First Look Review: The 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid is almost perfect!

Launched in the U.S. in Summer 2023, the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid recently received its first model year update for the 2024 model year. The hybrid compact SUV offers style and practicality along with great fuel economy at an affordable price. I recently spent time with the Sonic Silver 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid in the XSE trim. Here’s what I think about it:

Design

The 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid features a soft but rugged exterior, capturing the essence of a compact crossover. An upright face with wide headlamps and a prominent trapezoidal grille, flared wheel arches, and wide tail lamps that wrap around the rear wings and liftgate lend this electrified compact SUV a robust look.

Toyota offers the 2024 Corolla Cross Hybrid in a sportier style with a new Nightshade Edition, which is based on the carried-over SE grade. The 2024 Corolla Cross Hybrid Nightshade includes darkened headlamps and tail lamps, blacked-out badges, 18-inch gloss black sport alloy wheels, black door handles and rearview mirrors, and an integrated rear lip spoiler. It is available in a Jet Black paint, in which it gets a stealth-type look, as well as Barcelona Red with Jet Black (roof) and Celestite Gray with Jet Black (roof) dual-tone color schemes.

Production of the 2024 Corolla Cross Hybrid takes place locally at the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama. When I gave it a close look, I found that its panel gaps were consistent, and the paint quality was also commendable.

Interior

The 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid has a basic interior with a neat dashboard featuring a slim upper surface and an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system at its center.

When I sat in the 2024 Corolla Cross, I found its interior to be quite basic. Toyota designers have made efforts to lift the cabin with soft-touch materials on the passenger side of the dashboard, front door panels, and armrest, and paint black inserts around the air-con controls and drive selector. However, the vehicle uses generous amounts of hard plastic in other areas.

The semi-digital instrument cluster with a 7-inch MID isn’t up to the latest standards. On the plus side, I liked the generous use of simple controls like buttons, knobs, and switches wherever needed. Most of these physical controls, which make the car user-friendly for people of all ages and drivers with varying experience levels, offered solid feedback. The infotainment system comes with wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto.

I’m six feet tall, and I felt that the ingress and egress in the front of the 2024 Corolla Cross Hybrid were effortless. When I sat in the 10-way power-adjustable heated driver’s seat with lumbar support, I found the all-around visibility was very good, thanks to the large glass areas.

The steering wheel with manual tilt and telescopic adjustment could’ve felt better if it was chunkier and featured a heating function. When I opened the storage box below the central armrest, I found that its space was enough to keep a mobile phone and perhaps some coins and receipts. The storage box is made more useful by the presence of a USB charging port and a 12V/120W outlet.

I had adequate headroom in the front. I felt that lumbar support was good, and the under-thigh support could’ve been better. In the back, ingress and egress were no problem. The 60/40 split rear seat doesn’t have a heating function and doesn’t recline either. I found the angle of the backrest was a bit upright, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. I felt that the under-thigh support was alright and that the headroom was adequate.

I had enough leg space, but with the driver seat set to my position, my knee was brushing up against the seat back. Three kids could comfortably travel in the back of the 2024 Corolla Cross Hybrid.

The 2024 Corolla Cross Hybrid features a power liftgate, opening which reveals a cargo area with 21.5 cu. ft. of luggage space. Folding the rear seat expands the luggage capacity to 61.8 cu. ft. Toyota equips the 2024 Corolla Cross Hybrid with a tire repair kit instead of a spare tire.

Driving impressions

The 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid has a 194-horsepower powertrain and an e-AWD drivetrain layout, with the same EPA-est. fuel economy rating as the previous model – 42 MPG (combined). As it has no mechanical changes, it is safe to assume that the 2024 model drives and feels the same.

From what we know of the 2023 model, the Corolla Cross Hybrid quickly reacts to throttle inputs and has sufficient power to push it to highway speeds effortlessly. It allows the electrified variant to be quicker than the gas-powered Corolla Cross. However, it can get noisy with hard accelerator inputs.

The Corolla Cross Hybrid is well-controlled and predictable around corners, but the chassis is set up more for relaxed driving. The suspension does a good job of soaking up rough patches on the roads. Braking performance, while not said to be disappointing, isn’t as good as that of the gas model.

Price

The prices of the 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid start at USD 27,970 (excl. USD 1,350 DPH fee) and go up to USD 31,155 (excl. USD 1,350 DPH fee).

TopElectricSUV says

The 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid is almost the perfect hybrid compact SUV on a budget. While it may not boast the high-tech features of the 2024 Kia Niro Hybrid or the spacious interior of the 2024 Ford Escape Hybrid, it arguably has the best blend of performance, capability, and fuel efficiency in its class. If you can overlook the space and tech limitations, it’s a dependable choice, particularly for first-time car buyers.

Also See: The 2024 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Woodland Edition is for the nature lover!

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