2022 Toyota Corolla SE: TEST DRIVE+FULL REVIEW

What's up guys, Will here with WTF Car Reviews and today we're gonna be reviewing this all-new 2022 Toyota Corolla SE with the six-speed manual. All right before we start I just want to give a huge thank you to Ryan and the rest of the management and staff here at Stadium Toyota in Tampa, Florida for making this review possible. These guys are awesome and their dealership is located right next to the Buck Stadium so if you're in the Tampa area looking for a new car I would definitely suggest checking these guys out and ask for Ryan. So for those of you guys who don't know the Corolla has been around since 1966 that's when the first generation came out. It came to the United States in 1968 and it quickly became one of the best-selling import vehicles in the United States but fast forward to 2019 Toyota released this 12th generation Toyota Corolla and it was a huge success. I love the styling a lot of people have really loved this vehicle all around but here for 2022 this is the SE trim and yes this has a six-speed manual transmission but as far as the exterior styling let's jump right in. So immediately you're going to notice your LED front projector beam headlight and it looks really nice with a black headlight housing and this really nice daytime running strip on the outside. Unfortunately you have to be driving to really see the daytime running strip but hopefully we can get you guys a nice shot at some point. Over here you got more LED daytime running strips with your high beams so it looks really nice once it's lit up but coming down here you're not going to have any functional air curtain but I do kind of like this hexagonal design over here it does look pretty cool with another light strip down here so this vehicle does have a lot of lights it would be nice if they were lit at all times but anyway coming along over here you've got more of this hexagonal grille design over here and I am a fan I like it overall this is not going to be um hollowed out for airflow but up top you are going to have a little bit of airflow and down here you got more for your radiator and yes this is a radiator since this vehicle does come equipped with a two liter variable valve timing four-cylinder engine but coming up top you're going to have this really nice body color over here and this whole grille area up top it's going to be consistent with the color of this paint and right here you got your Toyota badge of course and overall this vehicle is a little bit dirty but here you can check out your dark blue metallic paint it doesn't shine right now since this is a pretty cloudy day right now in Florida it's probably going to rain soon hopefully we can hurry this review up so we can finish it off before it starts raining but we'll take a step back you guys can check out the front styling overall definitely a big fan I am a fan of that lower front fascia do like how it kind of flares out and gives us like a nice little diffuser look up front but anyway continuing along over here we can check out this wheel and tire setup and these are pretty low profile tires these are going to be wrapped in 225-40 R18 Yokohama Avid GT tires so uh should be a pretty good compound for this Toyota Corolla probably not going to get much wheel spin with this two liter four-cylinder engine and as far as the rims I'm definitely digging the design I love the aluminum look on the outside with some gunmetal gray in the middle but over here you got a little bit of plastic trim which will keep the rock chips from damaging your paint however outside everything is going to be completely body color no plastic cladding on the outside and check out over here I really like this lower little diffuser down here it's going to be a nice gunmetal gray color hopefully you guys can pick it up but coming up top over here you can check out this mirror you are going to have a nice little turn signal over here but as far as the mirror itself it's going to fill up the frame really well that hexagonal design is going to continue for the mirror too I like this black contrast if this vehicle had the white paint it would look really nice with the black and white contrast overall but you're not going to have any blind spot monitoring on this vehicle it is optional however so you can option it out but this vehicle is going to be a complete base model we'll check that out once we check out the window sticker in one second but as far as the window trim you can see no chrome it's going to be blacked out for everything on the window trim even the b-pillar is going to be all blacked out definitely a nice color contrast if this vehicle had the white paint again it would definitely pop more but still a fan of this dark blue as far as this gas tank it's not going to be a push to open unfortunately but i'll show you guys where the latch is on the inside but you can check out your tail lights back here i believe these are leds correct me if i'm wrong you got your reverse lights beneath with your brushed aluminum chroma badge you definitely like how they're not killing us with the chrome on this vehicle and right here you got your red se badge but down here you got your lower diffuser i'm definitely a fan of the diffuser part over here uh this top hexagon shape um again you may love it or hate it i do think it looks pretty cool it probably will pop more the white paint color but still with this dark blue it still looks pretty good um i do like this little dual outlet exhaust i would definitely prefer a single outlet on both sides that would definitely be a cleaner look for the se trim but still a fan of the dual outlet compared to what we would get on most corollas but anyway we could take a step back you guys can check out the rear styling overall and let's start this 2022 corolla se up and hear how she sounds all right guys so oddly enough this vehicle does have a rev limiter even with the six-speed manual transmission but that was the sound of the two liter four-cylinder dual overhead cam variable valve timing four cylinder engine sold by toyota so let's check it out and no we're not going to get any struts unfortunately and not a lot of plastic over here in this hood area to keep it from burning my hand but we got the prop rod right over here hopefully i don't drop my camera and as soon as you can figure out where this goes we'll get the hood set up but here you