Toyota Corolla vs Hyundai Veloster

The Toyota Corolla needs no introduction. With 12 generations spanning over five decades of production, the Corolla is the bestselling nameplate in automotive history. And it continues to be a popular choice for new car buyers looking for a reliable and sensible compact car, competing against other established names like the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Forte, Nissan Sentra, Subaru Impreza, and Volkswagen Jetta for sales.

The only significant change for 2022 is the addition of two new colors: Ruby Flare and Windchill Pearl. What hasn’t changed are the number of other choices buyers get. Toyota offers sedan and hatchback body styles, manual and automatic transmissions, and multiple powertrain options—including a hybrid. The Corolla Cross SUV also launched for 2022 but, while it shares a basic platform with the Corolla sedan and hatch, it’s effectively a different vehicle.

Finally, you get the expected array of trim levels. The Corolla sedan is available in L, LE, XLE, SE, and XSE grades, plus Apex Edition and Nightshade Edition versions of SE and XSE, with more limited options for the Corolla hatchback and hybrid (both of which will be covered separately). For this review, we tested the Apex Edition sedan in its lower SE grade. The Apex is the sportiest Corolla variant, at least until the GR Corolla hot hatchback arrives for the 2023 model year.

Consider Hyundai and its growth in popularity over the last decade. The brand built its relevance with practical, sensible vehicles, like the Sonata, and SUVs like the Santa Fe and Tucson. But “fortune favors the bold,” or so the saying goes. There is something to be said for taking an unlikely risk.

In the 2011 model year, Hyundai released the Veloster, going in a completely different direction than the rest of its typically safe product lineup. Hyundai already had a hatchback, the Accent (and later the Elantra GT). But the Veloster was something completely different. It featured a unique hatchback-meets-coupe shape and an even more unique 3-door layout. The result was a sporty daily driver that’s both fun and functional, and it has been completely redesigned for the 2019 model year.