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Toyota Corolla Verso: Peace to your home

Like a meek servant from the East, she is ready to give everything to the benefit of her master’s family hearth. But who is she really?

Seven in the boat, not counting lawn mowers

“Where were you a week ago, my dear ?!” – that’s all I thought, easily pulling a pair of rear seats from the floor. Before last weekend, my wife ate my whole baldness: dad is going to take the lawn-mower to the dacha, my son needs to deliver the bicycle there, my mother must seize the boxes with seedlings, and the Sinichkins wanted to visit. For one flight, our “nine” cannot cope with such a task.

I remember a cheerful evening turned out … N-yes. How much peace and quiet in the family. And here in front of me is a car that could solve all my problems. “Well, where have you been?”

Two years ago, when I saw her for the first time, the unusually high Corolla with the Verso nameplate seemed like a nice, comfortable and surprisingly hospitable machine. But the strange thing is, now, when the official deliveries of this compact van to Russia have finally begun, it seems to me that the Verso is completely different. She became larger, more athletic, tried on elegant lens optics and got an additional two seats in the cabin.

Surprisingly, with a 7-seater layout in the third row, adults will go up to 185 cm in height. The second-row chairs will have to be moved forward a few centimeters. Total range of longitudinal adjustment is an impressive 24 cm, and the angle of inclination of the back – up to 30 degrees. Any of the five rear seats fold flush with the floor, and out of the car turns a cargo van more than half a cubic meter. The last circumstance is a special pride of Verso. After all, its competitors – “Zafira”, “Scenic”, “C-Max” – cannot provide such a smooth and impressive (1537 x 1374) cargo platform.

About the fans to hide around the cabin all sorts of stuff, too, have not forgotten. There are three glove boxes in front, a pair of grooves under the floor in the stern, there are compartments for tools, in each door there are two cupholders. True, the covers of the two compartments in the front panel cannot boast perfect clearances in Japanese, and the mechanisms for folding the chairs of the second are not enough for clarity of work. Ready to forgive Verso these little things? I’ve forgiven here. Because besides the talents of transforming the salon – and there are more than three dozen of the creators of the car – this “Toyota” still has some very strong trumps in store.

Talents hidden and obvious
When the instrument panel, which had just gaped with bottomless black, lit up with a bluish light, and the red arrows came to life on the scales, I, of course, liked it. But similar, except that without blue internal diodes, “optitrons” are today the norm even for the usual “Corolla”. Not too surprised and trimmed with aluminum center console. Why are we surprised – it is this, with an understandable stereo system, a simple and effective air conditioner, and should be in a modern, cozy lounge. Yes, and start the engine button – effectively, but not out of the ordinary. About eight years ago, such a “bauble” was the prerogative of powerful sports cars. But today is not a novelty. Similar there is, for example, in “Scenic”. And even a very comfortable fit – you sit down as if on a chair without bending your head down – I took it for granted – a compact van, after all. The reason for surprise was found in the other.

Immersed in the tight embrace of the front seat, I feel like Gulliver, suddenly found himself in the house of the giantess Glumdalklich. The window line is just a little below the earlobe, and up to the ceiling is a stock with three fists! It turns out that a guy taller than 190 went to me in Verso. And the second moment of embarrassment passes quickly. After all, the range of adjustment for the height of my captain’s bridge is incredibly large – 52 mm. For comparison: the C-Max has only 20. Verso is suitable for the vast majority of the adult population of the Earth, whose growth fits into the framework of 151–199 cm.

It is a pity, even high – I can consider raindrops on the roof of a nearby Avensis – landing still does not help to see the edges of the hood. But sooner or later I will get used to the dimensions. But what to do with the gear lever?

At the start … Attention … Stop
What are these mysterious icons “E” and “Es” next to the “machine gun” selector? Well, at least not hieroglyphs … I thought – I would put the lever in the “drive” and off. And where is he, this “drive”? I had to read the instructions.

There in black and white: “E” – “automatic mode” or the usual D. “Еs” – “automatic sports”. But in fact, Toyota’s proprietary robotic box of the M-MT model is not an “automatic” at all. Similar transmissions are used on the Opel and Mitsubishi subcompacts. There is no torque converter, and the computer-controlled electric motor pulls the clutch plug at the right moment. All this is coordinated with the sensors of the clutch stroke, the position of the lever, the frequency of rotation of the box shafts, etc., etc.

The driver may not be interested in such details. The main thing is that there are only two pedals under your feet. And the low cost of such a miracle of technology – at $ 800 more than the standard “mechanics”

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