have it guys here's your two liter four-cylinder engine no engine cover that is pretty cool but this engine can make 169 horsepower and 151 pound feet of torque pretty respectable numbers enough to get this uh four-door sedan to 60 in around eight seconds maybe a little bit quicker if you're really quick with shifting the gears but that's about it you got your battery over here to the right side but not a big deal since this engine is pushed to the left quite a bit we can shut this hood right here i'll just try to show you guys the overall process but all right we'll take a step back you guys can check out the overall front styling i personally really like this front styling but as far as the interior let's go ahead and check it out and one thing i'm impressed with is you are going to get smart access over here for the driver and a front passenger definitely not expected on the se trim but over here i really love this interior you can check out the white on black and gray contrast up top it's gonna be super soft touch materials also not really expected as far as the door handle really nice aluminum feel it's not gonna have the most weight resistance but still definitely feels very nice over here you're gonna have some really nice soft padded leather may not be real leather maybe vinyl but could have fooled me feels really realistic with some nice blue contrast stitching right here but down here you got some brushed aluminum does look pretty nice and adds to the overall quality of the door panel you got some power one touch for the driver not going to be a dual pane window of course but it is going to be also power one touch on the way back up but you're not going to have power one touch for the other windows not really expected it is nice they gave it to you for the driver you're going to have your adjustable mirrors right here you've got a nice cup holder down here and a little bit of storage where you can fit maybe a sandwich down there so they definitely took care of it with storage as far as the quality of the materials in the door panel definitely a thumbs up but taking a step in here we're not going to have any crowley name plates stepping inside not a really big deal but here you're cloth seats they're not going to be power adjusting you can recline them right here you can change the height and you can slide them back and forth down here but here the seats are going to be very supportive for the bolsters surprisingly supportive for the back area and the bottom for the bottom area over here you're going to have really soft padding really comfortable seats guys even over here for the back super soft while still keeping you nice and supported through the corners but other than that we can take a step inside this 2022 corolla se and the notice is going to be the steering wheel it's going to be a really nice leather wrapped steering wheel it's going to be very thick you're going to have a very nice nine and three slot over here it fits your thumb very nicely and you are going to have a nice cutout for your fingers behind it but overall pretty impressive steering wheel i like this aluminum trim and this horn area it is rubberized so it adds to the overall quality as far as the horn not a very aggressive horn they could have probably given us a more aggressive horn but to be expected with one of toyota's smaller sedans but other than that you got your infotainment adjustments right here you got your calls voice commands right here you can adjust the volume of your infotainment or stereo right here over here you got your forward collision alert nicely off of that here lane departure warning you can change the modes between am fm on your infotainment screen over here you can skip your songs over here and the cruise control settings are right here but other than that you got your turn signals behind they feel extremely high quality right on par with the hyundai kia products very satisfying to click same with the turn signals over here we're not going to have rain sensing wipers to be expected with this mid-trim toyota corolla but other than that still really impressive that soft touch white trim does not continue over here it's going to be hard touch material but you got some really nice stitch materials probably not real leather but could have fooled me feels really high quality with the soft touch plastic over here but as far as the dashboard still you're going to have that same not the same but you have some soft touch materials up top and that aluminum trim carries along the top with some nice gloss piano black beneath it but other than that really impressive so far to the left of the steering wheel you got your auto high beams right here and you can adjust the brightness of this cabin that aluminum trims and outline this air vent too as far as the gauges i love the speedometer it goes to 160 miles an hour with your gas gauge beneath it but the tack not that big not a really big deal i'm sure most drivers will get used to it but it would be nice for a manual transmission car to have changed it up maybe put the tack in the middle and the speedometer on the side but still not a very big you have your lcd display to the right you got all sorts of settings you can turn off and on your safety settings over here you got your messages you have a digital speedometer so definitely would be nice to have the smaller speedometer and larger tack for the manual especially since we do get a digital speedo but we also can see our average fuel economy you can see your lane departure system settings you can see your trip settings and your overall settings over here but i'm definitely a fan of the digital speedometer the most so we'll leave it there for the purpose of this review but as far as this infotainment screen we're going to have our eight inch display you can press the home screen that's currently where we are right now you can go to the menu check out the menu so you have audio phone apps projection info and setup so as far as audio phone and apps you guys can figure out audio and phone we don't have either of those connected right now but as far as apps let's check it out so we don't have anything downloaded right now but this vehicle does come equipped with apple carplay and android auto you press this map button it's not installed but if you have the vehicle connected to apple carplay or android auto you can press the map button and it'll