Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid: Efficient and Frustrating

If you choose to buy a new Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid with all-wheel drive(AWD) over a regular ol’ gasoline-only Corolla Cross, you gain (according to Natural Resources Canada ) a:

32 per cent fuel economy bump in the city
23 per cent reduction in your fuel costs
24 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions.

Sound good?

Perfect pleasant looks.

You bet. Now look at the price tag of a new Corolla Cross Hybrid.

The cheapest AWD one lists for about $6,000 more than the gas-only starter version — $37,030 versus $31,195. A back-of-the-envelop calculation tells you that it will take 15 years to recover the hybrid price premium in gasoline-savings.

At least all Corolla Crosses use regular gas.

You might want the hybrid because it takes a big slice out of CO2 emissions and that, along with very good fuel economy, is good for the planet. And at least the Corolla Cross Hybrid lists for about $11,000 less than a pure EV that is similar in size and features – say, a Kia Niro EV ($48,444) .

I’m betting the average Canadian digging into the price of a “green” vehicle suffers a real slap to the head when they start shopping. Sticker shock.

Here’s what I mean: the average Canadian household earns about $75,000 a year. A $40,000 or $50,000 new car hammers before-tax monthly take-home pay of around $5,800.

The screen is ridiculously small, and looks like an after-thought.

I’ve shared a lot of numbers, and they all were swirling around in my head as I tucked into a $39,800 Corolla Cross HSE tester. Would I pay 40 grand for this little crossover runabout?

Probably not.

But at least I could be certain it would be purring away in 15 years, when I’d paid off the price premium in fuel savings. Let’s be clear: 15 years takes us to 2038.

Toyota tells us that this Corolla Cross Hybrid has the latest, super-duper hybrid system, the fifth-generation. It’s excellent. The shift back and forth from gas to electric and in between is seamless. You will realize savings in things like brake jobs over the life of this rig, too.

And at a combined 194 horsepower, our little runabout is quick – 0-100 km/h in some 8.2 seconds, if you can live with the howling from the powertrain when you floor it. At highway speeds, this car is noisy.

It’s also loaded with a huge bag of standard features, from all sorts of safety tech, to over-the-air updates, a responsive, easily-understood multimedia system, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, automatic high-beams, and on and on. Equipped like a luxury car.

Lots of hi-tech features and good outward visibility.

It’s not a luxury car, though.

The seats are poorly designed, under-sized for grown-ups like me. They lack under-thigh support, lumbar support, firm padding and width. A disappointment.

Toyota Multimedia may be a technological marvel, but the tiny little screen to operate it is the size of an iPad Mini, one slapped on top of the centre console like an after-thought. The graphics are marginal, but at least the mini screen is positioned in the driver’s eyeline.

Storage space is also an issue. The door pockets might hold a sunglasses case, which is good because there is no built-in sunglasses holder. The little cubby at the base of the console where you might put a smartphone is too small. Toyota equips the Corolla Cross only with USB-C ports That’s fine if you’ve just spent $1,500 or $2,000-plus on a new iPhone 15 but terrible if you plug gadgets into an old-fashioned USB Type A.

Meantime, back-seat room for passengers is tight. At least the seatback folds almost completely flat to add some usability to a decent cargo space.

In a nutshell, then, the fuel-efficient Corolla Cross Hybrid is well made and laden with features, and it’s also very small, lacking in spaces for your odds and end. The screen is absurdly undersized and the seats are, literally, a pain in the…