 Please love you guys. Welcome back to another one. If you are new to the channel, I'm Gulponi at the new car track SUV reviews on YouTube and today we are in the brand new 2023 Toyota Corolla hatchback courtesy of younger Toyota in Hagerstown, Maryland. For more information on their inventory, please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. So we are in this one today because there are actually plenty of changes for the 2023 Corolla hatch. It's still incredible reliability. That is what the Corolla is known for after all. You also get two years or 25,000 miles of complimentary maintenance as well, which is definitely going to save you some money there. So ultimately in this video, we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering feel, ride quality, sound system exhaust, clip, all that fun stuff. So having said all of that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it and as always, let's start with pricing. So there are simply two trim levels for the 2023 Corolla hatch, first one being the SE, which is the one we are in today starting at $23,005, then there is the XSC starting at $26,430. But regardless of the trim level that you go with, the power plant on this one is going to be the same. Powering the Beast is a two-liter naturally aspirated in-line four-cylinder, putting out 169 horsepower at 6,600 RPM, 151 pound-feet of torque coming in at 4,800 RPM. More said to the front wheels through a CVT with paddle shifters, 0 to 60 time coming in at approximately 7.5 seconds, with MPG numbers differing actually between the trim levels for the SE coming at 32 in the city, 41 on the highway, then for the XSC, 30 in the city, 38 on the highway, taking regular unleaded fuel. So before we do any kind of fun acceleration or paddle shifter test here in the Corolla hatch, wanted to mention two guys, the drive modes. There is actually a drive mode toggle switch located directly in front of the shifter that is going to give you eco, normal, and sport. I actually just put it into sport and it did just downshift for me. Keep in mind it's a CVT, so it's simulated shifting, but it's holding the RPMs at a much higher level. So it will adjust things like the shift points, the throttle response, but also the steering sensitivity then as well. So now I've got all of that out of the way. What do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find it straight away. Let's put the Corolla hatch here to the test in the rain or sleet or hail or whatever this stuff is I'm driving through right now. Let's see how quickly the paddle shifters are going to react and let's also see how quickly we can get this one here up to speed. Alright, so to put it in full manual shift mode, just slide the shifter all the way to the back and to the left. It's saying I'm in first gear. Here we go. Huh. Wow. That simulates an automatic transmission incredibly well. Like better than 95% of the cars with CVTs that I drive. That was brilliant. Wow. Okay, so to put it back where the car has full control, just slide the shifter back to the right. You're out of the full manual shift mode, but decent acceleration. Again, this acceleration is going to be perfectly fine if you driven a Corolla SE before. So 0 to 60 in seven and a half seconds, that's perfectly respectable for this car. And again, the paddle shifters actually are decent. I mean, they're not the quickest reacted paddle shifters, but they're not slow either. And again, it didn't feel like I was driving a CVT there. It felt like I was driving a traditional automatic and it was shifting through actual gear. So that was nice. Well done Toyota for that. I definitely liked the way that worked and that was in support driving mode, so I do like that. Anyways, well done. Anyways, to go along with that acceleration as always, braking is equally important. So up front you will find a 11.5 inch ventilated front disc. In the back, 10.5 inch solid rear disc. As far as that 60 is your stopping distance goes, it actually comes in on paper at 129 feet, which isn't the best number, but it kind of feels like that. But I will say the braking feel is on the firm side. It just doesn't bring you to as quick of a stop as you would probably want in this car. As you would typically find in this car, a lot of the competition, I believe the Civic actually does it in 114 feet, which is actually sports it in good. But typically you're looking for the lower 120s, not the upper 120s because that's typically like 3-row SUV kind of good. So anyways, then touching on suspension and handling, up front you're going to McPherson strut front suspension. In the back, independent multi-link rear suspension. As far as ride quality goes, it actually has a bit too bad of my short little test drive here today. I mean, in cars like this, compact cars, you are going to feel a little bit more of the road, but it's perfectly acceptable for me. It's nothing that would personally bother me. As far as cabin noise goes, we're going 53 miles per hour right now. There's a lot of rain going on, so I will say that. But I like the engine noise when you really get on the gas. I will say that as well. But cabin noise is actually pretty much to be expected. So in compact cars, you typically are going to hear a little bit more of the cabin than you otherwise would in larger sedans. Let's just say that. But as far as steering feel goes, let me actually try to put it in sport driving mode. It is a noticeable difference with the steering feel. Now, even in sport driving mode, it still kind of tends to lean on the looser side of things as far as that steering feel goes. So I wouldn't mind it if they firmed that up even more. Then again, this isn't a GR Corolla. So I guess that's what that's left for. But yeah, I wouldn't mind a bit heavier of a steering feel in the Corolla hatch, at least. But then touching on visibility, I can see perfectly fine out the back. This is a smaller car, so you really shouldn't have any issues there. But that pretty much rounds out the performance segment of this review, you guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of a brand new 2023 Toyota Corolla hatchback. All right, so here she is, you guys, the new 2023 Toyota Corolla hatchback in the rain. As always, let's