Toyota Corolla (1998)
This car only confirms what we've always said about previous ToyotaCorollas: that they were built too well. Toyota obviously came around toour way of thinking, and has "decontented" the new Corolla. "Decontenting"is basically a euphemism for taking content out of the car to make itcheaper to build. They try to take out stuff that you won't notice. But,we have to say that we noticed stuff was missing from this Corolla.
Without having the old Corolla side by side with this new one, we couldn'ttell exactly what was missing. It just felt chintzier. Suffice it to saythat this new incarnation of the Corolla feels very empty and cheap to us.
Ray even thought this new edition of the Corolla was smaller than the lastone. But, we got out our measuring tape and found out that he was wrong.It's bigger. But, it's interesting that it felt smaller to him.
Having said that, we're sure that the Corolla will prove to be extremelyreliable and will last a million miles. Previous Corollas have been amongthe most reliable and long-lasting cars on the road. But, before you jumpin, think about this: are you going to be praying for this car to die after150,000 miles so you can get something bigger?
View cars.com model report on this vehicle.