2017 Toyota Corolla sedan | new car sales price video

New safety equipment and visual tweaks for Corolla sedan, safety-boosted hatch to follow soon after.

Toyota has given its Corolla sedan a makeover for 2017, adding new safety equipment, tweaked external and internal styling and minor revisions to its mechanical package, along with extra standard equipment.

The tweaks come at a price, though, with the three-model range copping a price hike of between $500 and $930 across the board.

Key amongst the safety additions is a pre-collision system that incorporates auto emergency braking, lane departure warning and high beam assist. The system will come as standard on the range topping ZR (which increases in price by $930), and will be made available as a $750 option on the second-tier SX (up $830).

The base Ascent (up $500) can also be optioned with the system, but only as part of a $1500 package that also adds new 15-inch alloy wheels.

2017 Toyota Corolla SX

1 / 3

2017 Toyota Corolla SX

2 / 3

2017 Toyota Corolla SX

3 / 3

Spec additions include a new 7.0-inch multimedia touchscreen for the Ascent, satellite navigation for the SX and LED headlights for the ZR.

All three score a newly designed front end with a tweak to the lower part of the front bar, a new headlight treatment and extra grille brightwork.

LED taillights are also now fitted as standard across the range.

Inside, a handful of tiny tweaks have been made to tidy up and modernise the dashboard, and a smattering of chrome has been added.

Toyota has also taken the chance to tweak the running gear of the booted Corolla, which runs a 1.8-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine across the line.

2017 Toyota Corolla Ascent

1 / 4

2017 Toyota Corolla Ascent

2 / 4

2017 Toyota Corolla Ascent

3 / 4

2017 Toyota Corolla Ascent

4 / 4

While its 103kW and 173Nm outputs remain unchanged, incremental improvements to oil and water cooling systems, along with a revised throttle map, are designed to improve drivability and improve emissions, according to Toyota.

The car's continuously variable transmission – standard on the ZR and a $1500 option on the other two grades – has also been revised, with better behaviour in sport mode and the addition of a modicum of engine braking while in manual mode.

Chassis tweaks include larger diameter front shocks, improvements to suspension mountings and the addition of an extra bushing in the rear end, while thicker insulation under the carpet and on the firewall are designed to keep noise out of the cabin.

Similar revisions will be applied to the hatch range as soon as this month, according to Toyota Australia.

Sedans make up about 20 per cent of Corolla's sales total. The venerable nameplate finished 2016 in second place overall on the national sales charts, topped for the first time ever by Toyota's HiLux ute.

Do you prefer your small cars in sedan or hatch form? Tell us in the comments section below.