go ahead and start with where this one is actually made. Taking a glance at the VIN number there, first character is the letter J, indicating that the Corolla hatch is built and assembled still in Japan. I like it. But anyway, let's go ahead and start up front. You do have a gloss black front grille that will come standard to the sides. LED headlights with LED daytime running lights also coming standard. Get the automatic feature with them, meaning when it starts to get dark at night, headlights will turn on automatically for you there. But also automatic high beams. So when you have your high beams on at night, and this is a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's going to automatically dim them back to low beams, and when that vehicle is gone, it's going to automatically then bounce it back up to high beams. So absolutely love that feature. And then down below, you will get LED fog lights only if you go with the XS-E trim level. So you will not get them with our S-E trim level that we have today. They're kind of just cutouts for them, but they're not actually there. But also like the body-colored front lip, I like that little accent piece kind of on the bottom portion of that front grille as well. But anyways, that pretty much rounds out the front end of this one. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the side. All right, so now since we are around to the side of the Corolla hatchback, black windows arounds will come standard. Taking a look at their side mirrors. They are body-colored, power-justable side mirrors with LED integrated turn signals now. That's something that you don't get standard on the Corolla sedan, but you do on the Corolla hatchback. So I am a big fan of that. Then taking a look down at the wheel configuration, you will find 16-inch alloys coming standard with the S-E. That's what you guys are looking at. They're then 18-inch alloys coming standard with the XS-E trim level. But I do like the side profile of the hatch. It looks good. But anyways, let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. All right, so now since we are around to the back of the Corolla hatch, all the way to the top, body-colored shark fin antenna will come standard. Just below that, rear spoiler with an integrated brake light. Just below that, rear window wiper affixiated to the rear glass. That looks good, but I love the LED taillights. I love the design to them. I love the brightness. That looks so dang good on the Corolla hatch. Of course, you're also going to find some trim level badging found at the bottom corner there as well. Got once again some body-colored accents found on the bottom portion of that rear bumper. There is actually a single exhaust outlet tucked away on the bottom underneath on the passenger side there. So having said that, I do believe you guys know what we have to do next. As always, here is that exhaust clip. All right, so now since we are around still to the back of the Corolla hatch here, when it comes to opening that rear liftgate, it is a manual liftgate. You just simply lift up all the way to the bottom of the liftgate itself and it will open up for you. But once it opened up, cargo capacity comes in at 17.8 cubic feet. If that was not enough space, there's a 60-40 split meaning the rear seats do fall down for quite a bit of extra space then if you needed it. Also in that cargo area though, a cargo cover is going to come standard. I like that. Of course, you got some cargo lighting back there. There is some indented storage found on both rear corners back there as well for a little extra storage. Then if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor, you are going to find a spare tire under there which I personally prefer. But then, making our way up to the rear legroom, that is going to come in at 29.9 inches so slightly more than my old Ford Mustang GT. So for reference, I'm even 6 feet tall. This is how much space I have back there now. It is a little bit snug but on the plus side of things, it isn't a solid plastic on the back portion of those front seats so there is a little bit of give on the back portion of those front seats. So if you are a little bit taller, your knees can sink into the front seats a little bit so that gives you a little bit more room. So I did like that part but rear center armrest with cup holders actually does come standard so I like that as well. And there's actually dual rear USB charging ports that come standard on the Corolla hatch as well. So, well done Toyota for that. But then, making our way up to the front seats, manually adjustable cloth seating does come standard on the SE. Eight-way power driver seat with its soft-text finish coming on the XSE and then you will also get heated front seats for that XSE trim level as well. But quite honestly, I didn't have any issues with the driving position. Even though we have manually adjustable seats, even though they're a cloth finish, I still actually kind of like them. The bolsters on the seats specifically are pretty darn nice so I was perfectly comfortable in this thing. So no issues specifically for me. Then taking a look at the steering wheel, it is tilt and telescoping. It is leather-wrapped for both trim levels as well. I like that and it did telescope out pretty far, we'll say that. But then, making our way to the startup, let me start by showing you guys the key here. You got your Toyota logo all the way to the bottom, lock and unlock, but it is all keyless entry with a push button start. So, all I'm going to do here is simply put my front of the brake and press that engine start button located just by the driver's right knee. So that once started up, there's going to be two different gauge configurations dependent upon which trim level that you go with. So for the XSE, obviously you're going to be looking at what you're going to get. You got your tachometer all the way to your left speedometer on your right and there is a small digital display front and center to control what is on that digital display. There are steering wheel mounts and controls found on the left side of the steering wheel. You can toggle between a digital speedometer, how many miles you'll have left until you hit empty, your outside temperature, trip