2024 Toyota Corolla Hatchback

The Toyota Corolla has a well-earned reputation for safety, reliability, and overall practicality. The hatchback version has all of these qualities with the addition of greater cargo flexibility than the sedan, plus sportier styling. This well-rounded compact boasts a long list of standard infotainment and safety tech features, plus excellent fuel economy and good resale value.

The Corolla Hatchback competes with the Subaru Impreza and the hatchback variants of the Honda Civic and Mazda3. The Corolla and Corolla Hybrid sedans are reviewed separately.

2024 ushers in the Nightshade trim of the Corolla Hatchback. It’s primarily an appearance package for the SE trim with dark exterior trim, bronze-colored wheels, and a black roof with a vented spoiler.

Before buying a Corolla Hatchback, check the Kelley Blue Book Fair Purchase Price to know what you should really pay. The Toyota brand is the champion on our Best Resale Value awards list, and the Corolla Hatchback’s resale value is above average for the segment.

The Toyota Corolla Hatchback is powered by a 169-horsepower 4-cylinder engine matched with a CVT automatic transmission and front-wheel drive.

The Corolla’s engine prioritizes efficiency over performance, but in our testing, it had enough pep to get around town and cruise on the highway comfortably. Acceleration is quick enough for daily driving duties and an improvement over the weaker base engine in earlier model years of this Corolla generation. Standard paddle shifters help improve driving engagement.

Overall, the ride is compliant, the seats are comfortable, and it’s hard to find fault in how it drives.

The GR Corolla is a different animal. Its turbocharged 3-cylinder engine produces 300 horsepower, and you get a 6-speed manual transmission and all-wheel drive. This is a formidable hot hatchback with real track-ready performance comparable to the Honda Civic Type R.

We’ve spent hundreds of hours driving and evaluating the current collection of compact cars, including this Toyota Corolla Hatchback.

Fuel Economy

The base SE trim of the Corolla Hatchback has a combined fuel economy rating of up to 35 mpg. The GR Corolla gets 24 combined mpg and requires premium fuel. Compared to the modest SE trim, the fuel costs of the GR Corolla are an extra $100/month.

We found the interior quality of the Corolla to be pretty good for a compact car at this price point. We like the standard sport seats, which feature enough bolstering to provide a snug feel without sacrificing comfort. As for the 8-inch infotainment screen, we love that it has standard wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and a traditional volume knob.

We noticed that the rear seats have less legroom than the sedan version of the Corolla. The hatchback has 29.9 inches of rear legroom, compared to 34.8 inches in the roomier sedan. This is also noticeably less rear legroom than the hatchback variants of the Honda Civic (37.4 inches) and Mazda3 (35.1 inches).

As for cargo space, the Corolla Hatchback has more cargo room than the sedan, but it’s still a little tight for a compact hatchback. There’s 17.8 cubic feet of cargo room behind the rear seats, while the Civic and the Mazda3 have 24.5 cubic feet and 20.1 cubic feet, respectively.

All of this to say, the Corolla Hatchback has adequate interior space if you rarely have passengers or bulky cargo, but similarly priced rivals are roomier and more cargo-friendly.

The Toyota Corolla Hatchback has a decidedly sportier look than the sedan, especially in the XSE trim. LED headlights and alloy wheels come standard, making every Corolla Hatchback a stylish compact car.

Toyota Safety Sense 3.0
The Toyota Corolla Hatchback is generous with standard safety tech features for a car in this price range. The standard Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 system includes features like automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, road sign assist, and automatic high beams.

Toyota Audio Multimedia
This feature-rich infotainment system comes loaded with connectivity features like wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, making it easy to connect your smartphone to the screen in your car.

Quick and efficient engine
The standard 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine under the hood of the Corolla Hatchback strikes a nice balance of performance and efficiency.

Available contrast roof
The Corolla Hatchback is available with a Midnight Black Metallic roof in contrast to one of the bold available paint options like Finish Line Red and Blue Crush.

Standard automatic climate control
This simple feature goes a long way in improving the interior comfort of the Corolla, and we love to see it standard on such an affordable car.

XSE trim
Springing for the XSE trim brings many upgrades while keeping the price reasonable, like LED fog lights, 18-inch wheels, SofTex-trimmed heated seats, a JBL audio system, and more.

Power for the Toyota Corolla Hatchback comes from a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine rated at 169 horsepower and 151 lb-ft of torque. It powers the front wheels via a CVT automatic transmission. It returns up to 35 combined mpg, so it has a good balance of power and efficiency.

The mighty GR Corolla is powered by a 1.6-liter turbocharged 3-cylinder generating 300 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque. It also has a 6-speed manual transmission and all-wheel drive.

3-Year/36,000-Mile Warranty

The Toyota Corolla is backed by a 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty and a 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty. This warranty coverage is average for this class. Toyota also throws in a 2-year/25,000-mile complimentary maintenance plan.

Safety

The Toyota Corolla has a strong track record for safety as a repeat winner of the IIHS Top Safety Pick award. On top of its good crash-test ratings, it’s well-equipped with standard safety features like automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, and much more.