Tesla Model 3 vs Toyota Corolla
- by Carsguide.com.au
- Feb 20, 2020
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Namely the Kia Cerato Sport+ ($31,440), Mazda 3 G20 Pure Vision ($32,320) and Subaru Impreza 2.0i-S ($32,590).
None can match the Corolla’s hybrid efficiency, but each is well equipped for a small car in the low $30K bracket and the Corolla takes a lengthy equipment list into battle against them.
Aside from the performance and safety tech covered a little later, the Ascent Sport Hybrid’s standard features include an 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia display with voice control, Android Auto and (wireless) Apple CarPlay, six-speaker audio with digital radio and in-built satellite navigation.
There’s also climate control air (single-zone), a 7.0-inch information display in the instrument cluster, keyless entry and start, wireless phone charging, active cruise control, an electro-chromatic rear view mirror, 16-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, tail-lights and DRLs as well heated door mirrors.
The seat trim is fabric and for things like rain-sensing wipers, side and rear privacy glass, as well as a ‘Premium’ steering wheel, you’ll need to step up the SX Hybrid Sedan at $33,780. But the Ascent Sport lines up well relative to its direct competitors.
Under the bonnet
If you’ve ever driven the previous Model 3 Performance you’ll know that it could well have come with Space X badging (arguably Elon’s more impressive engineering achievement), because it really did thrust rather than accelerate.
But this time the engineers wanted to go all out. Customers appreciated the incremental performance they got from the last Model 3 Performance version, but they told Tesla they wanted more.
With many enthusiasts among Tesla's engineering and development team, they looked to unlock the performance potential of the platform.
So, that meant a whole lot more madness and torque thump. It comes from a new Performance 4DU, an all-new drive unit - featuring an entirely new rear motor that uses bar-winding technology - unlocking 22 per cent more continuous power, 32 per cent more peak power and 16 per cent higher peak torque delivery.
Overall figures are 380kW and 740Nm, but looking at them written down, they seem big, yet not as big as they feel in this car, as it’s shoving you from a standing start to 100km/h in three seconds flat.
It feels faster. Sick-making fast, even.
Under the bonnet
The Corolla hybrid is powered primarily by a naturally aspirated 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine operating on the ‘Atkinson Cycle’, which adjusts cam timing to maximise the effective cylinder expansion ratio (compression stroke vs power stroke) for greater efficiency and reduced emissions.
But the downside of this combustion cycle is a relative lack of power, which is where the car’s primary AC synchronous, permanent magnet electric motor comes into play.
Upgraded in late 2022, the motor now features double the number of magnets (per pole) inside the rotor.
At the same time a lighter lithium-ion battery was added, featuring greater input and output power compared to the nickel-metal hydride unit it replaced.
A compact starter/generator (effectively a second electric motor) is powered by the engine (it also starts it) in turn sending energy to the main drive motor and battery.
The end result is combined outputs of 103kW (+13kW) at 5200rpm and 142Nm at 3600rpm, although it’s worth noting Toyota has a strange habit of not including the torque output from the electric motors in its overall numbers for hybrid models.
With the primary motor alone producing more than 160Nm of pulling power, you’d have to imagine the actual combined torque figure is somewhere in the region of 250Nm, with drive going to the front wheels via a CVT auto.
Efficiency
Despite being heavier and gruntier, Tesla claims the new Performance Model 3 manages to be more efficient than the one it replaces, albeit delivering just a two per cent reduction in energy consumption. Claimed energy usage is 16.7 kWh/100km.
Tesla claims a total range of 528km on the WLTP, which is obviously going to drop if you drive it the way its makers clearly intended.
Using a Tesla Supercharger, you can add 228km in 15 minutes and... that's all Tesla will tell us. There are no official figures available for how long a full charge takes, on either a Tesla charge or a home wallbox of your own.
Efficiency
Toyota’s official combined cycle fuel economy number for the Corolla’s hybrid powertrain is 3.9L/100km, the 1.8-litre engine emitting 81g/km of CO2 in the process.
That’s up slightly from the pre-upgrade model’s 3.5L/100km claim, but over a week with the Ascent Sport we covered around 250km of urban, B-road and some freeway running, returning an average of precisely 3.9L/100km (at the bowser), which is an outstanding result for a close to 1.4-tonne four-door sedan.
Of course, the super smooth stop-start system (controlled by the starter/generator) plays a part, plus the bonus is the 1.8-litre four is happy to accept ‘standard’ 91 RON unleaded, and the fuel tank holds 43 litres, which translates to a range of just over 1100km. Pretty great.
Driving
Very occasionally, one drives a car that makes the human body feel inadequate to the task. I would have worried that I’m getting old, that my body is simply too flubby and my brain too broken, to cope with the kind of wild acceleration and brutal g-forces the Model 3 Performance delivers.
But, fortunately, I had a videographer in the passenger seat, a much younger man who loves fast cars, and he kept threatening to vomit when I drove it hard, too.
I’ve driven quite a few cars that you can use make your passenger sick, or hurt their necks - one obvious competitor in the shape of a Porsche Taycan Turbo S comes to mind - but it’s very rare that a vehicle is so intense it can make you, the driver, feel bilious.
Yes, you do bring this on yourself, by choosing to push this Performance anywhere near its limits through particularly sharp and intestine-shaped roads like the canyons outside Malibu Tesla chose to launch it on.
