Toyota Corolla Touring Sports Review 2025: Price, specs & boot space

There are plenty of compact estate cars you can choose from, but the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports offers a different proposition to many of its rivals. It’s big enough inside that it can be a good family car, although the rear seat space doesn’t accommodate taller adults all that well, and the boot isn’t the biggest. But it is a comfortable car to travel in, which is always going to be good news if you are a parent. 

Similarly, if you’re not too concerned with how quickly your car can go around a corner, the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports is a sensible and solid choice. And don’t even get us started on those brilliant, fuel-sipping hybrid engines.

Of the two engine options, the 1.8-litre 141PS has everything you need, it’s plenty quick enough and returns in-town fuel economy that’ll take your breath away. That said, the 180PS 2.0-litre is a lot quicker and still very cheap to run. Older cars had 122PS and 184PS. 

As for trim levels, the standard specification is actually very strong. Basic Icon trim includes 16-inch alloy wheels, Toyota Safety Sense, adaptive cruise control, climate control, sat-nav, a 10.5-inch screen and a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster.

The cars to beat are Volkswagen’s consummate all-rounder, the Volkswagen Golf Estate, the sharp-to-drive Ford Focus Estate and the incredibly spacious Skoda Octavia Estate, but there are also strong contenders in the shape of the latest SEAT Leon Estate and Peugeot 308 SW.

There's also the posher BMW 330e, Volvo V60 and electric MG5. 

One aspect that has been pretty much a universal truth for many years now is that Toyota builds its cars to a high standard. The Toyota Corolla Touring Sports comes across as an attempt to retain this well-deserved reputation while adding a little more in the way of interest and luxury to make the cabin a more pleasant place to spend time.

Unlike in previous models, much of the dashboard and the key contact points are made from either soft-touch plastic or leather, which makes a significant difference to the ambience.

What hasn’t changed is the solid feeling of the cabin itself. Everything still operates with assurance, and it feels like an interior that will happily cope with whatever gets thrown at it for some years.

The Corolla Touring Sports has a 10.5-inch touchscreen mounted high on the dashboard.

All versions also come with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, integrated into the Smart Connect multimedia system. There's also a wireless smartphone charger up front. 

Before, you could spec an eight-speaker 800W JBL stereo on top-spec Excel models. But Toyota has dropped this from the configurator even for the latest range-topping GR Sport guise.  

The Toyota Corolla Touring Sports measures 4650mm long and 1790mm wide. Unfortunately for the Corolla Touring Sports, it is somehow behind its key competitors when you consider interior space. In the front, there is no cause for complaint. There is a good deal of space for both the driver and passenger, with a large range of adjustment in the seat for both fore and aft as well as height. 

Adults over six feet should have no issues with headroom or legroom, and there is enough range of adjustment in the steering wheel that you can get comfortable and still have a clear view of the instruments. There’s also a decent amount of shoulder room, so you won’t feel squished together with your front seat passenger.

In the rear, it’s less impressive. If you are an adult under 5’10, then you should have enough room to be reasonably comfortable, but headroom is an issue for anyone taller, and the same is true for legroom if someone tall is sitting upfront.  

It’s not helped by the fact that there is little room under the front seats for your feet. Plus, anyone sat in the middle gets a narrow and perched chair and, due to the transmission tunnel that runs down the centre of the car, there’s less room for their feet. 

As for boot space, the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports offers a reasonable amount of space for a car of this size, but once again, it is some way behind the key competitors. 

Boot size depends on the engine. Selecting the 1.8 means a 596-litre carrying capacity, while the 2.0-litre cuts this to 581 litres. This is because the 2.0-litre engine bay couldn't fit the hybrid battery, so it had to go in the boot. 

With the 116PS, 122PS, and 184PS engines consigned to the history books, you now get two petrol-electric hybrids to choose from. Both engines are four-cylinder units driving the front wheels through a CVT automatic gearbox, with the 1.8-litre offering 141PS and the bigger 2.0-litre unit delivering 180PS.

In most circumstances, the 141PS 1.8’s performance is sufficient. It can deal with urban traffic with relative ease and is happy to cruise at higher speeds, but the lack of significant torque makes itself known when you try to accelerate briskly, and you’ll also have to put up with the engine roar caused by the CVT gearbox’s keenness to hold revs. 

The 180PS 2.0-litre is significantly quicker than the 1.8-litre version, and if you plan to fill the car regularly, then it might be the better option. It’s more relaxing to drive because you don’t need to work it so hard to make progress.

The Toyota Corolla Touring Sports is very much a mixed bag in refinement and noise levels, and much of that is down to the hybrid powertrain. When it’s operating on electric power only, which will be the vast majority of the time if you’re driving in town, it’s silent.

Even out of town, the Corolla Touring Sports can run on electricity up to speeds of 70mph for short periods, which makes up somewhat for the sustained engine drone the CVT gearbox causes when you’re accelerating. 

Larger engine aside, road noise and wind noise levels are acceptable, with the usual issue that cars riding on larger alloy wheels tend to generate additional tyre noise. 

The Toyota Corolla hatchback was awarded five stars when it was crash tested by EuroNCAP in 2019, and those results can also be applied to the Corolla Touring Sports. 

As standard, all Toyota Corolla Touring Sports get front airbags, including a knee airbag for the driver, side chest and pelvis airbags for the front seat passengers and curtain airbags for front and rear passengers. ISOFIX child seat mounting points are fitted in the outer rear seats, and an airbag deactivation switch for the front passenger seat.

Icon models have front and rear parking sensors with auto brake functionality. Blind spot monitoring, heads-up display, adaptive high-beam assist, and rear cross-traffic alert with automatic braking are added on Excel models. 

Just like the standard Corolla hatchback, the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports has proved to be very reliable since its introduction a couple of years ago, with no common issues reported. Meanwhile, Toyota as a brand enjoys an excellent reputation for reliability. 

Toyota came 8th out of 33 manufacturers in the latest Honest John satisfaction index, while the Corolla secured third place out of five in the most reliable car survey. 

With just two engine options and no variations between trim levels, the insurance groupings for the Corolla Touring Sports are pretty straightforward. Older cars with the 1.8-litre engine are Group 15, regardless of trim, while the 2.0-litre version was Group 21.

Icon 1.8 cars are Group 17, while 2.0-litre models remain in Group 21. Excel 1.8 models are Group 18, while 2.0-litre cars are Group 22. 

Most Corolla Touring Sports were under £150 before the latest April 1 2025 tax change. All models before and after this date now fall under the standard £195 rate, while new cars cost between £350 and £390 in showroom tax (first-year tax).

The entry-level Icon, as previously mentioned, comes loaded with tech to boot. Design cars get 17-inch alloys, a 10.5-inch Smart Connect system, smart entry and push-button start, rear privacy glass, dual-beam LED headlights, retractable door mirrors, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror and auto wipers. 

Excel was once the range-topper, but this now sits below the GR Sport trim. These get 18-inch alloys, blind spot monitoring, a heads-up display, adaptive high-beam assist, rear-cross traffic alert, heated front seats, while the driver seat gets power adjustable lumbar support. 

Finally, the GR Sport gets sportier bodywork and GR-branded interior bits, and that's it. Don't confuse it for a bona fide GR guise, there's no extra power offered here.