Toyota Corolla vs Suzuki Baleno

What's the difference?

After several years in market, the Toyota Corolla Ascent Sport Hybrid stands up well. Late 2022 upgrades have helped keep the hybrid powertrain on the pace and the multimedia system competitive. The sedan layout is better than the hatch for carrying people and cargo, it’s a refined and comfortable drive, and the ownership package sets the pace in this category. That said, safety is good but could be better, the CVT’s a bit drony, there are some small things we’d like to see on the standard equipment list (adjustable rear ventilation, extra USBs) and there’s room for improvement in terms of in-cabin storage. But overall, it’s hard to go past this small sedan proposition.

The Baleno is a disappointingly dull car from a company that makes plenty of un-dull cars. I suppose it's prudent for Suzuki to at least try to look like a grown-up, but as this car proves, there's no fun in that.

It will no doubt be dependable and if kept in metropolitan areas, will serve its owners well. But it's lacking in key safety gear, the servicing is a bit on the stiff side and the interior feels cheaper than most of its competitors.

And on top of all that, it feels really old.

The current Corolla sedan arrived in late 2019, a bit over a year after the hatch, and the car’s dramatic face with long angular headlights and huge lower grille has held up well.

Always a subjective call, but I think it still looks fresh and distinctive, in the case of the sedan, balanced by a less complex rear treatment, no doubt applied with a four-door buyer’s typically more conservative tastes in mind.

Worth noting for an entry-grade model our Ascent Sport looked particularly classy in ‘Atomic Rush’, a sedan-only body colour, and overall the car’s ‘three-box’ proportions are well balanced, helped by the base car’s step up from 15- to 16-inch alloy wheels in the 2022 upgrade.

The interior is simple without crossing over into plain, the dual-level dash design accommodating an 8.0-inch media screen standing proud in the centre, and a compact instrument binnacle sitting under a curved brow.

The grey fabric seat trim looks tough but doesn’t feel it, with some squiggly quasi-quilting in the centre panels adding visual interest. The only other hint of flashiness being gloss black finish panels in the centre console, around the ventilation controls and media screen.

Suzuki says the Baleno's look reflects the brand's 'Liquid Flow' design language, but I'd much prefer it if they had stuck with the angular design of its other cars. Almost all of them are far better looking, or at least characterful.

The Baleno's recent facelift, which is mostly a new front bumper and a headlight tweak, was probably supposed to improve the looks but instead the car now appears to have had some fillers pumped into its cheeks.

It's not an attractive car from the front, with the grille overpowered by the lower fascia's sheer breadth. The rear and profile are fairly anonymous and to ensure its anonymity, there is little in the way of adornment. Looks basic, is basic.

Step in to the spacious-for-its-size cabin and you'll be greeted with the usual Suzuki staples of super-hard plastics, hardy carpets and tough cloth trim.

There is a little curvaceousness to the dash design but it just feels a bit half-hearted until the curves run into the centre console's alien-with-flappy-ears effect. There's nothing wrong with it but it does look dated.

At just over 4.6m long, close to 1.8m wide and a fraction over 1.4m tall, the Corolla sedan is a ‘big’ small car. And at 2700mm, the sedan’s wheelbase is 60mm longer than its hatch equivalent.

There’s plenty of breathing space up front and storage runs to generous door bins with space for large bottles, two cupholders in the centre console, a lidded box (which doubles as a centre armrest) between the seats, a decent glove box and the wireless charging tray in front of the gearshift. That’s all fine, but some extra oddments space in the centre console would be nice.

Move to the rear and the sedan’s extra wheelbase length manifests itself in the shape of noticeably more room than the hatch.

Sitting behind the driver’s seat set for my 183cm height, I enjoyed good legroom and ample headroom. Three adults will be okay for short to medium journeys and a trio of up to teenage kids will be fine for the long haul.

There’s a fold down armrest with two cupholders built in, although the cushion lowers all the way onto the seat creating a slightly awkward downward angle. And no map pockets on the front seat backs feels a bit stingy.

The rear door bins can accommodate a medium-size bottle and a small tray at the back of the front centre console is where you’d like the adjustable ventilation and USB outlets to be, but sadly, they don’t exist.

In fact, power and connectivity options number just two; a USB-C socket in the front for charging and media connection as well as a 12V outlet in the front centre storage box. 

Modest boot space is an Achilles Heel for the Corolla hatch, but the sedan’s 470 litres of cargo volume is way better.

It swallowed our three-piece luggage set or the bulky CarsGuide pram with room to spare, and the 60/40 split-folding rear seat lowers to liberate extra space. Just bear in mind that the relatively tight aperture is a large-load disadvantage relative to a wide-opening hatch door.

