Toyota Corolla Pricing and Specs

The space-saver from a non-hybrid Corolla should fit your car, provided it’s from a model from the same generation of Corolla. Don’t forget, though, you’ll also need the correct jack and wheel brace to change a tyre by the side of the road.

The bigger question perhaps, is where you’d store the spare tyre and tools on a Corolla Hybrid. The reason the hybrid model doesn’t have a spare tyre in the first place is that the hybrid’s batteries take up an awful lot of space under the boot floor, where the tyre would otherwise live. Meantime, having a tyre and tools rattling around loose in the hatch area is not only an inconvenience but, in a crash, could be potentially lethal.

Both are regarded as great choices as a used car, so it will really come down to whether you need the extra interior space of the Camry over the practicality of the Corolla’s hatchback layout.

With your budget, you might be able to get into a Camry Hybrid which will reduce running costs around town (which suits your suggested usage pattern) although these early Camry Hybrids can be more than a decade old now, so a close check of the condition of the batteries would be a mandatory pre-purchase requirement.

The Corolla, meanwhile, was first seen here in hybrid form in 2016, and those cars are still closer to mid-$20,000, so possibly out of your range. The exception is a grey (private) import Corolla Hybrid, but these can be a bit more of a lottery than a locally delivered Toyota.

The corolla is typical of more recent small cars by being very frugal and displaying very little fuel consumption difference between the two transmission choices offered; a six-speed manual or a four-speed automatic. In fact the manual's combined official figure of 7.3 litres per 100km is only a fraction better than the automatic's 7.4 litres per 100km over the same test.

Other than the actual numbers, perhaps the most important thing to know in these days of sky-high fuel prices, is that the Corolla can run on standard 91RON unleaded petrol and doesn't require the more expensive 95 or 98RON stuff.

The 2008 Corolla also scores points for being able to use fuel with anything up to 10 per cent ethanol (e10 fuel) potentially saving you even more at the pump.

As with any vehicle, though, by far the biggest factor in fuel economy will be where and how you drive. Highway running will give you the best results, while urban driving uses more fuel. Similarly, drive with a heavy right foot and you will definitely use more fuel than a driver with a more delicate touch on the throttle.