Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid
While many may want to start going green and shift to cars that emit less pollutants, it’s not necessarily an easy switch, particularly with all the daunting technology involved and the sometimes high price. Yet Toyota hopes to make that switch easy with their new hybrid, the Corolla Cross. It comes in a popular crossover body. There’s no special way to drive and you don’t need to charge it.
Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive system does all the thinking. When the battery runs low, it fires up the engine to keep the vehicle going while charging the battery. It also takes kinetic energy produced during braking and puts it in the battery. When it collects enough, the engine is turned off and it’s back to EV mode, which saves you a ton of gas.
If you haven’t been in a hybrid, one thing that never fails to surprise is how quiet it is when on EV (electric vehicle) mode because the engine is off while it runs on pure battery power. Meanwhile, you’re having fun driving with a fuel consumption rate of a motorcycle – 17 kilometers per liter, in traffic – while keeping your emissions low.
It uses two power sources, a 1.8L four-cylinder engine with VVT-i that puts out 98 PS and a motor generator with 72 PS. Together, a total output of 122 PS and 142 Nm of torque is sent to the front wheels via a CVT (continuously variable transmission). The motor generator (EV mode) doesn’t really put out much but if you need to overtake, the engine automatically kicks in to give you that extra boost. If you’re curious where the power is coming from, a simple diagrom on the center screen shows which part of the car is producing the energy.
Another great thing about the Corolla Cross HV is it also gets the TSS (Toyota Safety Sense) suite. It comes with Pre-Collision System (PCS) which can help prevent a collision with a vehicle or pedestrian in certain situations; Automatic High Beam (AHB) that automatically toggles between high and low beams when there’s oncoming traffic; Lane Tracing Assist (LTA) keeps the vehicle centered and in its lane; Lane Departure Alert (LDA) warns the driver when it senses that the vehicle has veered from its lane; and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) automatically adjusts speed to assists in maintaining a preset distance from the car in front.
There’s still a lot Filipinos that don’t know about hybrids and how great they really are. Thankfully, Toyota makes it really easy to understand, enjoy, and fall in love with the Corolla Cross HV.