Interestingly, there aren’t any tie-down anchors in the boot to secure loads, but there’s a space-saver spare under the floor.

Also worth noting the Corolla Hybrid a no-tow zone. If you need to hook up a boat or campervan, the 2.0-litre non-hybrid Corolla sedan is rated for a 1300kg braked trailer (450kg unbraked).

Here's some excellent news - there is plenty of space in the Baleno's tiddly sub-four metre frame. The awkwardly-proportioned body has delivered good space for front and rear passengers who would be happier on more comfortable seats, but for city driving, they do just fine.

If you're up to around 180cm tall, there's enough space for you and your legs in the back and headroom is adequate.

Storage is a limited to a couple of open trays but you can put your phone in the same place as the USB port. You get two cupholders at the front and if you don't mind losing the rearmost of your storage trays, the back seat passengers can share it as a solitary cupholder. Each door has a very handy bottle holder that will secure a 1.5-litre vessel.

The boot is a good size for the segment at 355 litres to begin with and 746 with the 60/40 split fold rear seat folded down.

For $16,990 drive away, Suzuki opens the range with this GL. That scores you 15-inch steel wheels with less than fetching hubcaps, a six-speaker stereo, air-conditioning, reversing camera, remote central locking, cruise control, sat nav, auto halogen headlights, power mirrors and windows, and a space-saver spare.

A 7.0-inch touchscreen that you can find in almost every Suzuki handles the sat nav and entertainment duties. It's not a bad piece of hardware except it doesn't have a proper volume knob, but more than makes up for that with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Then ruins it again with tinny sound. You can't have it all, I suppose.

The Corolla hybrid is powered primarily by a naturally aspirated 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine operating on the ‘Atkinson Cycle’, which adjusts cam timing to maximise the effective cylinder expansion ratio (compression stroke vs power stroke) for greater efficiency and reduced emissions.

But the downside of this combustion cycle is a relative lack of power, which is where the car’s primary AC synchronous, permanent magnet electric motor comes into play.

Upgraded in late 2022, the motor now features double the number of magnets (per pole) inside the rotor.

At the same time a lighter lithium-ion battery was added, featuring greater input and output power compared to the nickel-metal hydride unit it replaced.

A compact starter/generator (effectively a second electric motor) is powered by the engine (it also starts it) in turn sending energy to the main drive motor and battery. 

The end result is combined outputs of 103kW (+13kW) at 5200rpm and 142Nm at 3600rpm, although it’s worth noting Toyota has a strange habit of not including the torque output from the electric motors in its overall numbers for hybrid models.

With the primary motor alone producing more than 160Nm of pulling power, you’d have to imagine the actual combined torque figure is somewhere in the region of 250Nm, with drive going to the front wheels via a CVT auto.

You'll not need to hold on to your hat in the Baleno. The 1.4-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder musters up 68kW at 6000rpm and 130Nm 2000rpm earlier. It's not a lot, but at 915kg, the Baleno isn't doing too badly.

There's an old relic in the transmission department. Power reaches the front wheels via a four-speed automatic transmission. There aren't many of those left in circulation on new car forecourts.

You can't buy a Baleno with the plucky 1.0-litre turbo anymore, which is a bit of shame.

Toyota’s official combined cycle fuel economy number for the Corolla’s hybrid powertrain is 3.9L/100km, the 1.8-litre engine emitting 81g/km of CO2 in the process.

That’s up slightly from the pre-upgrade model’s 3.5L/100km claim, but over a week with the Ascent Sport we covered around 250km of urban, B-road and some freeway running, returning an average of precisely 3.9L/100km (at the bowser), which is an outstanding result for a close to 1.4-tonne four-door sedan.

Of course, the super smooth stop-start system (controlled by the starter/generator) plays a part, plus the bonus is the 1.8-litre four is happy to accept ‘standard’ 91 RON unleaded, and the fuel tank holds 43 litres, which translates to a range of just over 1100km. Pretty great.

Suzuki says you'll get 5.4L/100km on the combined cycle, which isn't too far off reality, our time delivering around 6.6L/100km. Which was remarkable in itself given how much throttle you have to use to move along.

Another bonus is that even though the fuel tank is just 37 litres, you won't spend half your life filling up.

The Corolla Ascent Sport Hybrid is a comfortable, stress-free driving experience. Toyota’s series parallel hybrid set-up means the wheels can be driven by the internal-combustion engine, electric motors, or both. And the transition happens seamlessly.

Start-up is silent with the motor(s) doing the driving at low speed, the petrol engine kicking in as the power requirement rises.

As the engine operates it’s also charging the battery and under braking the front wheels turning causes the motor and generator to send power to the main battery pack, as well.

