In that case the Hybrid makes little sense for you. One small piece of advice; for any new car, it’s good to give it some decent mileage on the first month. Get it as close to the 1000km mark as possible, or at least do more than 500km in both stop-start traffic and highway conditions (and rainy weather if possible). That way, it’s easier to suss out any potential issues and have the SC settle it in the first service.

Just test drove both Hybrid and GR Sports. Won't get into details. In brief summary:-

1. GR Sports feels more powerful with hard acceleration. The Hybrid engine emits a louder and more prominent low frequency growl in hard acceleration.
2. Little difference in handling and suspension but can't really gauge with the short test drive route.
3. Overall impression, the steering feel, ride and handling meet my expectations. Steering doesn't feel light and is quite accurate and sharp. In comparison, the Honda CRV steering feels way lighter with less road feel.
4. Steering of GR sports feel a bit heavier than hybrid I think. Both steering feel and weight of the hybrid and GR Sports feel good to me.
5. Suspension, no complaints. Firm yet comfortable. Both GR Sports and Hybrid. Can't really feel the difference much, perhaps small difference or negligible.

Some pictures of the GR Sports:-





Also, viewed the interior of the Corolla sedan. The rear seats look more spacious inside than the Cross.



In summary, for my driving style the GE Sports is more suitable for me. The sound that the hybrid engine gives out during hard acceleration feels like it is struggling. If on fuel economy, then the hybrid wins all the way.

Will wait for the new Corolla to launch before making the final decision. Speculated price is RM145k.

Now I understand why my colleague who bought the hybrid said it's underpowered. And also YS Khong's remark in his YouTube test drive video that the normal version of the Cross is more powerful than the hybrid when going up Genting Highlands. For folks who frequently do hard acceleration or engage in more spirited drives, the GR sports with the NA engine is surely a much better choice than the hybrid to me.

I still like the look of this Altis, if not limited to older gen 1.8 engine I already bought it...

Personally, either Corolla Cross GR Sport or Corolla sedan is fine to me. In other words, both are acceptable to me. The only issue is there isn't any major difference between the current Corolla (which is not available for sale anymore) and the upcoming new Corolla, and the current Corolla was sold at RM15k discount when Toyota was clearing the vehicle several months ago. If there was a Corolla available for sale at the discounted price, I would have bought it already. There is none available now, and if you consider the new Corolla, you will be paying RM15k-20k more for the face lift model without any major differences.

Older but proven 1.8L engine is not an issue for me. It's proven reliable being used for many years, refined and improved throughout the years. NA engine is going to be phased out anyway, as hybrid and electric will slowly take over in the upcoming years. So in my view in does not really matter even though the 1.8L NA engine is old.

A disclaimer which I need to make. I just found out that the Corolla Cross hybrid I drove just now was in Normal driving mode. I was made to understand that there is a Sports mode available for the hybrid, and I didn't test this Sports mode when I drove the hybrid. It was only when I drove the GR Sports version I knew the hybrid came in several driving modes when my brother in law asked the salesman if the hybrid came with driving modes after he too felt the acceleration of the hybrid was lethargic when compared to the GR Sports. He was sitting at the rear seat of the vehicles when I was driving both hybrid and GR Sports.

Perhaps the Sports mode in the hybrid model will turn the tables and bring the performance of the hybrid close to the GR Sports in hard acceleration? The Normal driving mode of the hybrid is not suitable for spirited drives as I have found out.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jul 2 2023, 07:54 PM

Bro these are family SUV/sedan ferrying passengers from point a to b.

And it's Toyota with their touted (read: ancient, lol) legendary reliability.

You say Mazda can still somewhat ok ok make believe. Or Honda with their Motorsports heritage in past and current, and very aggressive styling obviously aimed at younger owners.
The turbocharger is pretty much icing on cake and is what stood out amongst the choices between these 3 brands, That are actively competing in both B/B+ in between C/C/D segments sedan and SUV.

It might have been the Eco mode that you were driving it on (which is the default). I found Normal mode okay. Eco mode was lethargic, especially initial pickup. Like those junctions where you need to drive into a road across oncoming traffic - Eco mode gives you zero confidence in actually making it across before the oncoming cars reach you, while Normal mode is more… normal, I guess.

This is a characteristic of all Toyota hybrids I’ve tried, from a relative’s Prius (forgot which gen, it’s the one that shares architecture with the Lexus CT200) back when they were new in Malaysia, to the Camry Hybrid I was leasing up until 1.5yrs ago. Best to just forget about Eoo mode and leave in Normal. The mileage difference on the Camry Hybrid was only around 0.5L/100km at worst anyway.

Sport Mode on the Cross Hybrid just shortens the throttle response slightly and tightens up the CVT ratios a bit. Steering weight remains the same (slightly lighter than GR), from what I could tell

I too would have preferred the Altis over the Cross. Just pay a little bit more for double wishbone setup. But UMWT doesn’t offer a hybrid Altis variant here. Other reason is that my mom (I mentioned buying the Cross for her in earlier posts) had knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago and isn’t comfortable with the knee bending required to get in/out of a sedan anymore (I think it’s more psychological than physiological, because her surgery and rehab went great), and she likes the entry*/exit height of my Harrier (XU80), so the Cross was overall a better fit for her.

* instead of putting some weight on the knees or one knee like how we do it, she prefers resting her bum on the seat first before lifting her legs in, and most urban crossovers seem have their seats at a better height (compared to sedans) for her to do that.

This post has been edited by dev/numb: Jul 2 2023, 11:18 PM

Actually, you mom's method is more preferable as you've mentioned the obvious issue of the common practice and I've bolded it again.

Ass got more cushion compared to legs, but you got a bit of a "drop" getting into the vehicle as opposed to "smoothly" getting in with legs.

