Many years have passed since the golden era of station wagons at the beginning of the previous decade. For a moment, it seemed that Israel had "discovered" this useful configuration, and the roads were filled with Ford Focus, Hyundai i30cw, Skoda Octavia, Opel Astra, Renault Megane, Honda Civic, Peugeot 308, Kia Ceed, Chevrolet Cruze, Seat Leon, and others. This list is not exhaustive, but mainly serves to highlight the difference between then and the market in 2024 - where only three station wagons are officially sold in Israel: the electric MG5, Kia Ceed, and Ford Focus.
But now, quietly and calmly, a fourth family station wagon begins to be sold here, a new-old company in this group - the Toyota Corolla Station Wagon, or as it is called in Toyota - SPACE.
The propulsion system is the same as the current Corolla, meaning the use of Toyota's 5th generation hybrid systems - a 1.8-liter gasoline engine and electric reinforcement for a combined output of 140 kW.
What is different, of course, are the external dimensions and the cargo compartment volume. In terms of overall length, it adds two centimeters compared to the sedan version, with a total length of 4.65 meters, a single centimeter increase in width to 1.79 meters, and a higher height by 2.5 centimeters at 1.46 meters. The wheelbase remains unchanged from the sedan at 270 centimeters. The bonus in the case of the station wagon is the rear door structure that makes it easier to access the rear seat, a weakness in the sedan's configuration due to the roof falling.
The cargo hold volume is 596 liters, significantly larger than the 471 liters of the S̱edan and also larger than that of the Ceed, the Focus and certainly that of the MG.
The Corolla Station will be marketed with the lowest finish level of the model, which mainly means foregoing convenience features that appear in the model intended for private customers, such as dark windows, keyless entry, and also a sophisticated multimedia system and instrument cluster. The touchscreen will be 8 inches in size and not 10.5 (without Android Auto, but with compatibility for Apple CarPlay wireless) and the instrument cluster will only include a 7-inch data display and not the full digital display of 12.3 inches offered even in the Corolla SUN model intended for fleet vehicles.
However, there were no compromises made in the field of safety systems, and it will receive the TTS 3.0 systems package, meaning: automatic braking, prevention of unintended acceleration (gas pedal neutralization in obstacle detection), lane departure correction, adaptive cruise control including autonomous lane change, integrated speed sign recognition in the cruise control, and also the possibility of remote updates (OTA) for safety systems.
The problem with the Corolla Station is the price tag attached to it, according to the information we received, as it is not marketed directly to consumers - its price is set at NIS 180,000. And we are talking about the lowest finish level of the model, not only more expensive by NIS 10,000 than the equipped Corolla SENSE priced at NIS 170,000 but also much more than its competitors - the Ceed Station (NIS 162,000), the Focus (NIS 154,000), and the electric MG at NIS 159,000.
In a conversation with the importer, it emerges that the original target audience was taxi drivers, who have now shifted to hybrid vehicles that run on diesel. However, they were very surprised to discover that there is still demand for the model among fleets of vehicles, especially in Bezeq, Elbit, and others.