2 MAY-JUNE 2014 MAY-JUNE 2014 3

MAY-JUNE 2014 3
PHOTOGRAPHS: MARK CABILANGAN
BY MARK CABILANGAN
ON YOUR MARK
markcabilangan@gmail.com
First love
Were smiten with the beautiful 2014 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.6V
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My frst car was a 1992 1.6 liter Corolla
GLia practically brand-new, manual transmis-
sion, white unit that had about 5,000 km on the
odometer. I had just graduated fromcollege, and
my aunt sold it to me at half-price, payable in
monthly installments with zero interest.
Tis unbelievably fantastic deal was brokered
by my father, who could have easily bought me
the car, but he wanted to teach his son the value
of money. It proved to be one of the most endur-
ing lessons of my life. I treasured that car, because
a portion of my frst and successive paychecks
went to paying for it. As I scrimped and saved to
make the next payments, the experience sparked
my unending love afair with cars and gave me
perspective as a writer later on, looking at which
cars ofered the best bang for the car buyers hard-
earned buck. My Corolla and I shared a lot of ad-
ventures together, barkada nights, date nights,
and just the best memories a young man could
ever have. Tey say frst love never dies, and it
must be true, because I still look back longingly
on that wonderful machine that charioted the
days of my youth.
Fast forwardsome 22years later, whenToyota
Motors Philippines marketing specialist Jade Ma-
rie Sison delivered a white 2014 Corolla Altis 1.6
V to my doorstep one day. Te fact that this 2014
model was the same displacement and body color
as my frst love was not lost on me, and I felt an
overwhelming wave of nostalgia. Te journey has
come full circle, from the frst car I ever owned,
throughout the numerous vehicles Ive driven as
a motoring journalist, and there I was, behind the
wheel of a white Corolla once more. Tere and
back again, as Bilbo Baggins would say.
Te car in my garage looked nothing like my
aunts Corolla, though, or any model since. Tis
11th generation Corolla has shed the sof, pudgy
look of the previous iteration, and now sports
leaner, cleaner, and sharper edges while still
managing to incorporate some curves. Based on
the Furia prototype frst shown at the 2013 New
York Auto Show, the production version adhered
to the concept faithfully, with sloping lines for the
windshield, a streamlined roof, and the signature
concave hood.
If anything, Toyota seems to have taken a
page out of the Honda playbook, because this
new Corolla looks like an evolutionary descen-
dant of the highly successful 2006 Civic FD.
Toyota designers got their groove on with their
waku doki (translated: heart-pumping, adrena-
line-racing) mantra, delivering a sexy and allur-
ing beast. Te design theme seemed to have been
an amalgamation, or the pursuit of one-piece-
ness. Whereas previous models looked like an
assembly of diferent parts, the newCorolla looks
like it was chiseled from one block of marble.
Te lines fow fuidly, like in Hyundai cars. Te
thin, chrome grille merges smoothly with the
sleek and angular headlamps neatly and beauti-
fully. To add dimension, the hood has a dipped
middle, with oppositely protruding cheeks that
meld with bulging fenders. Slight creases stream
to a tall bumper that stylishly houses a secondary
grille and fog lamps.
An overview of the body reveals an Altis that
is noticeably longer, wider, and faterwith
good reason, too, as the wheelbase has grown by
a whopping 100 mm. Te overall body length
grew by 80 mm and the width by some 15 mm.
For reference, it is almost the size of a Camry
circa 1992, making this 2014 version the biggest
Corolla sedan ever.
Te big bonus comes in the endowment of
interior space. Compacts tend to plant passengers
close together, ofen resulting in awkwardly close
quarters. Te massive width of the new Corolla
provides liberty of personal shoulder space, and
all fve occupants also enjoy airy headroom. As
a lot of that newfound length was dedicated to
the rear portion of the cabin, the back seats of-
fer the most spacious knee room this side of the
C-segment.
Te two-toned, beige and black dashboard
of this new Corolla showed a marked improve-
ment fromits Spartan predecessor. It borrows the
multi-tiered look of the Rav4s dash and includes
some fancy carbon fber trimmings. Te sound
system is a single-din head unit, but adequately
provides Bluetooth, auxiliary 3.5 mm, and USB
ports. Te tweeters, automatic ACcontrols, prox-
imity sensors, and a push-start ignition buton are
generous features, considering the cars sub-one-
million-peso price point. Te gearshif seems
carried over fromthe Camry, and ofers a manu-
matic driving option in lieu of paddle shifers.
Te seats ofer excellent back and lumbar
support, which are comfortable but not too frm.
Sportier, beter organized, and more driver-cen-
tric, the interiors are quite good, especially for a
Toyota. If I were to nitpick, though, one major
gripe would be their choice of wrapping the seat-
ing surfaces in beige fabric. Even the relatively
new demo unit was grungy with dirt stains on
the seats. Black leatherete would have been more
practical for easier maintenance, and this writer
hopes Toyota ofers it in the next update. Te
thin plastic parts of the door panels could use
some beter materials and refnement, too.
Te 1.6-liter, four-cylinder engine cranks
out 124 horsepower, and on the road, it translat-
ed to ample but not copious amounts of power.
Te 116 lb-f of torque at 5200 rpm ensured that
it was sufcient for the jolts needed for overtak-
ing. Te CVT with 7 speeds of pure fun, as
touted by Toyota, indeed makes excellent use
of the engines smaller numbers, making for a
satisfying drive. Te Corolla is as functional,
dependable, and easy to operate as the 10 gen-
erations that preceded it, but most gratifying
was its fuel economy. It did seven to eight ki-
lometers per liter in the city in heavy trafc, but
it posted its best numbers at 10 kilometers per
liter on the highway. Not bad at all, for a Corolla
with a giant new body.
Typical of a Japanese compact, the steer-
ing ofered virtually no resistance at all, but the
turning radius was excellent for parking and ma-
neuvering. Te suspension, Macpherson struts
inherited fromthe outgoing model, was sof and
numbs the but from potholes of EDSA prior to
re-blocking. In other words, the Corolla is the
perfect inner-city everyday car. It is a trouble-
free, efortless proposition that gets one from
point A to B.
Te 2.0V starts out at P1.2 million, which
is a bit too expensive for a Corolla in my opin-
ion. Our tested unit, the 1.6V at only P999,000,
is the perfect balance of price and features that
will cause it to fy of the showroom foors. Te
next model down is the G unit A/T at P935,000
and P879,000 for the one with a manual gearbox.
Te entry-level model is the 1.6E M/Tthat costs
only P836,000.
Corolla, literally meaning small crown or
chaplet, has appropriately become Toyotas
crowning achievement since its introduction
in 1966. With over 40 million units sold, it has
moved the world as its most reliable automobile.
Just as my old 92 Corolla was the most valuable
possession I had some two decades ago, the 2014
model is sure to make some fresh college gradu-
ate very happy this year.
Afer all, suchis the magic of your frst love. AD
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