Toyota offers a few styling upgrades on the Sport package as well, including a rear spoiler, skirt package, special 15 inch aluminum alloy wheels, fog lamps, a distinctive

Toyota offers leather seats and a leather-wrapped steering wheel to go along with the LE's luxurious woodgrain trim. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

black interior, chrome interior finishes, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, color-keyed outside mirrors, and something the Japanese company calls silhouette lit instrument cluster faces. For those wanting to turn their Corolla into a little Lexus, Toyota offers leather seats and a leather-wrapped steering wheel to go along with the LE's luxurious woodgrain trim, a power glass sunroof, chrome finished interior door handles, new front and rear/side curtain airbags and an anti-theft system.

On the little Lexus theme, the Corolla is extremely quiet at highway speeds due to added sound deadening materials in the A-, B- and C-pillars, doors and floorboards, and a seriously low 0.296 coefficient of drag (Cd) which reduces wind noise. It also boasts a very compliant ride, absorbing nasty bumps and dips

The Corolla is surprisingly agile yet offers a smooth ride. It's also extremely quiet at highway speeds. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

with aplomb and managing fast, high-speed corners with excellent balance. This doesn't come by accident of course, but rather the result of a well tuned suspension comprised of MacPherson struts with an anti-roll bar up front and a twist-beam with anti-roll bar in the rear. These are combined with linear control valves in all shock absorbers for a better ride while still maintaining optimal suspension control. Toyota also adds toe-control bushings to bring greater stability during more aggressive cornering and braking. I was actually quite surprised with how agile it is, the obvious result of great effort by the car's chassis engineers, helped along by the addition of standard 15-inch wheels on P185/65R tires (195/65R15 on Sport and LE) - most competitors only come standard with 14s.