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Corolla will turn 54 years old in 2020, so it only seems fitting that along with a total redesign from the bumper to bumper and from the ground up, that Toyota include a Hybrid version of their best-selling nameplate!

Originally debuting in 1966, the Corolla only took eight short years to become the best-selling vehicle worldwide, and by 1997 it was the best-selling nameplate ever around the world. At that time it overtook the iconic Volkswagen Beetle — those are some pretty large shoes for the automaker to continue to fill each year.

It almost seems too long for the automaker that has brought so many great hybrids to the driving public over the years, starting with ever popular Prius hybrid that itself can get past 50 mpg. Our last outing back in 2017 in a Prius netted us 58 miles per gallon, which was pretty impressive.

One would have to ask, could the new Corolla get anywhere near the gas mileage of a Prius, as even with the new design it looks and feels like a normal sedan, not something from the future as the Prius has always appeared and made us feel when driving one?

The two are both set to attain 52 mpg combined mileage according to EPA estimates, and of course being hybrids, they are both set to do better around town than out on the open road. From the first day of our test drive, our entire goal was just to see if we could go through an entire tank of gasoline in the new Corolla.

We didn’t feel like that should really be much of a challenge as the compact sedan only holds 11.4 gallons when completely filled up! Well, after three days of driving we had managed to get the fuel gauge to move off of the completely full mark. This, however, was not a good sign as our average miles per gallon continued to climb skyward as we eclipsed the 55 mpg mark.

Really, how hard could it be to run this little car out of gas in a week? Even with planning out each day so we would maximize drive time in it with each of us taking the sedan when we had the most driving to do, it was just not to be. After a full week of these exchanges that involved all kinds of distances and driving environments at close to 400 miles of driving, we did manage to get the gas gauge just past the halfway point!

However, the Corolla informed that we still had 247 miles to empty, almost enough for us to get to St. George from Springville, and the only thing we had achieved was a 57 mile per gallon average.

Looking at that from a “how often would we need to fill up” standpoint, with that kind of mpg we should achieve 649.5 miles per tank! In our book that is how a hybrid should really perform, allowing us to fill up once for the trip from Springville to Los Angles — who could ask for anything more?

That brought back memories of the Volkswagen Golf diesel that we once owned that would get over 55 mpg on a constant basis, in which we did make it from Springville to Los Angeles on one tank of gas.

Toyota, the company that brought hybrids to the market and has continued to outpace itself every year with new models and concepts, has again hit one out of the park with the new Corolla hybrid. The only remaining question will be is how it will effect sales of the popular Prius model that is now built on the same platform as the Corolla?

The mileage alone is a great reason to take a hard look at the new Corolla; however, the fact that Toyota has also included their new Safety Sense 2.0 adds an even greater incentive to the package.

This package includes a pre-collision system that automatically brakes to help avoid or mitigate a front end collision, and will also detect a pedestrian even in low light conditions as well as a bicycle during daylight conditions.

Dynamic radar cruise control is also a standard feature that will follow down to speeds of 24 mph and stop when the vehicle in front stops maintaining that travel distance. Also included is lane departure alert with steer assist that will try to keep the Corolla in the lane if it detects the car leaving the travel lane. When both cruise and lane trace are enabled a lane centering function will help to keep the car in the center of the lane; we found it works best on relatively straight roads and would have some problems on tight corners.

Automatic high beam headlamps and road sign assist rounded the package both great options in themselves. We love it when the car will put the speed limit signs on the dashboard as we all sometimes tend to forget or don’t notice the change of a speed limit.

The new hybrid is not going to break any speed records as it takes over 10 seconds to get to 60 mph, but it does all that while gently sipping gas. In our world you will either have to elect for a faster vehicle and pay the price at the pump or opt to get something that can seemingly go forever on a single tank of gas — well for at least almost 650 miles anyway!

Base Price: $22.950

Price as driven: $25,233