Let me clarify one thing right away: Corolla is not a Cross Bad car. It happens to compete with a number of other subcompact crossovers, some of which have more character like the Chevrolet Trax, or off-road chops like the Subaru Crosstrek, fun-driving dynamics like the Mazda CX-30, or near-luxury features like the Hyundai Kona. The Corolla Cross doesn’t offer any of those, but it makes owning and operating the car a whole lot easier if you’re the kind of person who wants your car to disappear into the white noise of your life.
The gas-only Corolla Cross is particularly forgettable, powered by a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter inline-4 that sends 169 horsepower and 151 lb-ft of torque to the front or all four wheels through a continuously variable automatic transmission. This combination is EPA-rated between 31 mpg city, 33 mpg highway and 32 mpg combined for the most efficient front-wheel-drive Corolla Cross L, and 29 mpg city, 31 mpg highway and 30 mpg combined for the top XLE AWD cars, which is a bit disappointing.
Additionally, my test Corolla Cross When I asked the little two-liter Cross to lift 3,500-ish pounds of weight with its butt in the driver’s seat, it got quite loud and raucous. Going through the maneuver requires very long range vision and a lot of patience and the lack of power became even more apparent as I drove above sea level.
Apart from the car’s weak engine, its steering is poor, but at least it’s light enough to maneuver easily in parking lots, and the brakes do their job well. Toyota’s Safety Sense 3.0 suite of active safety features is standard on the Corolla Cross, though you’ll have to step up from the base L to the LE grade to get blind-spot monitoring, and you’ll have to get the XLE to get front and rear parking assist with automatic braking. The adaptive cruise control worked great during my week with the car, and it’s easy to operate using the steering wheel controls.
The top XLE trim gets an upgraded 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, which is clear and easy to see without causing fatigue at night, but navigating through the menus on the cluster is unnecessarily more complicated. However, the standard 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system is very clear and easy to navigate, but it lacks a home screen. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come standard on all Corolla Crosses, and I had no problems connecting my iPhone 15 to the car at any time during my loan.
At least it might be relatively cheap, with a starting price of $26,485 including destination for the base Corolla Cross L FWD, but the sticker price of my loaded Corolla Cross XLE AWD was $33,954. At that price point, the value proposition of the Corolla Cross seems weak.
