- Melbourne to Sydney in the new Toyota Corolla hatchback
- 1,000 km coastal road trip route via Bateman’s Bay
- Corolla makes for a compelling long-distance companion
- It's also built right here in the UK
- Lease a Toyota Corolla with Select Car Leasing
We braved a 1,000km Aussie road trip from Melbourne to Sydney in a Toyota Corolla - and here's five things we learned from the experience.
This roving Select reporter was Down Under watching the British and Irish Lions rugby team.
While enjoying the tour, we had to get from Melbourne (south coast) to Sydney (east coast) - a 1,038km jaunt when you hug the picturesque coast road via Bateman's Bay.
So, how did we get on, and should we have chosen a faithful Aussie 'Ute' to make the journey rather than our dependable Toyota Corolla?
Here's five things we learned:
Australia is massive - and our ‘short hop’ wasn't very short at all
Australia is simply vast. It covers a land mass spanning almost three million square miles making it the sixth largest country in the world. In fact if you lay a map of Australia over Europe, it would swamp the majority of it.
Our supposedly 'short hop' via from Melbourne to Sydney looked simple on a map.
We opted for the coastal route, stopping in Bateman’s Bay (below) despite knowing much of the trip would be covered in the dark, before then completing the journey to Sydney. This first hop was between nine and 10 hours of driving time covering in the region of 480 miles. While it’s recommended to take a few days for the journey, we set off early and planned to cover the distance in a single day – possibly not the wisest decision we've ever made...
Kangaroos are a problem
As dusk fell, we were aware that wildlife may prove more problematic than anticipated - and we were spot on with that assumption. With signs warning of wombats and kangaroos, experience told us to keep to a slower pace and our car (the new Toyota Corolla) featured a high beam assist lighting system amongst its extensive list of safety systems. With excellent illumination spanning far ahead and stretching both sides of the roads, we were able to easily spot kangaroos from a good distance away as they darted and bounced across the highway.
We should point out at this stage that more than 12,000 insurance claims are made annually in Australia involving collisions with wildlife, the large majority of which involve kangaroos. Additionally, despite being cute hippity-hoppity marsupials, they can grow up to seven feet in height and weigh up to 200 pounds. So, any unintended contact is certainly no joke.
Thankfully, our cautious approach (along with the assistance of our Corolla’s safety tech) worked well and we arrived safely in Bateman’s Bay, albeit several hours later than initially planned.
The Corolla was a perfect road trip companion
With so much outback and punishing dirt track roads, the go-to vehicle for non-city dwellers is generally a trusty old Ute (pick-up to you and me). However, there is one car that has been a global best-seller for decades and we wanted to see how it coped on our road trip that was predominantly Tarmac-based.
The car is the Toyota Corolla which has sold more than 1.1 million units Down Under since 1991 (when sales records go back to). However, it has featured prominently since 1967 when it became the destination for the first Corolla exports. Additionally, from 1968 to 1999, in excess of 666,000 Corolla cars were built in Toyota factories at Port Melbourne, Dandenong and Altona in Melbourne.
Our test model was the range-topping ZR model (the equivalent of the UK's range-topping 'Excel' grade) and it was fitted with all the bells and whistles, including powered, heated seats, a head-up display, sat nav, full smartphone connectivity via wireless Apple CarPlay or wired Android Auto, a pitch perfect eight-speaker JBL sound system, Bluetooth a 12.3-inch multi-information display, eight-inch colour touchscreen, along with a wealth of safety features and driver assistance aids that we were most grateful to have – I’ll get to that a little later.
The five-door hatchback had bundles of space with ample room for two huge suitcases, along with other smaller bags, snacks, water bottles and every other essential for a lengthy journey.
With excellent comfort levels, along with a very effective lumbar support system, the Corolla was everything we expected. The 1.8-litre, four-cylinder petrol-electric hybrid engine was matched to a refined and automatic CVT gearbox that has come on in leaps and bounds over the years. Long gone are the days when it whined and protested when faced with heavy acceleration or steep inclines – the latest generation set-up is smooth, responsive and barely makes a sound.
With an official combined fuel efficiency figure of 58.8mpg, the Corolla eats up the miles for fun and re-fuelling stops will be few and far between even on a lengthy trip such as ours.
The grip is confident and reassuringly comforting especially as the route included some steep mountain climbs in weather that turned in the blink of an eye. One minute it was sunnies and air con, the next it was more akin to Armageddon. We had rain, lightening, thunder storms and I even spotted some hail along the way. But still our plucky Corolla proved it’s a car for all seasons.
Melbourne-Sydney coastal route is pointless in the dark – but wonderful in the daylight!
After some well-deserved R&R in Batemans Bay, the second part of the journey towards Sydney was completed a few days later and in complete daylight – so no sign of any wildlife. Instead, we were treated to spectacular coastal scenery with crashing waves and steep rock faces, along with vast open areas featuring numerous vineyards along the way.
The Corolla manoeuvred through the busier seaside towns with ease thanks to its impressive agility and perfectly weighted steering and there were drive modes to flick through too called Eco, Normal and Power – these changed the responses and dynamics of the vehicle accordingly.
After five hours (it seemed much less), we arrived into Sydney and had to say a fond farewell to our super Corolla.
On reflection, we could have tested a larger pick-up, complete with added front-end protection against wildlife, but were pleased to have opted for the ever-popular Corolla instead.
The Toyota Corolla- built right here in the UK – still has mass appeal (even though it’s cheaper to purchase outright Down Under)
The Toyota Corolla has been in production since 1966 across 12 generations with global sales topping 50 million, making it the world’s best-selling car.
Cost-wise, the Corolla ZR we drove was priced at AUS$40,450, which equates to less than £18,000. Worth noting the UK’s Corolla Hatchback range starts from £30,795 and the high-end Excel costs from £35,795. Quite a difference there, then.
The UK is also responsible for building the Corolla with a factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire as well as an engine plant in Deeside, North Wales. Last year, there were almost 13,000 Corolla models sold in the UK in Hatchback or Touring Sports (estate) body styles, proving it’s still a very popular go-to car for the masses.
And just in case anyone doesn’t know, the British and Irish Lions won the series!
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