Toyota Corolla Cross
#61
Lexus Fanatic
My biggest beef with Toyota is their amount of advertising. I love the brand, but I'm totally annoyed with their flood of advertising. Toyota's marketing geniuses should already know the brand's reputation sells itself, but perhaps that realization would lessen their importance within the corporation?
And none of those vehicle-ads mention markups or supply-shortages.
#62
Lexus Fanatic
edit: funny enough I just saw a Toyota Corolla Cross commercials on tv right now while I watch the tail end of the Raptors. Lots of millennials in the ad.
Last edited by Toys4RJill; 01-08-22 at 05:31 AM.
#63
This Corolla based "mini-ute" "appears" to be inferior in looks, styling, materials, etc., but Toyota's market is more interested in reliability and reputation than appearances. While it would be ideal to have both, it would also be more expensive (and thus Lexus was born).
Not accusing you Bit, but I see a whole lot of Toyota bashing on CL, and while oftentimes the criticisms are just or simply have a modicum of truth, the amount of bad-mouthing is head-scratching. Sure, we should prod Toyota to do better and offer honest opinions, but we should consider leaving the majority of this negative hyperbole to other brand "club" sites. In other words, let's not eat our young!
My biggest beef with Toyota is their amount of advertising. I love the brand, but I'm totally annoyed with their flood of advertising. Toyota's marketing geniuses should already know the brand's reputation sells itself, but perhaps that realization would lessen their importance within the corporation?
Not accusing you Bit, but I see a whole lot of Toyota bashing on CL, and while oftentimes the criticisms are just or simply have a modicum of truth, the amount of bad-mouthing is head-scratching. Sure, we should prod Toyota to do better and offer honest opinions, but we should consider leaving the majority of this negative hyperbole to other brand "club" sites. In other words, let's not eat our young!
My biggest beef with Toyota is their amount of advertising. I love the brand, but I'm totally annoyed with their flood of advertising. Toyota's marketing geniuses should already know the brand's reputation sells itself, but perhaps that realization would lessen their importance within the corporation?
Corolla Cross is perfect Toyota, very bland and inoffensive, big on practicality, it will sell like crazy, no wonder they built new factory around it in the US.
#64
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
#65
Lexus Fanatic
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#66
Lexus Fanatic
#67
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
#69
Pole Position
I don't want to be constantly brainwashed into buying a particular brand of anything. I look to unbiased reviews and recommendations from friends and family before spending my hard-earned money, especially on an expensive item like a vehicle.
I grew up in the 60's and 70's watching football on TV before the days of fast-forwarding through commercials. I must have seen thousands of Chevy truck commercials, and thus, was brainwashed into believing they were "like a rock" in reliability. Before I bought my 2001 Tundra, I purchased a Chevy truck, but only kept it for a short while. I was constantly troubleshooting and repairing one issue after another. It was the worst "rock" I ever owned. Like a rock, it sat immobile much of the time!
BTW...I worked at the advertising firm that developed and marketed the "Pet Rock."
#70
Lexus Fanatic
Checked out a Corolla Cross Today
I went and checked out a Corolla Cross today.....without a test-drive, and not extensive enough to really start a new thread. But I got a good enough look, inside and out, to see that, as I first suspected when this vehicle was first unveiled, this is, for a single person or small family, arguably one of the best all-around daily-drivers in Toyota's line-up. It is essentially what the name implies.....a (more or less) Corolla Wagon on stilts, with a little extra ground clearance, and the AWD option for bad weather. The interior and exterior trim, like with the slightly larger RAV-4, are a little Spartan for my tastes, but, unlike the RAV-4, of somewhat better quality and solidness. The underhood lacks nice gas struts to hold it up (you use a manual prop-rod), but the hood itself isn't that heavy, and it has a nice underhood insulation pad. In the rear of the XLE version, under the floor, was a big full-size temporary spare tire......no run-flats or compressed-air bottles. A pull-shade cargo cover was included. Headroom inside was OK for a 6' 2" person my size, even with the sunroof, but marginal for anyone taller than that. And foot/leg room in the rear was a little tight......the back seat is clearly better off for kids than large adults. But, like I said, it's excellent for singles or a small family. Under the hood, it has what GM should have used in the Trailblazer/Encore GX and didn't......a non-turbo four of reasonable output instead of the turbo-three. A sport-shift CVT comes standard....not my favorite type of transmission, but Toyota CVTs have been more reliable than those from some other manufacturers. The paint was the usual Toyota excellence. The shifter was a nice, simple fore/aft with no zig-zags. My only real complaint with it was the cheap-looking black interior (better-looking two-tone interiors are available) and the Etch-a-Sketch-type video-screen...but the materials used in the cheap-looking interior were of decent solidness. I didn't particularly like the classic Toyota scowling-bulldog grille, but that's a minor issue, and more subjective than anything else. The primary instrumentation (not surprisingly) was similar to the blue-edge Corolla sedan instruments. I didn't test-drive it, but, from the platform and specs, it probably drives just like most other non-sporting Corolla-based products...more or less like an appliance, but that is the way most people who buy this type of vehicle expect it to drive.
.....Oh, and this particular Toyota dealership wasn't quite as generous as the Ford, Genesis, and Lexus shops I've been to lately while looking at and writing up their newest products. This place freely admits it is asking more than list (list on the Pearl-White Corolla Cross XLE I was looking at was around 31K)....the other dealerships said they would let most of their products (with a few exceptions) go for list or less. I would normally have looked at these products at the D.C. Auto Show, but I didn't take it this year for several reasons. (and Steve said he wasn't very impressed with it, either)
.....Oh, and this particular Toyota dealership wasn't quite as generous as the Ford, Genesis, and Lexus shops I've been to lately while looking at and writing up their newest products. This place freely admits it is asking more than list (list on the Pearl-White Corolla Cross XLE I was looking at was around 31K)....the other dealerships said they would let most of their products (with a few exceptions) go for list or less. I would normally have looked at these products at the D.C. Auto Show, but I didn't take it this year for several reasons. (and Steve said he wasn't very impressed with it, either)
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-09-22 at 06:52 PM.
#71
Pole Position
Nice review M&M, as per usual! I could easily see my son upgrading to the Cross, from his Matrix, when the time comes. I agree it is a good move to keep the standard engine NA vs turbo. Don't need the gas struts, but kudos to Toyota for providing the full-sized spare (I thought these might be extinct by now)! Yes, it is like an appliance, hopefully a really useful and reliable one like we have come to expect from Toyota.
#72
Lexus Fanatic
This is not a bad little vehicle at all, I sat in it at the car show. I would buy this over the regular Corolla any day of the week.
#73
Lexus Fanatic
Nice review M&M, as per usual! I could easily see my son upgrading to the Cross, from his Matrix, when the time comes. I agree it is a good move to keep the standard engine NA vs turbo. Don't need the gas struts, but kudos to Toyota for providing the full-sized spare (I thought these might be extinct by now)! Yes, it is like an appliance, hopefully a really useful and reliable one like we have come to expect from Toyota.
Individual tastes may vary, of course, but in general, I'd strongly recommend the two-tone interior....the all-black version, IMO, is not terribly pleasant to sit in, even with nice leatherette.
#74
I was behind one of these last trip. From a distance I saw Toyota logo. I thought they updated the Rav4. I had to speed up to find out it was a Corolla Cross. First encounter. Nice little car for a specific group.
#75
Lexus Fanatic