A, trip B, there's safety information, radio information, pretty much everything you could possibly want on that small digital portion of the gauges there. But it does get better for the XSE because with that one, you do get a full seven inch digital gauge cluster. So that's going to look a lot like the Corolla sedan that I recently reviewed earlier this year. So I love the look of that. The full digital gauge cluster definitely looks good there. But so then, making our way to overall interior quality, let me start by saying, the Fremless rear view mirror with homelink controls, that's an option that goes for $175. If you want it, wireless phone charger for the XSE trim level, automatic climate control for the SE, meaning you set a temperature, it's going to automatically hit it for you. But then you get dual zone climate control for both driver and passenger. If you go with the XSE trim level, I'm going to also mention for the XSE, you get some new red accents replacing the previous blue accents from the 2022 model year. So I wanted to mention that just in front of the shifter. You got a little bit of storage to maybe put your cell phone there. Just to the right of that shifter is actually where you plug in a phone charging port. It looks like they went to USB-A from USB-C last year. So that's another change there. I like the gloss black surround surrounding the shifter as well. That's very high quality. You got dual cupholders, electromechanical parking brake, and within the center armrest, there's another phone charging port and actually a 12 volt charging port in there as well. I love that. So overall, although it is on the basic side, plastic door handles and plastic on the doors, things like that, I actually don't mind it. I like the two tone color theme. I think that's part of it as well. Even with the seats and everything else to go along with it, it looks very good with the color theme that we have in this one here today. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the infotainment screen. You got an eight inch color touchscreen display that will come standard of both trim levels, Bluetooth and audio streaming, but wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. So that's definitely a big plus here in the 2023 version. You can also check out your driving statistics up there. Through the car icon, you can see that on the screen there as well as your radio information. And so when it comes to the sound systems, there's two of them. You got six speakers for the SE and then an eight speaker JBL sound system for the XSE. So having said that, we do have that six speaker sound system with us here today. So what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and turn on the radio, see what we got playing today, and let's test out the clarity of this one. Got to be honest, not that bad for a six speaker sound system. There was a decent amount of bass there. Clarity was actually pretty darn good. Maybe it's the size of the vehicle and the fact that it's a smaller vehicle. But a lot of times six speaker sound systems will flat out suck. But this is what's actually decent. Obviously, the JBL is going to be better. But six speakers actually works pretty well for the Corolla hatch. I'll say that. But anyways, last thing I want to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen is when you do put this thing in reverse, you will find a rear view camera coming standard across the board, letting you know what is behind you, which is always is going to lead us into safety. And so first, let me start by saying IHS top safety pick plus, which is the very highest designation given by IHS. So that pretty much says it all right there. Front side, side current airbags do come standard. You got a driver's knee airbag up front as well. Passengers seat, cushion airbag and rear seat mounted side airbags. That last one is usually like a $600 option with Mercedes and BMW. So that's pretty cool. Also in the back, latch, a.k.a. lower anchors, tethers to children for the rear car seats, rear child door locks, tire pressure monitoring system, but also coming standard for 2023 is the new Toyota Safety Sense 3.0. Yes, that is new for 2023. That's going to include proactive driving assist, pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, lane departure alert with steering assist, dynamic radar cruise control, road sign assist and then lane tracing assist as well. Then in addition to that, the XSC trim is going to add a blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert. And so when it comes to my final thoughts here of the Corolla hatch known for incredible reliability. So you always got that, especially with the Corolla, whether it be the sedan or the hatchback, this thing is going to last a ton. Also, excellent safety. IHS top safety pick plus, it doesn't get any better than that. And yes, that's for the sedan and the hatchback as well. New digital gauges are great, although we don't have them with us here today. That would have been fun to see, but I like that they have that now. JBL sound system is going to be incredible in this thing. But even the six speaker sound system was pretty darn good as well. So as room for improvement goes, the rear seat leg room is kind of cramped. But I will say there is a quick fix to that. Simply get the Corolla sedan, where you're going to get more leg room than in the Corolla hatch. So I will say that. And quite honestly, I still think the Corolla hatch, at least, needs a manual option, not not standard necessarily, but just an option because it is one of the sportier vehicles. Maybe I could see leaving it out on the Corolla sedan, but the hatch, I think still might need that option. But I could be wrong. Toyota probably knows better than me. But anyways, that about rounds out this review, you guys. Thank you so much for watching, for for to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen. If you want to see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to YouTube, be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button. If you're in a new car reviews, that is what we do here on this channel. After all, do appreciate you guys watching more than you know, and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay gold.