Fleet World Fleet: Toyota Corolla Commercial 1.8 Hybrid

After three months on our test fleet, has the Toyota Corolla Commercial hybrid van proved its capabilities? John Kendall reports

Price OTR: £24,003 Payload 425kg Economy: 55.6-61.4mpg CO2 emissions: 105g/km On fleet: 59.8mpg

One of our last trips has been to Toyota’s Derby plant

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Our time with the Corolla Commercial is up and the last job we carried out with it was to drive to the launch of its successor at Toyota’s Burnaston plant near Derby. We will bring you more on that in the next issue of Van Fleet World, but let’s just say that the changes make a desirable car-derived van even more desirable.

Toyota has made no changes to the bodywork, so the load area remains the same as in our test van, with the rear side doors ensuring that access to the load area is good for a van of this type. The non-slip flooring is a real bonus, able to hold things like a toolbox in place without them moving around.

It’s the driving experience that has really helped us to enjoy the Corolla Commercial, with the CVT transmission switching seamlessly between electric and engine power and making driving in stop/start traffic so simple. Then there is the high level of standard equipment from adaptive cruise control to heated seats and reversing camera and automatic dipping LED headlamps. Add to that the impressive fuel consumption which has remained consistently around an indicated 60mpg (petrol) and the Corolla makes a convincing case for itself.

Our test Toyota is proving easy to load

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The Corolla Commercial continues to impress. At the working end, it has helped me collect a load of logs and also remove a load of rotten timber to the recycling centre. While the load area is not accessible from a forklift, small loads are not particularly problematic. That’s partly because it retains the rear side doors, which makes it easy to access the load area from front or back. The non-slip rubber flooring is also a bonus too. Most things stay where they are put, while the load securing eyes in the floor and also the front bulkhead frame provide useful load securing points.

We have undertaken some long trips in the Corolla and the standard spec is impressive, making lengthy journeys comfortable and the driving experience almost as simple as driving an electric vehicle. The heated seats are very welcome in the winter weather and the auto-dipping LED headlamps light the road up well and avoid dazzling oncoming drivers. Fuel consumption remains impressive, still hovering close to an indicated 60mpg. The hybrid system grabs every opportunity to run on electric power and although Corolla Commercial is relatively new to the market, development is not finished yet. Do we like it? Yes, we do.

The Corolla Commercial is built at Toyota’s Burnaston plant alongside the Corolla Hatchback and Touring Sports

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After driving the Corolla Commercial at its recent launch, we wanted to see how the promise of the Toyota petrol/electric hybrid powertrain stands up as an alternative to diesel.

As we pointed out at the time, the Corolla Commercial is well equipped with a range of safety and convenience items as standard. About the only things that might be missed are parking sensors, although there is a reversing camera as standard (just don’t wait for the beeps, the noise you would hear won’t be quite so reassuring). There’s no sat-nav either, but with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, plug your phone in and it does the job just as well with minimal data consumption.

So far, we’re impressed. It would serve any fleet where small loads are the norm and a car-like driving experience a bonus. A bit like the Readypower Group, which has just taken on 45 Corolla Commercials to replace a diesel-powered fleet.

I’m getting between 59 and 60mpg regularly, including some long motorway trips. With petrol significantly less than diesel at the moment, that’s quite an incentive. The suspension is a bit on the soft side but that makes it a comfortable motorway cruiser.

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