Toyota Corolla review - Reliability and safety

Traditionally, one of the best reasons to buy a Toyota has been reliability – and customers who voted in our 2020 Driver Power satisfaction survey seemed to agree. The Corolla finished in 7th place out of 75 cars, with only 7% of customers reporting an issue with their car. There was positive feedback for ride and handling and running costs, although the infotainment system didn't score highly.

The Toyota Corolla received a five-star Euro NCAP rating in 2019, with strong scores for adult and child occupant safety (95 and 84%, respectively). Pedestrian safety also fared well with a mark of 86%. There’s an impressive list of on-board safety equipment as standard, including automatic headlights, adaptive cruise control, reversing camera, lane departure warning and Toyota’s lane trace system, plus a driver attention alert system.

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Warranty 

Like all Toyota models, the Corolla comes as standard with a five-year, 100,000-mile warranty (with no mileage limit in the first year) that puts most of the three-year items offered by its rivals to shame. The Ford Focus comes with a three-year/60,000-mile warranty, for example – cover that the Volkswagen Golf matches. None come close to the seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty offered on the Kia Ceed, however.

Hybrid models are subject to a five-year, 100,000-mile battery warranty that can be renewed to cover an extra year or 10,000 miles. This can be continuously renewed up to the 15th anniversary of the car’s registration provided a Hybrid Electric Service is carried out at a main dealer Toyota Hybrid Electric Specialist.

Servicing

An intermediate service for the Corolla costs £190, with a full service priced at £340. Hybrid models are subject to extra checks at service time, but Toyota does not charge any more for this.