On longer, sweeping bends it was far more of a joy, and less physically punishing, but in the tight stuff it often felt like corners were being thrown at you, as if you were driving behind the Millennium Falcon and being pulled along in its wake.
The brakes, special new sporting ones with track-ready pads, were up to the task, even though it often felt like they couldn’t possibly pull you up from the speeds you were doing.
And yes, it was entirely my fault that the very first time I even gently prodded the throttle and it launched me ahead past a California Highway Patrol officer, that was my fault too. Three minutes into the drive, holding an American fine, I had already deduced that perhaps this car was too fast for my own good.
But lots of EVs are fast in a straight line, you’re really comparing the length and depth of your “oooophhh” sounds at this point, but where this one succeeds is by being a lot better in the handling and ride and cornering departments than most.
Tesla’s stated goal with this car was to move beyond straight-line speed, to become more than a one-trick pony, and to do that it’s given the Performance a stiffer structure overall and updated the springs and stabiliser bars.
Aerodynamic changes have reduced drag by five per cent, delivered a 36 per cent lift reduction, and a 55 per cent improvement in front-to-rear lift balance.
Tesla’s own, in-house version of adaptive dampers, not an option but included in every Performance, work with the car’s 'Vehicle Dynamics Controller' through its various modes - 'Insane' and 'Track' being the most… ludicrous - to immediately respond to driver inputs.
The Performance rides well on LA’s awful concrete freeways but feels absolutely nailed down when you attack even a bumpy driver’s road.
This version also has a lot more power going to the rear wheels, to help it feel more sports-car playful and to fire out of bends the way an enthusiast’s car should. And make no mistake, I met them, the people behind this car are serious driving enthusiasts (although they demur, slightly, on whether their boss is one).
Track mode will allow some serious adjustability, drifting ability and fun, so the kind of people who want to hurl around a racing circuit in silence will love it.
Perhaps the only let downs are that it still feels a bit austere inside, just not very special, and that the steering is just a bit digital, soft and uninvolving, compared to the cars they clearly benchmarked against - BMWs and Porsches.
Driving
The Corolla Ascent Sport Hybrid is a comfortable, stress-free driving experience. Toyota’s series parallel hybrid set-up means the wheels can be driven by the internal-combustion engine, electric motors, or both. And the transition happens seamlessly.
Start-up is silent with the motor(s) doing the driving at low speed, the petrol engine kicking in as the power requirement rises.
As the engine operates it’s also charging the battery and under braking the front wheels turning causes the motor and generator to send power to the main battery pack, as well.
Toyota doesn’t quote acceleration figures for the Corolla but you can expect 0-100km/h in around 12 seconds, which is hardly neck-snapping, however this hybrid combination provides enough torque for nimble acceleration in the city and suburbs as well as easy freeway cruising.
Then there’s the Continuously Variable Transmission. I’m no CVT fan, largely because of the disconnect between road speed and engine speed it creates. The transmission is always trying to keep the engine in its efficiency sweet spot and the most noticeable byproduct is an incongruous droning sound.
Developed by transmission specialist (and Toyota subsidiary) Aisin, the Corolla’s unit is ‘tighter’ than some but the sluggish ‘slipping clutch’ effect is still there from time to time.
Underpinned by Toyota’s TNGA platform, precise handling and excellent ride comfort are dynamic hallmarks of this 12th-generation Corolla. And the Ascent Sport Hybrid Sedan is no exception.
Suspension is by struts at the front and multi-links at the rear, and compliance is super impressive, especially for a car of this size.
The electrically-assisted steering is responsive and road feel is good, the car remaining planted and predictable, with only modest body roll if the red mist descends and you decide to ‘push on’ through your favourite set of corners.
This kind of response is especially noteworthy given the car’s low-rolling resistance Bridgestone Ecopia rubber (205/55) is primarily designed for efficiency rather than race-circuit grippiness.
Braking is by 255mm ventilated discs at the front (slightly smaller than the 2.0L non-hybrid’s) and 265mm solid rotors at the rear. They’re progressive with good pedal feel. Not always the case when regenerative braking is part of the picture.
In terms of general comfort and ergonomic efficiency, the seats remain comfortable, even over road-trip-style stints, while the mix of physical and digital controls is sensible and works well.
Safety
Tesla provided no information about safety for the Performance Model but it is assumed it will be unchanged from a standard Model 3.
Aside from Autopilot that means auto emergency braking, lane keep aids, and instead of blind-spot monitoring, it gets the surround radar view and blind-spot cameras when you indicate.
The latest Model 3 has an additional centre airbag for a total of seven, as well as additional bolstering where the doors meet the body in response to requirements in its American home market.
It should be able to carry its maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, which the original version achieved in 2019.
Safety
The Corolla Ascent Sport Hybrid Sedan boasts a maximum five-star ANCAP rating, although the assessment was in 2018 and the criteria have been dialled up since then.
That said, active (crash-avoidance) tech includes AEB - operating from 10-180km/h (with pedestrian and cyclist detection from 10-80km/h), active cruise control, lane trace assist, lane-keep assist, emergency lane keeping, road sign assist and auto high beam.
‘Active Cornering Assist’ and a reversing camera are also standard, but sadly, blind-spot monitoring (with ‘Safe Exit Assist’) and rear cross-traffic are optional.
If a crash is unavoidable, there are seven airbags on board (front, front side, full length curtain and driver’s knee). No front centre bag, though.
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