2014 Corolla predicted at 40 mpg (highway)
 

2014 Toyota Corolla Sheds Demure Image - Forbes

"Special flat covers on the underside of all 2014 Corollas help smooth airflow for better fuel efficiency. The Eco model adds more aerodynamic enhancements, including a small spoiler on the rear edge of the trunk, and special wheels with low-roll-resistance tires. Toyota expects the 2014 Corolla LE Eco to achieve 40 miles per gallon or more on the highway. Official mileage estimates have not been announced."

I see a sharper trailing side edge in the rear bumper, as well as sharper angles on the side mirrors. It still has front wheel spats but they are double wide from current but with strategic rectangle holes. Oddly enough the Eco LE version with the CVT has an added the rear spoiler. It also has LED low beams and a more efficient 1.8-liter engine with Valvematic technology. Cd is still the same at 0.28

2014 Toyota Corolla debuts with more power, interior space - Autoblog

Do NOT care for the "down frown" front end/grill design at all.

Would like to know more about that Eco engine however!

Front end style
 

Reminds me of a Civic upper grill, and the soon to be replaced Mazda 3 pumpkin face lower grill. Ford has a lot of plain black going on with their lower grills as well... Not sure how this big plain black grill thing got started

Audi. :rolleyes:

Not odd, really. It's easy to find other "eco" or higher mileage sedans with drag-reducing decklid spoilers. (Typically short & sharp ones.)

EG: Honda Civic Hybrid and HF, Accord Hybrid, VW Jetta Hybrid, Cruze ECO, etc

Wow, just google imaged Audi front end grills... At least there are some additional textures there, but holy smokes, some of them are like BBQ grills...

Back on topic... I thought it at least interesting that the red and purple Toyota's have grills that angle in, and the green and tan angle out.

I don't care about the details about how the car looks very much....

....but speaking ecomodder-wise...It's too bad Toyota didn't have an Eco in the previous generation, I would get one for my car...its interesting to see that the Cd is still pretty much the same as the previous gen even with all the belly pans, spats and spoiler.

Yes, it sounds like the engine is the only significant improvement, the rest is for looks--except the Eco engine has more horsepower!

So does the Civic HX that I have been coveting, but still less than the EX.

Transmissions also are a major change. First CVT available in the Corolla (in North America anyway, not sure about elsewhere), and the manual gets another gear.

Current Japanese Corolla only have CVT units for the automatic versions, and the Thai ones get it with the 2.0L engine. BTW my dad used to get 35MPG in highway with a 9th-gen Corolla fitted with the 1.8L running on Brazilian gasoline and the old 4-speed slushbox, so 40MPG with CVT, LRR tyres, aeromods and decent gasoline seems too under-expecting...

Well, we know the older Corollas were capable of decent highway numbers:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1231533701

And this was taken in cold weather (-4 C).

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...atic-6710.html

8hp more, but 2tq less than the outgoing model at 126tq. Maybe the CVT couldn't take it :confused:

Hopefully the final drive ratio is as good as the CVT or else the addition of the 6th gear will be not reaching its potential. Even in the 10th gen Corolla the auto had a better final drive ratio than the 5 sp to help fuel economy.

I too am underwhelmed by the small increase in fuel economy to 40 considering my lifetime average is near that ...and I have 186,000km on the clock. Of course if an ecomodder go a hold of it, put an upper and partial lower grill block, fold the mirrors back and put some lighter thinner wheels on it and perhaps lower it a bit hopefully we could beat that rating.

Oh, yeah, easily.

As for the manual, I wonder if Toyota's going to follow the path set by other automakers lately: the manual will be geared short for the "enthusiast" drivers; the automatic/CVT gets the best gearing for highway driving.

That's what Mitsu is doing with the new Mirage. And Ford with the Fiesta (and Focus, I think), and Honda with the Fit, etc. etc. etc.

My dad bought his first automatic because the Focus SFE got better mileage in that configuration.

Can't say I'm all that impressed, when the Mazda3 matches the fuel economy with a 155 horsepower. Still, I'm glad to see a six-speed. If they do it right, it should be a good highway cruiser.

I'm not too impressed, they're finally catching up to the competition. Nothing I see here looks to be changing up anything. People will still buy them in huge numbers regardless.

I realized my dad was getting old when he said he liked a brand new Corolla over a brand new Fiesta. :D

Interesting enough the CVT with "gears" is not a new application at all. The Asian market Honda Fit has had an available CVT that could simulate 7 gears and even had paddle shifters. It's an interesting solution for a perceived problem. It doesn't change the fact that the CVT saps more power than an automatic though.:snail:

Hah, how did that work out for him. :rolleyes: I didn't get much time in a Focus while testdriving but based on reported numbers the real world MPG is within 1mpg for Powershift and the 5spd. Also they're unreliable as hell, I'd give them another 2-3 years before they finally fix all the problems with it.

