2023 Toyota Corolla LE / Just Enough

The Corolla has hardly ever been an exciting car, but I've always found the base version to represent some of the best toyota qualities. It's a comfortable, well-built car for a great price, but in order to successfully take on the Mazda3, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra and Subaru Impreza, it has to do more than just that.

Full 2023 Corolla review

5 Reasons to Buy a 2023 Corolla

Thank you, Royal South Toyota, for letting me test drive the Corolla for today's review!

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[CapELarry]

Yup. It’s basic. But that’s what a lot of people want. There are a lot of people who need reliable transportation but don’t care about too many features or handling.

[Arsing]

Before Covid the base Corolla LE was going for $18.5k in my area all day. I keep kicking myself for not getting one.

[alengreen]

reliable 👍, affordable 👍, room inside for 4 adults👍, HP for the price 👍, very low follow-up costs 👍, good MPG 👍, design 👎, thanks bro. 👍

[rayemanuel]

Still driving my 2012 Corolla LE with 160K trouble free miles on it. Most reliable car I've ever owned!

[kevinkidneyy]

This is perfect car, Cold AC, cloth seats . No extra stuff

[jeffmorse]

I think back to the 80s and 90s and people were driving much more "base" cars. This Corolla LE would be downright luxurious by Corolla standards back then. I get to thinking sometimes about the big push to cut emissions and mandating EVs to do it. If people had just continued to buy smaller more efficient cars like this (a common practice 30+ years ago) it would go a long way towards that goal just by using so much less fuel. I'm not even talking about hybrids either - just efficient smaller ICE cars would have helped. I understand market forces though and the public wanting big trucks and SUVs when gas got cheap again. But something like the Corolla LE would take care of the needs of many/most drivers. Its a great car, but people are spoiled now.

[braetonwilson]

Great review Tyler! What's crazy is that the 2023 base Corolla LE with 169 horsepower is faster & more powerful than the 2023 base Honda Civic (158 horsepower), 2023 base Hyundai Elantra (147 horsepower), 2023 base Kia Forte (147 horsepower), and 2023 Nissan Sentra (149 horsepower)! Glad you mentioned Corolla's special CVT with a physical first gear because that not only makes the CVT more reliable, it also gives it slightly better off the line acceleration since that first gear can better capture low end torque than a traditional CVT. Also kudos to Toyota for making 2 rear USB-C ports standard on all 2023 Corollas.

[beachbum]

Just bought a "used" 2023 Corolla LE, with a whopping 208 miles on her when we bought her.
Lovin' every minute of it! 😎

[bertblue]

This is exactly what we need more of. Simple, affordable and dependable. Cars today are unaffordable pieces of crap.

[patrarus]

Thanks for this straightforward, frank commentary. Please continue with these excellent reviews! I bought a used 2023 Corolla LE recently and am happy with it. I've had frills before; do not need them at this stage of my life. Reliability and safety are paramount for me. I bought this car out of necessity. My 2016 Kia Optima was hit by a truck and State Farm decided to total it. Fortunately, no injuries occurred.

The Kia -- though more stylish and definitely more generous with space -- the glove compartment and console seemed almost as deep as the Pacific Ocean by comparison to the Corolla -- the Kia was burning oil, and that was scary! I had 63K miles on the Kia, and the company would have replaced the engine only if forced to do so! I think divine providence intervened before anything really serious happened.

[Alaska_Gal]

9/15/23: MSRP is now $21, 700. Just put a deposit down today. Sold my 2014 Chevy Spark, so this is a big upgrade for me.

[BillKinsman]

I have had a 2015 Corolla LE and I still have a 2018 Corolla LE and I love them both. I will probably get another one when this one is worn out. Really good car that blows away the old air-cooled Beetle and the water-cooled Rabbit/Golf for economy, reliability, comfort and every other measurement you can think of. Just excellent!

[mcwillies]

Mine's coming in around the middle of this month. Base model with no packages or options. It'll be a reliable car that gets me where I need to go. Great video.

[DougMacniven]

A whole lot of useful information in a 9 minute package. Thanks for another terrific review that is a lot like the Corolla itself - everything a viewer needs, nothing he/she doesn't. Cheers and keep at it!

[mikehusky]

The physical 1st gear helps a lot on cvt wear and tear. Toyota engineers are the best

[MrWolf]

$26k for a base Civic sedan??!!! Good lord, back in 2018 I paid $19500 OTD for the base Civic. Crazy how the prices keep going up and up.

[long_fellow]

I went to 3 different dealerships this week and they asking 32k for LE Gas Corolla. Nearly 10k markup. I think I'm gonna wait

[seatie]

Im grateful for the Corolla. Often times in a car review i hear reviewers try to find any sort of hint of “luxury” in a vehicle. What happened to a car just being able to do its job?

[nrich]

The torsion beam rear suspension with be unnoticeable to the average driver so this is a non issue. There are only 3 cars I would ever consider in this range - the Corolla, the Civic, and the Mazda 3. They all have above average reliability with lots of practical features that you actually use.

[kylesjunkandprojects]

I’m still daily driving my 1997 Corolla, it is very reliable and costs on average $500 a year to maintain driving 20, 000 miles a year. I’m glad Toyota is still making a car for someone like me, who only cares if my car gets me where I need to go and does it cheaply and reliably.