Faults:

Nothing. It's a Toyota. People say they're falling behind and all kinds of negative things, but they know nothing about what reliability has to do with time fraction.

Just like my family's cars, any Toyota we owned from Land Cruiser to Starlet - nothing went wrong, but saying that - changing brake pads or a cambelt on older cars is not something going wrong, but it's maintenance. So don't mix things up there.

General Comments:

Most journalism these days comes from enthusiasm about performance rather than an independent view of the overall car itself.

Most reviews comparing a Corolla to other brands, the Corolla never wins, but guess which sells the most? It's the Corolla and there is a bloody good reason why.

In Europe a car may carry a social status and there is discrimination when the view comes to imports (Japanese/Korean etc), but I'll tell you what - there isn't much gap left with a well sorted reliability reputation.

I've owned 96 cars over the last 18 years. I review them, and owning all types of cars and driving them is my passion. In NZ cars are cheap enough and at times I had a garage full of cars, and the max I owned at times was 8.

Anyway the Corolla 2016 E170 series is more refined than the previous generation.

Ride smoothness, improvement on handling, design inside and outside; also had a great shift with similar HP along with the trusted previous generation engine and CVT.

Of course the km being too low, nothing has gone wrong and it's early to tell, but the CVT along with the nippy engine is the perfect partnership to get you very satisfying fuel efficiency.

The interior being simple and where it should be, the stereo on the 2015 sedan is a new generation and does everything as it should, hands free is amazing quality, sitting position is just right, and lots of room front and back along with a large boot.

On the open road and in the city it's a pleasant drive. Compared to a Mazda 3 it may not feel as sporty, but the power output is close enough. The Hyundai Elantra is also another good candidate to be compared to, and they certainly are great cars, but I picked Toyota for its simplicity.

Toyota NZ recommends a service every 15k or 1 year, which is apparently different from Aus (10k or 6 months?)? Don't know why?

But either way, it doesn't handle like my BMW, but it wasn't meant to anyway, and it handles great enough for a car of its size and shape among competitors.

Long journeys are very comfortable, and short trips are also pleasant when you hop in and out.

Anyway:

A) If you are or not a car guy

B) Want reliability

C) Great fuel economy

D) Cheap and simple to fix

E) Good resale value

F) Great safety

G) Looks decent

H) Comfortable

I) Pleasant to drive

J) And don't want a hidden enemy

It has to be Toyota, and my pick would be a Corolla for my daily use. The rest are too big or small, or not practical for my day to day use.

I have tried all the Corollas from the ke20, and every new generation only gets better, although I won't agree with the ae110 (didn't personally think it was a step up), but the current generation is certainly the best outta the lot. Pretty obvious for company like Toyota who keep refining to come up with newer and sharper models.

Cheers.

Faults:

Nothing yet. This it the first installment of ownership comments for this car.

General Comments:

It's not a race car. It's not a hyper MPG car. It's not a luxo-sport car to be compared to BMW, Lexus, etc. What it is, is a good all around A-to-B car, which should be relatively inexpensive to operate and maintain.

This Canadian-made Corolla is the base 'S', with CVT, 16" steel wheels, touchscreen infotainment, push-button automatic climate control, and simulated leather (vinyl) seats with cloth inserts. I stayed away from the S-Plus trim, due to the 45 series 17" tires being very noisy on several 2014 Corollas I rented last year. Also, the 16" tires on this car (Michelin Primacy) will be cheaper to replace and last longer than the 17" Firestones. I also didn't want the extra complications with the S-Premium, which gets you the headaches of more a complex touchscreen infotainment system and keyless entry, of which the fob batteries die every 2 years and need to be replaced to maintain the 'keyless' feature.

NOTE: Unlike some of its competitors, which get a can of fix-a-flat, the Corolla still has a real spare tire.

Things I like about the '15 Corolla include:

1). LED low-beam headlights... these throw a wide, clear beam across and down the road.

2). Ease of driving... not a nervous, jittery, herky-jerky ride like some Mazda3s and Ford Focuses, or the Chevy Cruze (as mentioned above, I rent a lot of cars in my line of work, which provide me many first-hand comparisons).

3). Dashboard design. The open design (they call 'retro') makes the car feel bigger than it is. By comparison, the driver's seat in the Focus and Cruze makes one feel a bit crammed in like a sardine.

Some things I don't like:

1). Cabin could be a bit quieter above 65MPH.

2). The amount of "free-wheeling" by the CVT, in reverse, takes a bit to get used to, similar to a manual-transmission car.

What I'm not sure about on the 2015 Corolla:

1). The CVT. For a CVT, the unit in the Corolla (made by Aisin), functions well, so far. In 'sport' mode, on the highway, the thing easily tops the Chevy Cruze 1.4T for performance and is on-par with the 2.0L Fords & Mazda ATs. In normal mode, the CVT is unobtrusive and does what it is supposed to do... get you down the road with little fuss. The unknown about the CVT did not move me to buy the dealer's extended warranty for $2000. I figure Toyota did their homework developing the unit, and the CVT should provide a good service life. Time will tell if these Aisin CVTs are any more reliable than the JATCO CVTs found in most all other CVT cars.

Since I was pretty happy with our other, other car, a 2007 Ford Focus, I considered the 2015 Focus... but Ford is having trouble with that PowerShift (I think that is better described without the "f") transmission, and are rushing a conventional automatic in for 2015. But, as of this writing, Ford still doesn't have the 2015 Focus on sale in the US. Also, on the 2007, I found it strange I had to replace the motor mounts and the accessory belt pulleys LONG before the spark plugs(!).

As noted, this '15 Corolla was bought to replace an early 2000's Chevrolet Prizm, with about 250k miles. Yes... the Prizm is essentially a Corolla, built by Toyota at the NUMMI factory in California, to be sold by GM... The only things that broke on the Prizm were the Delco/Delphi/GM parts needed to make it "different" from its cousin, Corolla. Actually, the only things that really 'broke' on the Prizm were the Delphi blower motor resistor and EVAP canister solenoid valve. Believe it or not, this Prizm was still on the OE Iridium tipped spark plugs and accessory belt pulleys at 250k miles! Since the Mazda3 and Focus share so many (troublesome) design elements, and the Prizm was virtually trouble free, I decided Toyota would get my money this time. Oh yeah... we've also had 3 other virtually trouble free Corollas since 1988.

I'll report back later as my ownership experience develops... like how the first 'free' (10k mile) oil change goes at the dealer, with the specified 0w20 Toyota synthetic motor oil...