Top Clunker Buys Compared: Toyota Corolla vs Ford Focus vs Honda Civic

By John Voelcker

John Voelcker

Senior Editor BIO

John is Senior Editor for High Gear Media. In addition to news coverage and new car reviews, John creates and oversees all editorial for High Gear's... More

LATEST ARTICLE
2013 Nissan Altima: 31-MPG Combined Rating For Mid-Size Sedan
Today's the day when we can talk about the all-new 2013 Nissan Altima, the latest generation of... Read More

• #4LEADERBOARD RANK
• 2324ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
• 1030COMMENTS POSTED

7,310 views Aug 7, 2009

Follow John

Add to circle

2009 Toyota Corolla

Enlarge Photo

Thinking about trading in your clunker for a nice, new, fuel-efficient car? Take a breath; the first-week success of the Car Allowance Rebate Systems (CARS) program, better known as "Cash for Clunkers," looks to be continued at least through Labor Day.

Last Friday, the US House of Representatives to vote to transfer $2 billion to the CARS program from an energy-loan guarantee fund. Yesterday, despite early opposition from Republican Senators, the Senate voted 60-37 to approve the new funding.

Starting in the last week of July, the program has worked unexpectedly well both in improving gas mileage and boosting new-car sales. Dealers must disable the engines of the cars traded in, though the rest of the vehicle can be sold to dismantlers or recyclers.

Baseline: 22 mpg or better

The minimum requirement to get a $3,500 allowance is that the new car gets an EPA combined gas-mileage rating of at least 22 miles per gallon. But to get the maximum of $4,500, the new car must be rated at least 10 miles per gallon higher than the trade-in.

This means lots of low-mileage sport utility vehicles, minivans, and pickup trucks have been traded for compact or midsize sedans and hatchbacks with combined ratings far higher than the base 22 mpg.

By numbers sold, the top three are the Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, and the Honda Civic. All three are compact four-door sedans, built in North America, whose base prices vary by less than $200, from $15,350 (Corolla) to $15,520 (Focus).

All three cars get city mileage in the low- to mid-20s, but highway economy figures in the mid- to high-30s. Here's what you need to know about these top clunker replacements:

COMPARE: 2009 Toyota Corolla vs 2009 Ford Focus vs 2009 Honda Civic

2009 Toyota Corolla

Enlarge Photo

2009 Toyota Corolla

The basics: 1.8-liter four-cylinder, 132 hp (XRS, 2.4-liter four-cylinder, 158 hp)

Price: $15,350 and up

Fuel economy: 22/35 mpg (manual)

Rating: 7.8 out of 10

The 2009 Toyota Corolla is almost a Jekyll-and-Hyde car. The base edition is bland, and suffers when compared to the Honda Civic in both performance and styling. But then there's the sporty Corolla XRS model, which does better on all counts but costs enough to push it almost into midsize territory.

We assume that most clunkers buyers will go for the base engine, so that's what we're focusing on in this review.

On the plus side, the latest Corolla is quiet and comfortable. Its controls are entirely intuitive, and it has the rock-solid assembly quality and superb reputation for reliability that most Toyotas (although lately, not all) have enjoyed for decades.

But offsetting that are a few flaws that disturbed us. While Toyota isn't known for its styling prowess, the new model is so similar to the previous iterations that we're hard-press to know whether it's a 2009 or a 2004.

More importantly, though, the interior is simply cheaper than we've come to expect on Toyotas. The LE adds features, while the XLE gets wood trim, and the XRS adds some leather and better seats. Still, rear seating is tight if you ever need to carry five people.

Finally, most automatic models still use a four-speed transmission, rather than the five- or even six-speed automatics that are spreading quickly into midsize and even compact cars. That extra gear or two really can boost your fuel economy, and the Corolla's numbers are in the middle of this pack.

Despite its blandness, the Toyota Corolla scored 7.8 out of 10 from the editors at TheCarConnection.com, in part because of its extensive safety equipment.