2003 Toyota Corolla LE

It's not like the Corolla was in trouble. Since debuting in 1966, it's been on a sustained juggernaut through the small-car ranks, racking up over 28 million sales worldwide and reigning as autodom's all-time best-selling nameplate. Even with a new version waiting in the wings, the outgoing Corolla still managed to sell over 245,000 units in the U.S. alone last year.

For 2003, Corolla grows from a subcompact to a compact. Styling is "faster," and body-gap tolerances borrow a page from Lexus's engineering manual.

But for Toyota, just being good was not good enough. Faced with the fact that the Corolla no longer ranked as the segment leader in terms of value, image or owner loyalty, corporate Chief Engineer Takeshi Yoshida and his development team set out to rectify those shortcomings in a major way. The result is the all-new, ninth-generation model—a slick sedan that raises its game to an entirely new level. Longer, taller and wider than the car it replaces, the 2003 Corolla's substantial 5.4-inch wheelbase stretch—to 102.4 inches—and faster A- and C-pillar treatments not only give it a bolder, more substantial presence but also help elevate it from subcompact to compact status.


Following in the developmental tire tracks it established with the 2002 Camry, Toyota fundamentally reorganized the entire creative process for the new Corolla in an effort to streamline it and produce it more cost-effectively. Input from all parties—designers, engineers, suppliers and marketers—was collected and analyzed at the very start of the program to set priorities and finalize parameters for this critical offering. That approach netted tangible savings in a number of areas and led to a more aggressive pricing strategy.


Equally important, for the first time ever, the basic Corolla package was biased toward the wants and needs of buyers in its largest single market: America. In light of that fact, Toyota chose to make a number of high-take options—notably a CD player, rear-window defogger, digital clock, 60/40 split rear seat back, full wheel covers and body side molding—standard equipment. The result is that all three Corolla models—entry-level CE, sporty S and top-line LE—offer greater value than the vehicles they replace on a feature-parity basis.


In addition to its sleeker new look, the Corolla restyle has trimmed its coefficient of drag from 0.31 to 0.30. Significant improvements to fit and finish also were engineered into the mix, with body-panel gaps and alignment specs now equal to those of the previous-generation Lexus lines.