First Look: 2020 Toyota Corolla is completely updated, now also a hybrid

Looking for a nice car to buy for your dependents but you really don’t want them to get too cocky too young too soon?  And at the same time, do you want them to be safe and use their money (and yours) smartly?

Believe it or not, the Toyota Corolla has been around since 1966, which is almost as long as the age-old argument of who was better, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.  (Clearly, The Beatles were better IMHO because without John, Paul, George and Ringo, whoda given a listen to Mick, Keith and all the other Brit boys who have come and gone since?)

Starting at $19,500 US (indeed, go up the trim chart) the 2020 Toyota Corolla is the car that has always been (for generations) the first car, the economy car, the car that can get your started and keep you within your budget even when you have little to show for your hard-earned shillings. My first car, in fact, was a Toyota Corolla Tercel, and I drove that car into the ground until it finally died around 100,000 miles (I still miss ‘Trixie’ to this day).

This year’s Corolla, at the ripe young age of 53, is wider and takes up more room, to be sure, but she hasn’t lost any of her punch and she is indeed better than ever.  Available engines include a 2.0-liter “Dynamic Force” engine that will crank out 169 horses, which is a lot of power for what has traditionally been known as a ‘practical’ car.  Speaking of taking up more room, look at all that trunk space: that’s enough to tell your dependents that you really can’t help them move when they get evicted – but they should be fine with all the interior room of the 2020 Corolla ….. and some questionable college roommates.

And now there is a hybrid Corolla as well:

The topline / headline for the Corolla Hybrid is that it can get a combined fuel economy of 52 miles per gallon.  The Corolla was always known as a car that will go light on your wallet, and now this will make it tread even more lightly, so, ya know, you’ll have more money for the finer things in life, like housing and education.

Available technology for the Corolla is hands-down better than the 45-RPM record player engineers tried to install in cars back in the 1960s. For starters, you can get an 8-inch touchscreen.  That’s like having an iPad right there as you drive.  (Please don’t drive distracted!) This tablet comes with Apple CarPlay®, Amazon Alexa, and Wi-Fi powered by Verizon. (…..Amazon Alexa, as if Jeff Bezos needs any more of our money or personal data! But I admit, I talk to Alexa all the time too….)

Toyota also has some of the best standard safety features on the market, and all of them will be connected to your dashboard tablet through the standard Toyota Safety Sense 2.0. Yeah, well, I really don’t get how all of it works either, but when something serious does happen while driving, I know it’s nice to have all these things working together to protect you.

I was able to take a few 2020s out for a spin around south Denver last month, and I found the ride to be smooth, easy-breezy, George and Weezy, if you will.  (Didn’t Jennifer Hudson do a great job singing the theme song to The Jefferson?) That’s what I like in a car: no drama, no hassle, just a nice feeling of ‘hey, if this were a spa, I’d be asleep already…’

We know you want the best for your children, yet at the same time, spoiling them rotten with an expensive, over-the-top car at such a young adult age will only hurt them, and we know this…..

So if you are going to spoil them, I say do it with the more affordable Toyota Corolla……