Fortunately, me (and wife) gotten used to this method no thanks to my own coupe that's by default already super low, so the Civic FE feels right at home using the same method despite many complaints that it is really low.

And comparatively between the 3 brands, the Civic FE is indeed the lowest height c segment sedan in the market.

Just to add on, contrary to popular believe, the Eco mode on Toyota hybrids is actually more suitable for highway cruising instead of city driving where more stop and go (acceleration) is involved





This post has been edited by ZeneticX: Jul 3 2023, 03:32 AM

Ya lowest among the C segment.

But then Civic FC/FE is not particularly low versus the exec C contis. The seating position not as low as Civic, but ground clearance 130mm - 150mm range is lower than Civic. Can you measure yours? I see some 140mm to 170mm, not sure malaysia spec. Hybrid RS maybe different height vs turbo too.

Overall hip point height about the same, could even be lower depending on model/spec.

My car used to have ground clearance 13cm near front wheel, 14cm near rear wheel (align with 136mm of official spec). Now is 15cm+/16cm+, lol.
New tyre lifted my car some 20mm. Maybe 5mm contributed by new tread, the rest 15mm I can only attebute to stiffer side wall despite I drop 2psi.

P/S: cm becuase I measure myself, not at eye level could be few mm off

But any of that still better than old camry combination. High sitting position, 160mm ground clearance but very soft spring. When fully toad with passengers, ground clearance KO, hit the floor at many Taman bump, front bumper hit the ramp of some multi level carpark. At least Civic FC/FE never heard any friends got such problem.

This post has been edited by constant_weight: Jul 3 2023, 09:16 AM

Different mode on daily driving passenger car only change the throttle response, power delivery.

No impact on max torque/horsepower. If you already floor it, it is what you get eco or sport mode, no different.

Remember my old corolla hill climb. 2nd gear drag to redline about 80km/h. Upshift to 3rd, stuck at 3500rpm max and speed slowly drop even with fully pressed throttle. Dropped to 70km/h downshift to 2nd and repeat the sad driving story, until I gave up 3rd gear, floor it, whatever speed let it be.

Yes, it is a manual 1.3L AE92. Maybe my youth emotional damage made me obsessed with horsepower these day.

Yes, it might be Eco mode but then the salesperson who attended to my test-drive must have done disservice, not only not revealing beforehand on the different available driving modes of the Cross hybrid (hence unable to test them) but also telling me that the vehicle was in Normal mode when I was test driving the car. Anyway, the response from Constant_weight appears to be contradictory to your experience as he feels that there's no difference between Eco and Normal/Sports mode during hard acceleration. Having said that if in normal driving conditions without any hard acceleration, all versions of Corolla Cross are nice to drive.

Anyway, regardless of what it is, I find the acceleration performance of the non-hybrid to be satisfactory, not underpowered.

The drive of all versions of Corolla Cross is certainly much more refined than other SUVs including Kia Sportage previous generation and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport which I"ve driven few times, especially the Sportage for more than a year as a company car. As a matter of fact, I feel the suspension of the Corolla Cross is more slightly more comfortable than Mazda CX5. It combines the best of both worlds in having a comfortable and yet not too bouncy suspension. In other words, the Cross drives closer to a sedan than an SUV. Honda CRV is way too floaty and bouncy than Corolla Cross. No experience with HRV.

Corolla sedan vs Cross GR Sports, will see how it goes. I think the price will be almost the same between the 2 high-spec models. A matter of preference.

If that's really the case, then the petrol version of the Corolla Cross will be more suitable for people who like to drive a bit quicker than others, or those who frequently do hard acceleration. With the hybrid, the sound either from engine or gearbox transmission is a little weird and louder during hard acceleration. With the non-hybrid, it's the normal sound from the engine during hard acceleration, and the sound is not so loud as the hybrid.

See his first sentence about different modes only changing response. See my bit about the Sport mode only improving the response and CVT gearing. In that sense, he and I actually concur. We only differ in our daily needs - I mostly just want to get to work on time and he wants to set Nordschleife lap times.

Hahahaha, well said!!!

I didn't mean just hard acceleration. I meant floor pedal to metal max acceleration.

Quick tap on throttle to eg 3k-4k rpm, sport mode ECU open throttle faster, thus faster response.

Sport mode doesn't make more power than eco, just more willing to give you power with smaller input, more willing to downshift. When throttle already open max, horsepower/torque same in every mode. Same concept on the throttle controller.

Being said that, beside spirited driving, taking fully loaded passengers and luggages up hill, don't expect sport mode to give you any boost.

This post has been edited by constant_weight: Jul 3 2023, 12:58 PM

No idea never really bothered. Sure, I'll go measure when I'm free and remember.

But the car will scrape a bit of you pass through speed bumps higher speeds (>30 or 40kph) under full load full passengers full rear trunk (family vacation with baby, majority of items are baby's lol)

Civic springs are really soft too
But since globalization, their dampers are more conti feel than usual Asian vehicles/CKD Melaka, hence a really good purchase and IMHO is what really set apart the FC and FE. (Along with both engine and CVT drive train improvements) Again I'm not really bothered on aesthetics.

For sure we've gone through very different experiences.

I started with 3 speed auto 4g15 iswara auto with like 58 horsepower.
Then 5 speed manual Kancil 660, even lower horsepower.

Until today horsepower is the least of my concern. Unless it's less than 10 ponies kapchai on a Gohtong/Genting uphill, 1 gear will sound like the piston is gonna greet you any time soon, 2nd gear your bike may sometimes decelerate.

That's my only notable experience on wanting more power

After so much discussion, I wonder what car that TS bought 😁

I bought the Nissan Almera earlier in March. The upcoming Nissan Kicks will likely be the next family car, if they price it right.