Overall, the Corolla is, to describe it succinctly, OK. In other words, just fine. It rides smoothly. The steering lacks feel. So do the brakes. It tips in turns. It dips in hard stops. It's no fun at all, but, clearly, it was never meant to be.
My test car was the Corolla S, as in "Sport." That meant it had sports-car type gauges and a spoiler on the trunk lid. It also had a "Sport" button and steering wheel mounted paddle shifters. I tried them. They work. They just seem weirdly out of place here, like Tabasco sauce on mashed potatoes.
It was surprisingly easy to pin the gas pedal all the way to the floor without causing any unhealthy rise in blood pressure. There was a little excitement with that "Sport" button turned on but, really, that's just because the car seemed so unprepared to handle even that moderate increase in acceleration. Some cars feel great going quickly. This one... does not. If feels scary, in a bad way.
You could say I'm being unfair here, picking on the Corolla for not offering something that was never intended. Honda Civics, Hyundai Elantras and Ford Focuses aren't sports cars, either, but at least they're enjoyable to drive. A car doesn't have to be scintillating to be nice but the Corolla becomes increasingly less pleasant the faster you go in it.