Toyota doesn’t quote acceleration figures for the Corolla but you can expect 0-100km/h in around 12 seconds, which is hardly neck-snapping, however this hybrid combination provides enough torque for nimble acceleration in the city and suburbs as well as easy freeway cruising.

Then there’s the Continuously Variable Transmission. I’m no CVT fan, largely because of the disconnect between road speed and engine speed it creates. The transmission is always trying to keep the engine in its efficiency sweet spot and the most noticeable byproduct is an incongruous droning sound.

Developed by transmission specialist (and Toyota subsidiary) Aisin, the Corolla’s unit is ‘tighter’ than some but the sluggish ‘slipping clutch’ effect is still there from time to time.

Underpinned by Toyota’s TNGA platform, precise handling and excellent ride comfort are dynamic hallmarks of this 12th-generation Corolla. And the Ascent Sport Hybrid Sedan is no exception.

Suspension is by struts at the front and multi-links at the rear, and compliance is super impressive, especially for a car of this size.

The electrically-assisted steering is responsive and road feel is good, the car remaining planted and predictable, with only modest body roll if the red mist descends and you decide to ‘push on’ through your favourite set of corners.

This kind of response is especially noteworthy given the car’s low-rolling resistance Bridgestone Ecopia rubber (205/55) is primarily designed for efficiency rather than race-circuit grippiness.

Braking is by 255mm ventilated discs at the front (slightly smaller than the 2.0L non-hybrid’s) and 265mm solid rotors at the rear. They’re progressive with good pedal feel. Not always the case when regenerative braking is part of the picture.

In terms of general comfort and ergonomic efficiency, the seats remain comfortable, even over road-trip-style stints, while the mix of physical and digital controls is sensible and works well.

Most Suzukis are fun to drive even if they're on the slow side. The Jimny bounces around like a fat puppy full of sugar, the Swift is a good laugh and the Vitara is quite handy. The Baleno fails to be any of these things, but it's not all bad news.

The first thing you'll notice is the very light steering that makes a high-pitched noise when you turn it.

The second thing you'll notice is the whine coming from the transmission or somewhere very like it, no matter how much throttle you have on. It shifts smoothly enough, though, which isn't very often given the lack of gears.

It's not often I yearn for a CVT, but that might be the better transmission for this car. Yes, I just checked outside for airborne pigs, too.

The Baleno does feel like it teeters a little on its skinny, high profile tyres. It's not a car to drive with enthusiasm, but if you're happy enough with its almost-lively off-the-mark acceleration, which then fades away rapidly, you'll be perfectly happy.

It's not very quiet, though, with plenty of noise passing through the trademark thin sheetmetal and sparingly damped shell. It's light, but you can hear why - there's not much sound-deadening to weigh it down.

On the open road the Baleno further reinforces its credentials as a city car - it wanders around on the tyres, the steering loses all its feel and the wind noise means you have to turn up the volume to either drown it out or make yourself heard.

Sadly, the Baleno is not among the frontrunners for safety features. It does arrive with six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls and a reversing camera but misses out on every advanced safety feature we expect to see at least one or two of, such as AEB.

There are two ISOFIX points and three top-tether restraints for the baby and child seats.

The Baleno does not have an ANCAP safety rating.

Toyota covers the Corolla with a five-year, unlimited-km warranty, which is the industry standard these days. But significantly, the hybrid battery is included and if you follow the annual servicing schedule for those five years, your engine and driveline warranty extends to seven years and the battery to 10 years (if the latter is also inspected annually). Impressive.

Seven years emergency assistance is provided (expenses related to car hire or towing), and corrosion (to the point of perforation) is covered for seven years.

On top of that ‘Toyota Connected Services’, accessed through the ‘myToyota’ app, is complimentary for 12 months, offering everything from vehicle data and member discounts to driving insights and multimedia profiles.

Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 15,000km, and ‘Toyota Service Advantage’ capped pricing is available, with the number sitting at $245 for the first five visits to the workshop. 

That’s up from $175 when the current generation Corolla launched here in 2019, but it’s still a sharp price.

Suzuki has joined the mainstream market herd with a five year/unlimited kilometre warranty for private use (ie not Uber) but there isn't even a solitary year of roadside assist.

Happily, since we last drove the Baleno, service intervals on the 1.4-litre have improved to 12 months/15,000km (rather than the previous 10,000km) and the company also offers five years of capped pricing up to 90,000km.

Services come in between $239 and $499, unless you've somehow covered 90,000km inside the five year window, and then it blows out to $649. That last figure aside, you can expect to pay $1635 over five years (or $2045 if you go nuts on the mileage). It's not especially cheap.