(Photos here: www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/toyota-corolla-touri...2) It's very attractive outside, and the new Corolla hatch is better proportioned than the outgoing Auris (my current car), which always looked a bit lumpy at the rear.
But the interior, specifically the dashboard, is a disappointment. Yet another of those currently-in-vogue, bolt upright, sticking-out, in-your-face touchscreens, afflicting more and more cars.They remind me of the "20% off Flora margarine" promotional panels clipped to the shelf in a branch of Sainsbury's.

Its one of the reasons that puts me off them and Lexus in general - they often look like something from the 1980s inside, e.g. the aptly-named GT86, with wall-to-wall cheesy plastic fittings,

As a BRZ owner I'm curious; what fittings in the 86 do you consider to be cheesy plastic?

No worries, Andy. "You pays yer money, you takes yer choice."

Apart from the insert on the passenger side of the dash (some cover it in Alcantara), I like most of the inside for its simplicity.

That cheap clock is fantastic to me. You press two buttons to adjust it and it shows the correct time.

I HATE those clocks built into the big displays that takes a good look through the owner's manual to find that it is accessed by pressing down three layers of menus and then pressing promptly or it reverts to the home menu.

The toggle buttons are just for pressing down only and the hexagonal temperature control buttons are gimmicky but work fine (some put a lego tyre on them to make them more tactile!).

The driving position is near perfect incidentally. Seat fabric not so hard wearing however.

17 in rims as you say are a sensible touch. The hard Prius tyres, not so much.

No e-handbrake either.

I've been looking around and I cannot find anything I like styling wise and know to get similar levels of handling, I'll pay a heck of a lot more.

That Corolla does look good but tablets on top of dashboards are naff.

Edited by groaver on 05/09/2018 at 20:13