[mrplt]

Hi everyone,

Just graduated from university and started a new job (Well, I am starting in a couple of weeks ) -- and I needed a car. After looking around for a couple of weeks, I finally decided to get a Corolla Cross! I was trying to decide if I should pay significantly more to get a Plug In Santa Fe, but things changed when I got to test drive a Corolla Cross.
My family has been driving Toyotas for a very long time, and I learned how to drive on a Toyota. I've recently been driving a Volkswagen rental and I realized that I am really used to how Toyotas drive.
Anyways, as a new graduate, I thought the Cross fits me really well. I live in Montreal (Canada) and AWD is really nice to have. I was between the LE and the LE Premium (Sunroof, Roof Rails, Wireless Charger and the Connected Services) -- I felt like the roof rails really changed how the car looks so went for the Premium.
I also got to test drive the Cross for more than half an hour. It's really, REALLY quiet in the city and it handles road imperfections really well. It's fine at highway speeds as well (you get some road noise) but it does get quite loud when accelerating hard due to the CVT. I drove a 1.8 CVT Corolla for around a month before, and it felt quite similar.
The headroom is fantastic, I am 6' and my dad is 6'4", and he was able to sit comfortably in the back seat when I was driving.
The only thing missing in my opinion is an auto-dimming rearview mirror, but it seems like I can replace the mirror with an auto-dimming one relatively easily.
I was initially planning on getting the light blue colour, but the test drive car was red and it looked so nice -- so I switched to Barcelona Red.
Anyways, I put down the deposit today and the expected delivery date is March 26th -- needless to say, I am very excited!!

 

[Yota]

Welcome to the forum @mrplt!
What were your initial impressions of the build quality after test driving one?

 

[bicepeak]

Hi everyone,

Just graduated from university and started a new job (Well, I am starting in a couple of weeks ) -- and I needed a car. After looking around for a couple of weeks, I finally decided to get a Corolla Cross! I was trying to decide if I should pay significantly more to get a Plug In Santa Fe, but things changed when I got to test drive a Corolla Cross.
My family has been driving Toyotas for a very long time, and I learned how to drive on a Toyota. I've recently been driving a Volkswagen rental and I realized that I am really used to how Toyotas drive.
Anyways, as a new graduate, I thought the Cross fits me really well. I live in Montreal (Canada) and AWD is really nice to have. I was between the LE and the LE Premium (Sunroof, Roof Rails, Wireless Charger and the Connected Services) -- I felt like the roof rails really changed how the car looks so went for the Premium.
I also got to test drive the Cross for more than half an hour. It's really, REALLY quiet in the city and it handles road imperfections really well. It's fine at highway speeds as well (you get some road noise) but it does get quite loud when accelerating hard due to the CVT. I drove a 1.8 CVT Corolla for around a month before, and it felt quite similar.
The headroom is fantastic, I am 6' and my dad is 6'4", and he was able to sit comfortably in the back seat when I was driving.
The only thing missing in my opinion is an auto-dimming rearview mirror, but it seems like I can replace the mirror with an auto-dimming one relatively easily.
I was initially planning on getting the light blue colour, but the test drive car was red and it looked so nice -- so I switched to Barcelona Red.
Anyways, I put down the deposit today and the expected delivery date is March 26th -- needless to say, I am very excited!!

Congrats!

 

[mrplt]

Welcome to the forum @mrplt!
What were your initial impressions of the build quality after test driving one?

Thanks!!
The build quality is exactly what I expected. The car feels solid, no weird noises/rattles during the test drive (I drove it in the city and on the highway -- and our roads are horrible). Material quality... well it's all hard plastic pretty much everywhere. They did try to coat the hard plastic with a different material on the dash, and it does look good. It's quite a bit better than the North American Corolla and pretty much on par with the RAV4, but it's not as good as the European-spec Corolla.
Also I forgot to mention this, but I don't know why Toyota chose to put black interior door handles in these Crosses, except the XLE. Weird choice.
I'm nitpicking right now, I honestly loved the car.

 

[justcuz]

Picked up ours 6 weeks ago. Almost 900 Kms on it so far. We both really like it. Traded in a 2018 CRV on it.

 

[mrplt]

Picked up ours 6 weeks ago. Almost 900 Kms on it so far. We both really like it. Traded in a 2018 CRV on it.

Congrats!! I'm glad you like yours! I had a quick question if you don't mind. Does the AWD system only kick in when there is no traction in front wheels or also when you're taking off/accelerating? I thought it only kicked in when there is no traction but apparently there is a "powertrain" screen on the trip computer. I checked the user manual but couldn't find any information! Thanks and congrats again!

 

[justcuz]

Congrats!! I'm glad you like yours! I had a quick question if you don't mind. Does the AWD system only kick in when there is no traction in front wheels or also when you're taking off/accelerating? I thought it only kicked in when there is no traction but apparently there is a "powertrain" screen on the trip computer. I checked the user manual but couldn't find any information! Thanks and congrats again!

the way it was explained to us is that the AWD system is always active.

 

[mrplt]

the way it was explained to us is that the AWD system is always active.

That's great. Thanks!

 

[PNWCCFAN]

The Corolla Cross AWD system is the same one that is in the Camry. Here's an interesting video about how effective it is...FYI...https://youtu.be/XxPbdhLVN0M

 

[bicepeak]

the way it was explained to us is that the AWD system is always active.

Just for clarification......It isn't literally "always active" as in driving all four wheels all the time.. It doesn't require pushing a button, but it only kicks in when the situation requires it and then it sends power to the back wheels.

It is set up this way to provide better mpg than full time all wheel drive.

 

[justcuz]

Just for clarification......It isn't literally "always active" as in driving all four wheels all the time.. It doesn't require pushing a button, but it only kicks in when the situation requires it and then it sends power to the back wheels.

It is set up this way to provide better mpg than full time all wheel drive.

thanks for explaining

 

[toyotaisme]

Congratulations. Make sure when you do your paperwork they add the $500 college grad rebate in top of the $500 , totaling $1000 if you decide to finance with Toyota Financial Services.

 

[mrplt]

Well... I ended up canceling my order. I realized that I can't wait until late March for a car (I would need to rent a car until I received the Cross). Also realized that I want to keep my car for more than 3-4 years and that I should go for a car that has all the features that I am looking for. Long story short, I ended up going for a 2022 CX-5. It's not a competitor of the Cross for sure, and it's also significantly more expensive.
Toyota Canada apparently doesn't have a college grad rebate, but Mazda does. They also gave me a decent deal on a set of winter tires on rims.