show up on your screen but we can go back to the home screen since none of this stuff is installed yet down here we do have automatic climate control it's just going to be a single zone auto climate but still nice they gave that to us nevertheless you get push to start right here uh you got your imt so what that stands for is automatic rev match you press that button and we'll check it out on the test drive how it works but it is nice this vehicle came with automatic rev match for the new manual drivers but over here you can turn off the traction control too uh over here back here you got our electronic parking brake it would be nice if we had an old school e-brake but a lot of manufacturers are going with the electronic parking brake so they are starting to get more reliable you get your brake hold right here so at red lights you don't have to keep your foot on the brake and this vehicle also has um hill start assist too also nice for a manual transmission car but back here you can check out your cup holders we'll get some of this stuff out of the way they're not going to be rubberized but pretty spacious you can fit your phone right here in the middle too a little bit of piano black on the outside but they didn't overdo it you are going to have some more brushed aluminum outside your shifter so i'm really impressed with this interior i think it looks really impressive especially for not a high-end trim for the corolla again this vehicle starts around 23 000 bucks and we'll check out the window sticker in one second but continuing back here we could check out our center console and it's going to be really nice stitched leather with the blue contrast stitching but it's not going to be the softest padded you can definitely feel the plastic underneath this console not a very big deal but i'm sure they'll take care of that for the upcoming years inside over there you can check it out you can probably fit like five or six cans not the most space for a center console but plenty of space you can check out your 12-volt right here you can do like a nice radar detector in there you got usb-c right here but you can shut this thing up you can check out this glove box right over here you pull this little latch and it is damp that's nice and it's not lined with felt wouldn't really be expected to but you are going to have plenty of space probably fit between 12 and 15 license plates but let's check out the window sticker on this 2022 corolla se so as we mentioned we're going to have a 2-liter 4-cylinder dual overhead cam variable valve timing 4-cylinder engine 6-speed manual transmission sport suspension 18-inch machine alloy wheels with dark gray accents all those look really great very good suspension very good transmission we'll check that out once we take this car out for a drive as far as the safety and convenience you guys can take a pause this vehicle does come equipped with toyota safety sense 2.0 pre-collision system with pedestrian detection dynamic radar cruise control lane departure warning with steering assist auto high beams road sign assist star safety system and smart key access with push button start outside we're going to have the sport mesh gray metallic front grille led headlights with accents led taillights yes so i wasn't sure before if these were led taillights they are going to be led taillights and brake lights color key rear diffuser power moonroof we'll check that out in one second and the dual chrome tips for the exhaust in here we have the eight inch touchscreen as we just went over over here we're also going to have the android auto and apple carplay sport fabric trim seats and these seats are really comfortable and very supportive and of course our leather wrapped steering wheel this vehicle is not going to have any options so base price is going to be sitting around twenty three thousand two hundred and twenty dollars after about a thousand dollar destination charge we're still going to be sitting around twenty four thousand two hundred bucks really good value you're going to get 32 combined miles per gallon 29 city 36 highway but we can put this away we'll put it just right up top over here you can check out your um old school mirror it's not going to be a auto dimming you just dim it right here manually but it's pretty frameless not a very large frame right here you got your moonroof we'll check it out right here and it's pretty large it takes up the pretty much the entire ceiling over here and i definitely like this headliner it's not the same headliner as most vehicles today so it feels a little bit more carpeted but that's about it for the front seat guys super impressive i love the white on black contrast definitely high tech and the six-speed manual should be a ton of fun to drive we'll check that out in one minute but again that's about it for the front let's check out the back seat real quick see how much space is offered back there as well as the overall quality of the materials all right guys step in the back seat on the 2022 toyota corolla se up top it's going to be that same white on black contrast however this is just going to be some hard plastic unfortunately not a really big deal especially for a mid-trim se down here you're gonna have that same really soft leather material it's gonna be stitched with that blue contrast down here you're gonna have your window opener it's gonna be powder window not auto one touch of course a little bit of storage right here it also functions as a grab handle because it does cave in pretty deep for your hand no additional actually yes there is a little bit of additional storage right here but you're probably not gonna be able to fit a whole lot but as far as the seats they're gonna be that same really nice durable thick cloth material very comfortable and it's gonna be pretty supportive even for the back seat check out those bolsters you really don't see bolsters like that in a lot of back seats as far as legroom pretty impressive we'll check it out right now again i'm six feet tall sitting behind my seat settings and still i have at least like two three inches of space pretty impressive overall i have plenty of space for my feet over here so definitely a thumbs up to toyota plenty of space no air vents unfortunately but you do have a little bit of storage area no map pockets either it'll be nice to get some map pockets but still not a big deal you do have an upgraded