Video: 2010 Toyota Corolla

We're going to take a look and agree that it styling is at best inoffensive. Now the way small cars are built these days, it is possible for a tall person to fit, to live with it comfortably, not a problem. We just compared this car with the Nissan Sentra and a Honda Civic. I have to say of the three, I would like more leg room than I'm getting here. Now I was able to drive it for a week. I noticed that when you put the seat down (lever pumping) standard adjustment, it actually moves it back a bit, but still the whole time I was driving it I was feeling like I just want a little bit more room. I think that that might be a deal breaker for me. I'm six feet tall. That said, tilt/telescoping steering wheel is well worth having. The footwell itself is actually a little bit crowded too. Another thing people tend to notice when they look at a modern, compact affordable car, is that the interiors are much nicer than you might think. Certainly better than you remember from say five years ago. That said, we're a little disappointed in the Corolla in this regard too. The materials are actually pretty hard. And we try not to emphasize that too much when it's on the dashboard, because you're not touching that, but issues like armrests, you want that to be padded. (Joe tapping armrest) This is not the case here, not the case on the door armrests either. Also not crazy about the feel of these controls, even though they're pretty easily understood, pretty well laid out. And then there's the issue of build quality of what they call fit and finish. We generally don't harp on that a little bit too much, but when it's inconsistent, like the gaps on either side of the horn pad here, you notice it and actually this is something that Toyota used to be well-respected for, was things like fit and finish. Seems like they're slipping. Now, even though I wanted more driver's seat travel to give me leg room in the front, that doesn't mean that there's a whole ton back here. Granted, this is all the way back and it's a soft seat so even though I'm kinda jammed in there, it's not terribly uncomfortable, but some small cars have larger backseats than this. On the upside, it's pretty wide and on the downside, no center arm rest, which again, some competing cars do have. Now we also noticed that the cloth upholstery in this car is kind of like lint brush material. Does a really efficient job of collecting every speck of dust and lint. Now the Corolla's trunk is a decent size. You have folding back seats, just like other cars in the class. (boot slams shut) Overall, as I detail in the review, this is a car that does what it needs to do. It's not particularly exciting. The issue though, is the things we aren't crazy about, the lack of space inside and the interior quality, they don't just happen to change easily. This was a car that was redesigned in 2009. That was an opportunity for Toyota to get really competitive. They didn't, and as the years go by, the competition is just going to get better and better. If you're shopping, you're definitely going to want to see what else is out there. (upbeat music) <v Announcer>For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog, kickingtires.net.