39 there in terms of body control at higher speeds, it does feel a little unsettled as you do

11:43 hit those consecutive bumps.

11:47 So we don't have any drive modes here to choose from, but we'll go for a little punt around

11:52 the track and see what it feels like in terms of the handling.

11:55 I was pretty impressed with the all-wheel drive hybrid version, so I'll see if this

11:59 is any good.

12:00 Fair bit of body roll, tyres don't have a great deal of traction either.

12:12 Steering feels okay.

12:19 Nothing amazing, I think you lose a lot with this tyre selection.

12:22 So yeah, don't go buying this if you want an extremely sporty ride.

12:29 Time to do our 0-100m run.

12:32 So Toyota claims a time of 9 seconds.

12:35 I'm going to try and get up to 120 here so we can see what this is like for overtakes

12:41 as well.

12:42 So I'll turn the traction control off just in case.

12:44 Here we go.

12:45 100.

12:46 And 120.

13:04 Alright, come to a stop.

13:05 Let's see how it went.

13:06 Bang on 9 seconds for 0-100m and then 80-120 was 6.3 seconds, so not too bad.

13:13 This thing has the punch that it needs in that mid-range.

13:19 It is surprisingly good for a naturally aspirated petrol with a CVT.

13:24 The test you all love so much, our reverse speed test.

13:28 Let's see how it goes.

13:30 Here we go.

13:31 Actually I'll turn stability control off because it was quicker in the Hilux with stability

13:37 control off.

13:38 So let's see what happens.

13:39 Here we go.

13:40 There it is.

13:43 31km/h.

13:44 Now this is normally where we would test our lane support systems and how well this car

13:55 sticks to the road.

13:56 We actually did all of that in our other Corolla Cross review anyway.

13:59 This doesn't actually have the system that will self-centre, it only will stop you from

14:03 leaving the lane, but in essence the system in the other Corolla actually worked incredibly

14:08 well, worked on our third most lane too which makes it one of the best systems on the market.

14:12 So what's it like in terms of road noise?

14:14 So you do get a little bit of engine noise there coming into the cabin when you are going

14:18 for it, but outside of that it's actually pretty subdued.

14:23 I thought it was going to be a whole lot louder in here but those chubby tyres really do take

14:28 away a whole lot of the noise that does filter into the cabin, so for the most part this

14:31 actually sounds pretty good even on course-checked country roads.

14:34 Let's talk visibility.

14:35 Down the front there I can clearly see the front of the car, big wing mirrors as well

14:39 with the blind spot monitor built in.

14:41 Visibility out the back isn't very good, it's quite a narrow envelope there.

14:46 Finally, turning circle just over 11 metres and a pretty good number because it is nice

14:50 and tight for parking in and around the city and it makes manoeuvring pretty straightforward.

15:02 So the Corolla Cross, look I was super impressed with the last one that we drove which was

15:06 the top spec all-wheel drive hybrid.

15:09 This one, probably not as much and I think it's just because the base model just genuinely

15:14 feels like it's built for the rental market with the fabric seats, the plastic steering

15:18 wheel, even the colour doesn't help in here in white.

15:20 So yeah, if you are shopping in this segment I would at least have a look at the next level

15:25 up, it gives you a few of those extra creature comforts and makes it not look as sort of

15:28 entry-level as this does.

15:30 But it is worth spending just that little bit extra.

15:32 So let me know in the comments section below, have you bought one of these, have you rented

15:35 one of these?

15:36 Let me know what you ended up going with and whether you went for the hybrid or just the

15:40 petrol.

15:41 I think outside of it being the base model, the petrol engine is actually not too bad

15:45 and it handles nicely enough for what it is, it just feels a little bit barren in comparison

15:49 to some of the better stuff in the range.

15:51 So let me know in the comments section down there what you think of it.

15:53 If you did enjoy this video, please make sure you like it and you share it with your mates

15:57 and if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.

16:00 Until next time, take it easy.

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