light over here it's gonna be an led we can check out our little center cubby over here no string so you're gonna have to jab your hand in here but you open it up you can check out your two cup holders they're not gonna be rubberized but this is super soft very nice area to rest your arm so definitely a thumbs up you can put this thing back but that's about it for the back seat plenty of space definitely impressed overall love the quality of this interior i love the way this interior looks too that's definitely my favorite part about this car so far as the interior i will see once we take it out for a drive if anything changes about my favorite parts about this car but let's check out the trunk real quick and then take this car out for a drive all right guys before we step into the trunk you can check out this really nice lip spoiler if i didn't mention but step into the trunk and see the trunk does pop open a little bit for you but you're gonna have to do most of it yourself the opening absolutely massive opening you probably fit at least i would say uh 45 50 inch cv because you are going to have a little bit of space taken up over there but the opening itself you can fit just about any size bag in here ton of luggage space but other than that we can shut this thing up you can notice that you do have hinges that would crush your cargo so i wouldn't load anything up past that level right here but we can shut this thing up oops take a step back you guys can check out the rear styling one last time but let's take this 2022 Toyota Corolla SE out for a drive all right guys now that we've seen just about everything we need to see with the inside and outside of the 2022 Toyota Corolla SE with the six-speed manual let's take it out for a drive and the first thing i notice is the steering is unbelievably light uh you got basically zero like feel through the steering wheel which is expected uh with an entry-level compact sedan but it would be nice to have like a sport mode or something which tighten the steering up a little bit but we'll see how it is once we get a little bit of speed all right guys stepping out into this little highway not a lot of power in second gear so the torque is gonna really fall but once you get up to about 4500 rpm you are gonna get a little bit more torque but all in all you are gonna have to rev it out a little bit in first gear but once you get up to speed it does feel really really nice and once we get to about 50 miles per hour you can tell that you are gonna get a little bit of road noise on this concrete pavement but as soon as we get onto some darker pavement you'll notice how much this vehicle does quiet down and over these little expansion joints and bumps you don't really feel much the ride definitely feels very composed but all right guys we're gonna make this right turn right here we'll check out this auto rev match does work pretty well a little bit of jolt but not a big deal throwing it in the steering actually does feel pretty sharp once you are at speed so initially it did feel a little bit weak but once you are up to speed you are going to have more tight feeling through the wheel and over these bumps again this ride feels really really quiet in the shifter it's kind of long but it feels really nice it's kind of like a honda shifter i want to make the comparison but it does feel really nice and notchy but all right guys stepping out over here pretty good low on torque that was only around half throttle and it definitely gets the speed really nicely and i love this shifter it feels really nice to shift i mean you could probably get a short throw shifter in the aftermarket and it'll make it even better but it's not necessary this shifter definitely feels really nice from the factory but all right guys stepping out to this road we can do a nice little acceleration run so starting off in first on the gas whoo pretty good power whoo you turned the gear in second gear too but we're not to push much farther than that pretty good power overall and once we put it into sixth gear we'll see how it is on the highway so sitting around 50 miles an hour we are going to be revving around 2000 rpm maybe 1800 so very quiet on the inside this is some darker pavement so you guys can tell basically zero road noise very quiet cabin very thick insulated windows so you don't really hear much wind noise either and remember this is just the mid-se trim it'll be really nice to see how this vehicle gets better on like the xse trims and up but all right throwing it through these turns really sharp it does feel pretty good once you are up at speed like i said but it's not gonna be the sharpest not gonna be a sports car steering if you want the sports car steering i guess that's where i'll probably go with the supra but that rev match doesn't work pretty good when you're in the higher gears and the low-end torque just sitting around 2200 rpm you do get up in speed very well but other than that guys super impressed with this 2022 corolla se a really nice six-speed gearbox that definitely makes this driving experience super fun you got the auto rev match very nice clutch too super light clutch it engages right towards the middle so for beginners definitely an easy six-speed transmission to learn with but other than that the interior super nice interior with the white on black contrast very nice gauges i do wish they flip-flop the gauges between the speedometer and the tach to make the tach a little bit bigger but not a very big deal as you guys can see in the handling it's pretty sharp and coming out over here pretty nice power too but other than that huge thank you to stadium toyota for making this review possible i just missed the turn there's gonna be another one coming up though but great group of guys if you guys are in the florida area looking for a new car i would definitely suggest checking them out but other than that thank you so much for watching i had a great time making this video if you're new to this channel please subscribe if you're already subscribed thank you so much you guys know i have an endless amount of gratitude for each and every one of you you know the channel is just not possible without the subscribers and i'm really grateful for each and every one of your support but other than that again thank you guys so much for watching i had a great time making this video and i hope all of you have a great day