2017 Civic Si Coupe vs 201? Toyota Carolla 4 dr SE

aighead

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2017 Civic Si, 1988 Ford f250, 2004 Honda vtx1300
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So, I left a post here for why I had the opportunity to drive the Corolla (I spelled this Carolla a hundred times, d'oh!) for a few days. Here’s my view… It's apparently a long, boring read, I won't be offended if you don't read it, there aren't any big surprises.

As a car it’s fine, quite bland, and ho-hum, but for someone that doesn’t care about cars and just wants it to work and to get them places it’s probably even good. However, I didn’t like it, though the circumstances probably gave me some bias against it.

The engine was boring, there was terrible torque lag from 1500 rpm to about 3500 rpm, and while it seemed to pick up kind of quickly you wouldn’t know it from a butt dyno. It had the auto-shift with paddles, while that’s entertaining for a few miles the low rpm torque mostly obsoleted it’s need or use. Gas mileage seemed good, I think right around 35 mpg or so. I drove it my normal routes (around 30-45 miles per day probably) for 3 days and used half a tank of gas.

I don’t fit properly in any Toyota I’ve driven (6’3-4”, around 200lbs., for reference). I’ve driven Camry’s, my fiance’s Rav4, this Corolla, my grandpa’s Lexus SUV (probably similar to the Rav4) and I haven’t found one that felt great. Either the surfaces that my pointy parts touched were too hard or in places that left me quite uncomfortable.

The seats seemed decent and of similar or better quality as/than the Si. They had a leathery material around the edges that was nice, though I don’t know if it was leather. The pattern was a little weird but whatever. For my use they were comfy enough, and I was able to take a couple of my normal lunch naps on them, without much trouble. No bolstering at all, like the Si, but it’s not that kind of car. Final call? They were fine, neither comfy nor uncomfy. Normal seats. I struggle to find a seated position that feels right as I mentioned above. In this instance the dashboard was always in my knees on the right side (this seems to be a Toyota issue for me). My left arm couldn’t relax either, it was always moved towards the front of the car more than I would have liked, due to the pillar between front and back doors. I’m finding this to be fairly common among smaller 4 door vehicles.

The Corolla would get up and go ok, but upon hitting 80 mph or so it started getting a little shady. I don’t know that floaty is the right word for it, but the Si feels like it just sticks to the road, and I felt like I had to be very deliberate at higher speeds to keep it pointed where I wanted, like it may wander off. In the Si, though I haven’t tried it, I feel like on a decent road I could do whatever speed and let go of the wheel to find it going right along with no drama. The Corolla almost felt like it was on casters and could scoot any way it wanted. Maybe it’s narrow tires, maybe it’s something else, but it didn’t feel good, and 80-90 mph doesn’t seem like it’s fast enough to warrant that behavior. There was a “Sport” button that I couldn’t feel any changes from, not sure what it did.

As we know the Si eats curves pretty well. The Corolla doesn’t. Lots of roll, not much in the way of feedback from the road that makes you feel like you are doing it right (or wrong). I haven’t driven a lot of cars since getting my Si, but the Corolla was the first where I understood what body roll meant. It felt sloppy, and yes, I understand this is not any kind of performance car. I was asking it to come close to doing things it wasn’t built for, however, doing similar speeds, on the same road, driving my old 2004 Mercury Sable felt better than the Corolla, though the Sable was more tank-y, if that makes sense.

Man, do I miss a good view. While the Si’s front windshield is nice and big, the body style of the car and the pillars make it less than ideal to see out of. The Corolla has it beat here. Big windows and small pillars make it a breeze to see all of where the car is. Backing up felt right again, being able to see curbs and stuff around me was a delight, and it was bright and airy inside the car. I missed the sunroof that the Si has. And the front doors are too short, from front to back, for my sitting position, thus making the windows too short too…

This little Corolla had a ton of room in it. Granted I have the Si Coupe which has plenty of space for my kids but looking into the back seat, of the Corolla, at my kids, it felt like they were a mile away. Also, there was tons of head room, like probably 4-5 inches. I don’t remember how much space the Civic sedans have, but it seemed like this was more.

The dashboard and infotainment screen were fine. Nothing terribly hit or miss, other than normal sized, functioning volume and scan knobs for the stereo. While it’s not a huge deal I really don’t understand how Honda thought removing those was a good idea, along with the temp. control stuff. Having physical knobs really is significantly better. The screen on this Corolla was very bright and washed out, but there was probably a setting I didn’t mess with that would have made that better. The screen also seemed to react more quickly than the Si.

I don’t like the look of the Corolla. Toyota is very hit or miss for me in the style department. I like the look of the new Camry’s, a lot, but I didn’t like this at all, and I hate any of the newer Prius’s. They all have weird angles and corners and points that don’t make sense to me. I love the 87’s or whatever they are called, and Supra’s, and their trucks are nice, but not so for this little thing. I know style is very subjective and that these same points could be made about my Civic, but for whatever reason I like the Honda lines waaaay better (unless it’s the new Ridgelines).

That’s all for my long comparison or review…
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