Toyota Corolla Altis

The interior of the 2019 Toyota Corolla is plenty spacious for all passengers, whether they are seated at the front or rear. Legroom, shoulder room, headroom, you name it—the Corolla Altis makes it easy for even taller adults to travel comfortably. Overall, it’ll be a challenge to find another sedan in its class with this much roominess for all passengers.

Unfortunately, the amenities do not match the generous space, as interior surfaces tend to be chintzy. Although the overall design is minimalist and the ergonomics impressive, the materials used are quite subpar, with hard plastics prevalent all throughout. Not at all what you’d expect from a flagship sedan.

Toyota has done well to ensure that the Corolla stays relevant in the age of modern cars. While many of its contemporaries are looking more and more outdated and bland with each passing year, the Corolla Altis exterior manages to evolve its look with successful aplomb. The front fascia takes on an aggressive stance with its wide wraparound grille, slanted headlights, and angular hood. In particular, the large, black lower grille that dresses the lower front bumper looks stylish regardless of which body color you choose. Speaking of body color, the Corolla offers five to choose from—White Pearl, Celestite Gray Metallic, Attitude Black, Silver Metallic, and Red Mica Metallic.

The Corolla measures 4630 mm x 1780 mm x 1435 mm, along with a 2700 mm wheelbase. The hybrid version has a taller height at 1455 mm due to the use of 17-inch tires, as opposed to the standard 16-inch rims used in the rest of the variants. Built on Toyota New Global Architecture, the new Altis marks the sedan’s next-gen platform which Toyota touts will provide the best driving experience for customers. 

The Corolla does okay in a lot of areas, but with nothing truly exceptional to speak of, it’s easy to see why this once-ubiquitous car is a rarity on the road these days. The driving experience is predictable to say the least, and the aforementioned issue with the engines further adds to the disappointment.

The Corolla Altis is available with a 1.6-liter Dual VVT gas engine or a hybrid 1.8-liter VVT-I paired with an electric motor. The former is good for 121 hp and 153 Nm of torque, while the latter does 97 hp and 142 Nm of torque. As you can see, these numbers are far from impressive. In a segment filled with advanced direct injection, turbocharged engines, and high-tech hybrids, and complex automatic transmissions, the Corolla is powertrain is left feeling dated, especially when you consider the transmission options—a lackluster 6-speed manual and a basic CVT. The Corolla Altis can be relied for daily driving, but lengthy travels, especially on stretches of highway, are a bit wanting.

The Corolla Altis relies on ventilated discs at the front and solid discs at the rear for its braking. Standard safety equipment includes the usual front and side airbags. Seatbelts, ABS with EBD, vehicle control and hill start assist. In addition, the Corolla Altis also comes Toyota’s Safety Sense driver assistance suite that includes dynamic radar cruise control, automatic high beams, lane departure alert with steering assist, a pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, and reverse camera. Toyota takes the safety of its vehicles very seriously, and this is evident in the way that the Corolla Altis is built.

Good at what it does best, there’s actually very little to fault in the Toyota Corolla Altis. Still, considering that the price exceeds the 1 million threshold (except the 1.6 E MT trim, which costs PHP 999,000), the amount of mediocrity in this Toyota sedan can be dumbfounding. But as long as you’re looking for a reliable, spacious car that doesn’t call too much attention, there’s no reason not to include the Corolla Altis in your buying consideration.