Toyota Corolla
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 9 compact cars
People recommend the Corolla as a cheap, reliable, fuel-efficient car that lasts for years with basic maintenance. Critics find its tech and driving dull.
People recommend the Corolla as a cheap, reliable, fuel-efficient car that lasts for years with basic maintenance. Critics find its tech and driving dull.
86 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 63
- criticize it
- 23
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 11 years
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 63 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable and long-lasting
“A 1999 Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla, assuming serviced regularly (and competently) could easily be on the road today.”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “If America's So Rich, How'd It Get So Sad?” “My ~$700 corolla hardly cost anything to run and lasted about six years before needing scrapping.”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “How to buy a good car for $1000” “built like a tank in that it was nearly indestructible in terms of reliability”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Toyota is taking the Corolla electric” - Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “The rise of industrial software”
- Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Choose Boring Technology (2015)”
- Comment from 13 Sep 2026 in “Data collected by cars and sold to third parties”
- Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Toyota is taking the Corolla electric”
Cheap to run, good mileage
“great highway mileage! ... it's smaller than most everything else on the road, both in terms of visibility and collisions”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Ford kills the All-Electric F-150” “Its actually cheaper (for me in the UK) to run a corolla hybrid than an EV as I don't have the ability to charge at home.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Toyota is taking the Corolla electric” “My ~$700 corolla hardly cost anything to run and lasted about six years before needing scrapping.”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “How to buy a good car for $1000” - Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Toyota is taking the Corolla electric”
- Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “EV demand up 50% in France and Germany since Iran war”
- Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Toyota is taking the Corolla electric”
Simple, practical, easy to live with
“great basic utility, reasonable comfort, zero sporting pretension and an honest high 50s mpg”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Toyota is taking the Corolla electric” “very low-tech, but new enough to have Bluetooth and a backup camera, so everything i want”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “All Cars Sold in the EU Now Require a Camera Aimed at Your Face” “classically "boring" but highly-practical, dependable, and efficient vehicles”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Porsche Sold More Electrified Cars in Europe in 2025 Than Pure Gas-Powered Cars” - Comment from 5 May 2026 in “The Car That Watches You Back: The Advertising Infrastructure of Modern Cars”
Good value for the money
“A normal base 23k usd Corolla , not saying anything against the car mechanically it is a great machine for what it is.”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “My Midlife Crisis Corolla Is Fast, Furious, and Modded” “They will get you to your destination just as well for cheaper and with more space for your stuff.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Tesla Roadster” “Fair price considering how many features you get vs 1974 car.”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “BYD Slashes Price of Electric Car and Becomes Cheapest in Australia [video]” - Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Toyota Fluorite: "console-grade" Flutter game engine”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Boring, bare, lacks character
“The latter is boring, but it offers a seamless driving experience and okay controls.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Citroen revives the 2CV for an electric age” “it just not being all that great compared to its more optimized competition”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Toyota is taking the Corolla electric” “barebones even compared to mainstream cars like a Toyota Corolla”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Tesla 'Robotaxi' adds 5 more crashes in Austin in a month – 4x worse than humans” - Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Nissan's third generation e-POWER powertrain”
Electrical and software glitches
“i'm not impressed with a 2019 corolla engineering at all, specifically various parts of the electrical system”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive” “I wish it had even 70% reliability of just working when I'm using anything software related.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Toyota is taking the Corolla electric” “has a 1.5 second audio lag and it’s my only issue with the vehicle”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “AirPods 5” Rust and weak collision safety
“I love it but will crumble like a cracker in a collision because rust”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “I went to Mexico to test-drive the cars Americans can’t buy” “Each one is ratty, beat up and 19+ years old, I wouldn't want to chance taking any of them on the freeway”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “BYD Slashes Price of Electric Car and Becomes Cheapest in Australia [video]”
Other compact cars people recommend
The four most recommended other compact cars, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota CorollaThis page | 63 | 23 | 73% | 12 | 11 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Honda Civic | 32 | 5 | 86% | 10 | 15 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| Honda Fit | 14 | 4 | 78% | 5 | 9 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Toyota Yaris | 12 | 7 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| Mazda 3 | 11 | 0 | 100% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 96 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I love it but will crumble like a cracker in a collision because rust”
“I would just get a hybrid Corolla if you can't stretch that budget”
“They will get you to your destination just as well for cheaper and with more space for your stuff.”
“The latter is boring, but it offers a seamless driving experience and okay controls.”
“a hybrid Corolla simply doesn't offer anything that I'd want”
“built like a tank in that it was nearly indestructible in terms of reliability”
“A 10 years warranty as long as you do the prescribed maintenance with hassle free ownership”
“great basic utility, reasonable comfort, zero sporting pretension and an honest high 50s mpg”
“it just not being all that great compared to its more optimized competition”
“hybrids have a huge advantage in the types of driving where weight matters”
“People drive Corollas because they're cheap and reliable.”
“I wish it had even 70% reliability of just working when I'm using anything software related.”
“Its actually cheaper (for me in the UK) to run a corolla hybrid than an EV as I don't have the ability to charge at home.”
“The hybrid already gets 55mpg and the batteries are dirt cheap.”
“Fair price considering how many features you get vs 1974 car.”
“Each one is ratty, beat up and 19+ years old, I wouldn't want to chance taking any of them on the freeway”
“The Corolla hasn't had a single repair problem in 23 years!”
“My ~$700 corolla hardly cost anything to run and lasted about six years before needing scrapping.”
“has a 1.5 second audio lag and it’s my only issue with the vehicle”
“Toyota Corollas have generally proven to be incredibly reliable”
“Even niche offerings like the GR Corolla can be challenging to procure from a dealer”
“it's a terrifying car. i can't drive it much at my home track (laguna) because of the sound level”
“A normal base 23k usd Corolla , not saying anything against the car mechanically it is a great machine for what it is.”
“very low-tech, but new enough to have Bluetooth and a backup camera, so everything i want”
“They'd be better off just driving a regular hybrid, like a Corolla.”
“that gets great mileage, low maintenance and can be had new for 30k”
“were also already known for being fuel efficient and reliable cars”
“A 90s Camry, Corolla, or Civic seems to have become the peak minimalist car”
“A 1999 Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla, assuming serviced regularly (and competently) could easily be on the road today.”
“The Camry and Corolla were the best-selling sedan and compact sedan of 2025”
“barebones even compared to mainstream cars like a Toyota Corolla”
“What you get for that $23k is now quite substantial though.”
“Yeah even corollas have better sensors than a Tesla for driving in fog.”
“The adaptive cruise is a killer feature. Best car I've ever owned.”
“it has all the technology one would expect now, all while having physical buttons where it matters”
“this is now a standard (free) feature even in basic vehicles like the Toyota Corolla”
“classically "boring" but highly-practical, dependable, and efficient vehicles”
“Your Toyota Corolla is more reliable than any supercar ever made.”
“great highway mileage! ... it's smaller than most everything else on the road, both in terms of visibility and collisions”
“i'm not impressed with a 2019 corolla engineering at all, specifically various parts of the electrical system”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.