Toyota Corolla review - Reliability and safety

Traditionally, one of the best reasons to buy a Toyota has been reliability – and owners who voted in our 2023 Driver Power satisfaction survey generally seem to agree. The Japanese brand finished in 12th place (out of 32) in our latest best car manufacturer rankings, while the Corolla itself came 41st out of the best cars to own.

The Toyota Corolla received a five-star Euro NCAP rating in 2019, with strong scores for adult and child occupant safety (95 and 84 per cent, respectively). Pedestrian safety also fared well with a mark of 86 per cent. There’s an impressive list of on-board safety equipment as standard, including automatic headlights, adaptive cruise control, reversing camera, lane departure warning and Toyota’s lane trace system, plus a driver attention alert system.

But you can never have enough safety tech it seems, as Toyota added even more as part of the Corolla’s facelift in 2023. The biggest addition was Toyota T-Mate which combines the latest version of the brand’s Safety Sense set-up with other active driving and parking assistance systems. Higher-spec Excel versions also get, among other systems, a Safe-Exit Assist that will trigger a warning to stop passengers opening a door into the path of a vehicle or cyclist.

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Warranty 

Toyota offers what it calls a 'Relax' programme which means every new and used Toyota is able to be covered by up to 10 years’ manufacturer warranty. This is provided via a standard three-year manufacturer warranty (from the vehicle’s first registration date), which can then be extended every year following annual servicing at a Toyota dealer. 

Hybrid models like the Corolla are also subject to a five-year, 100,000-mile battery warranty that can be renewed to cover an extra year or 10,000 miles. This can be continuously renewed up to the 15th anniversary of the car’s registration provided a Hybrid Electric Service is carried out at a main dealer Toyota Hybrid Electric Specialist.

Servicing

Toyota says every 12th-generation Corolla needs servicing every year or after every 10,000 miles, whichever comes first. Toyota also provides Service Plan Plus packages starting from £29 per month for the Corolla, which combines three scheduled services, one MOT and two years of additional roadside assistance, on top of the one year of roadside service every new Toyota gets.