Toyota Corolla hatchback - Practicality & boot space

As you'd expect for a car competing in the hotly fought family hatch market, the Corolla is practical enough for most families. There's plenty of seat adjustment in the front to get comfortable, and head room shouldn't be an issue. It's not quite as accommodating as a Skoda Octavia, but there are cup holders for each occupant and a reasonable number of cubby holes and pockets.

Toyota Corolla interior space & storage

There's plenty of room in the front of the Corolla, but rear legroom is tighter than you might expect. Models including the Honda Civic and Skoda Octavia do better here and the Toyota is far more similar to a Ford Focus or Vauxhall Astra in this respect.

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Boot space

Boot space is reasonable without setting any benchmarks too, with the 1.8-litre version offering 361 litres of luggage room. That's a little down on the Golf and Focus, and around 60 litres down on the latest Vauxhall Astra. Upgrade to the 2.0-litre version and the boot is sadly downgraded to 313 litres, making room for an additional battery under the floor.

The Toyota Corolla is also available as a roomy estate, and its mix of economy and practicality has seen it become popular with private and company-car drivers. If you need the extra boot space, perhaps for sports gear or for the family dog, the Corolla Touring Sports is an appealing solution. Until recently, Toyota also offered a Corolla saloon with more boot space than the hatchback but a less versatile boot opening.

Towing

If you want to tow anything larger than a small trailer, you'll need the 1.2-litre petrol and manual gearbox. In this guise the Corolla can pull up to a 1,300kg braked load (enough for a medium-sized caravan), while the hybrids can only pull up to 750kg.