17 April

We've owned a Corolla hybrid hatch for more than a year now, and it must be one of the best fun driver's cars out there. Very low centre of gravity so it hugs the ground, I've never experienced a faster car around corners. One of the worse things about the ute fetish Australia now has is how awful they are as driver's cars, all that weight so high up off the ground, fighting you in the opposite direction on every corner. Inertia does that. Being a hybrid this thing also kicks arse from a standing start, with the electric motor. Hasn't been beaten yet at a red light. Power/torque is maximum from 0 rpm all the way through the rev range, like all EVs. Ask the Subaru WRXs I've left behind. And it uses sub-5L/100 km of fuel. Also sweet when you come up the driveway at home and the neighbour says 'your car doesn't make any noise'. He was quite taken aback.