Driver's Seat: Corolla is one dependably humdrum ride

2011 Toyota Corolla S 4-door: Fun follows fuel economy.

Price: $20,721 ($18,300 base price).

Marketer's pitch: "Performance. Style. Safety. Pick three."

Conventional wisdom: Good on gas. Econobox-level luxury. Minivan-style handling. Pick four.

Reality: Toyota, you're leading the list with "Performance"? Really?

Footwear: When I reviewed the 2012 Honda Civic recently, I called it a comfortable shoe. The Corolla is, perhaps, white dress shoes with a white belt. Something very humdrum to drive.

I can sit at a stoplight in the Corolla and turn the steering wheel side to side too easily. It's practically a quarter turn from response to the left to response to the right. That's some wifty steering.

Under the hood: Because Corolla buyers are most interested in acceleration, I'll start here.

The 1.5-liter four-cylinder delivers ample power, but the four-speed gearbox (four speed? Seriously, Toyota?) is underwhelming. And there's no option to pretend to have fun shifting my own gears.

Shifty: Furthermore, shifting is odd. It can't seem to find the right gear when climbing hills and when gathering speed, and it seems to hold in gears going downhill.

I didn't try the five-speed manual, but I trust the shifting would be loose and not too much fun, but would still work well after 270 gazillion miles.

Stop and go: The pedals in the Corolla act strangely. I felt a disconnect with the gas and the brake. Plus, the brake seems to go awfully far down before the cruise control shuts off.

Gauges: While the new Civic dash had an odd combination of old Detroit and high tech, the Corolla is very much tried and true.

That's a good thing. Dials plainly announce m.p.h. and r.p.m., plus the gas and temperature gauges are tucked in on the sides. Everything felt as if it was where it should be.

Kneed-to-know basis: Everything, that is, except for one small detail. The clock is positioned to be best viewed by my right kneecap. The one minor flaw in an otherwise excellent layout.

Friends and stuff: It's small with a small trunk. I put a box of water jugs back there to help with my Hurricane Irene preparations, and it was really hard to get out.

Storage, though, is excellent for a small car. A big center console holds lots of CDs, the double glove box is roomy, and the phone holder is well-placed. Nothing gets in the way of anything else.

But the CD holder is almost too good. It's squarish, which allows CDs to fall over if the bin isn't full and makes it tricky to get them back out. If you're like me, though, that will be a problem only for the first week or so, until the detritus starts to build.

All about the S: Buyers can get into a base model for $15,900 (with automatic for $16,700). In addition to not getting the nifty little "S" on the trunk, you'd also be lacking fog lamps, spoilers, and the chance to pay an additional $890 for a sunroof. (The tested model also added $520 for XM, Bluetooth, and hands-free phone, $200 for floor and trunk mats, and $51 for a cargo net.)

In the back: The rear-seat passengers are not forgotten here. The backseat is comfortable and roomy for a car this size, although a trip to the trunk is required to fold the seat down.

Night shift: The map lights are huge and bright - so bright that turning one on obscures the rearview mirror entirely.

Sippy: The Corolla S automatic got the best mileage of any vehicle I've tested - 36 m.p.g. If you choose the five-speed stick, I'd expect a few ticks better. Very nice. (Note: In my recent Honda Civic review, I stupidly misremembered the Chevrolet Cruze Eco mileage. The Cruze got 33 as an automatic and 35 in six-speed manual form.)

Where it's built: Cambridge, Ontario, though some are being imported from Japan. They had been built at a jointly held plant with General Motors in California, but during its restructuring, GM backed out of the plant.

The earthquake and tsunami have set Toyota back a bit. The 2012 models are expected to arrive in December.

How it's built: J.D. Power & Associates calls its predicted reliability "better than most," and the initial quality survey landed in the same category.

In the end: It's a pretty dear price for a small car with a trunk. If someone held me down and forced me to choose between the Civic or the Corolla, I'd probably pick the Corolla as a better day-to-day choice, mainly because of the interior layout.

But the only way I'd pick either of these over, say, a Ford Fiesta or something from Mazda would be if someone held me down and forced me, because I'm willing to sacrifice some reliability for a little fun.