Given that the new Mazda3 is getting the same reported mileage with a torque converter based automatic, I'd say Ford's attempt was an embarrassing failure. They're backtracking on the programming big time by trying to make it act more like a traditional automatic instead of a poorly driven manual. Also there is a huge difference in the Fiesta Powershift programming and the Focus version.

Another thing to keep in mind with Toyota is they have to walk a fine line when improving the efficiency of their conventional drivetrain cars to protect the hybrid crown.

Can't have a 45 mpg hwy Corolla eating into sales of the 50 mpg Prius lineup.

I think Toyota is walking the line of reputation and profit, or more riding their reputation and making money with "catch up" innovation.

regards
Mech

It wouldn't be so hard to put the Corolla into the same 50MPG rating of the Prius with cheap mods. Maybe that's why manual trannies are getting ratios more favorable to quicker responses at the cost of fuel economy...

He has always gotten better than EPA and he averaged 50 MPG on a four hundred-mile road trip.

At first glance I thought this is finally the first Toyota ever that isn't boring, drab, beige. After a closer look I realize I'm wrong. Still boring.

i think this is spot on. could they make the corolla get 45+ hwy? sure no problem, but there is no real incentive. other manufacturers are in the 38-42 range so why beat them and cause potential confusion for the consumer between a corolla and a prius.

True, and while I see your point (and agree with you, especially with a mid-range car like the Corolla), my boring, drab, beige Toyota still saves me a lot of money, both on gas and on repairs.

I do not see what the problem is. Make the Corolla get 50 MPG and the Prius get 75!

It is not like it is impossible...

That "makes sense" but, unfortunately, it doesn't make "enough ¢ents" for them to think that far ahead & out of the box.

Yeah. Their job isn't to save money by not burning gas, it's to make money selling cars to people who want to save money by not burning gas. All they have to do is stay at or near the head of the pack on FE and they'll make their money.

It's clearly not impossible, but the lazy-arse average Joe wouldn't want to get rid of some comfort features to save a few pounds :turtle:

They lead the pack in hybrids, but what real competition do they have? Sure, there are other hybrids, but they might get the mileage of the Corolla. Big deal.

Is there a niche for the new Insight? It costs less than a Prius, slightly less than a Prius C, but it does not even equal the mileage of the Civic hybrid, let alone the Prii.

So, is there a real competitor to the Prius? (Let's not get into the TDi debate. I recognize that as a very good car)

If the Insight (or Prius for that matter) came with a conventional manual, I would have seriously considered them. I did seriously consider the CR-Z, but decided I couldn't do without a back seat.

I was positive that you were going to say something about diesel, but you surprised me this time!:p

That would be too obvious :D

Well, what is the market for the CR-Z? It looks like an oversized two-seater that gets mediocre mileage for a hybrid, a far cry from a new Insight.

Looking solely at price and performance, the CR-Z is not bad. It's about $5K cheaper than the Prius, and can still get over 50 mpg, possibly closer to 60 on the highway, if you believe the people on the CR-Z forums.

Valvematic basically is a secondary rocker that adjusts the height at which the cam lobe "engages". My guess is that it makes less peak torque because they can't use as much lift as the old engine in the midrange or else the cam duration would be too high.

Who cares about the lost torque though, this is the first entry level car engine with an advanced valvetrain hitting the US market! Not a BMW, not a Nissan VQ37.

And the manual gearbox will probably have short ratios, but I'll take 6 short ratios over 5 anyday.

The linked Forbes article seems to be missing the one interesting thing about another bland Toyota: the belly pan.

This month, my Automotive Engineering International magazine had a nice image of it, with the panels highlighted purple.

It reported a Cd of 0.28 for the Corolla, due in part to these strategically placed under covers.

Maybe we could learn something here that would be simpler to fabricate but still get measureable improvements.

Weird...cuz the Cd for the outgoing Corolla was 0.28..

Some of the belly pans already exist on mine like the portions around the engine and transmission, wheel spats...I added the under radiator to chin panel already thanks to Ecomodder. Now to try out the mid and rear ones...

I have also lowered my car slightly below the new ones height.

Just goes to prove Ecomodder is one step ahead of the manufacturers on many fronts. I can nearly already the enjoy fuel economy gains claimed by the new model via Ecomodder tips and tricks.

That is fairly average coef actually. The '14 Mazda3 Sedan has a .255 coefficient.