Toyota's Apex Corolla Priced, Only 6K to Be Sold
If you desire more sport from your Corolla, act fast.
Toyota has announced pricing for the Corolla Apex, but only 6,000 will be made.
The car was announced way back in July, but now we have a price tag.
That’s $26,065, including D and D, for SE models (plus $390 for a manual transmission) and $29,205 for the XSE. That’s $2,695 and $2,385 over the SE and XSE trims, respectively.
Apex models get a body kit (bronze accents, a front splitter, fog lamp covers, side skirts, rear diffuser, and optional rear spoiler), sport-tuned exhaust, black mirror caps, and either a continuously-variable automatic or the aforementioned manual. The manual will be available on just 120 of the Apex SE models, and it rev-matches on the downshifts.
The Apex is lowered by 0.6 inches, thanks to different rear coil springs. The spring rate is also increased, and the shocks are tuned for stiffer, sportier driving, and the stabilizer bars are more rigid. The car is 47 percent stiffer than a regular Corolla upfront and 33 percent stiffer in the back.
Special 18-inch wheels are 2.2 pounds lighter per wheel, painted gloss black, and can be shod with all-season or summer rubber.
The electronic power steering is tuned for more sport, too, and the car is available in three exterior paint choices.
One thing that isn’t tweaked is the engine. It’s the same 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 169 horsepower and 151 lb-ft of torque as in the standard SE and XSE.
[Image: Toyota]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
More by Tim Healey
Comments
Join the conversation
This reminds me of the Corolla 'S' of a few years ago; a package consisting of a few stick on trim pieces and an 'S' on the deck lid, and NOTHING else for a higher price! Not impressed.
29 k is GTI money
Almost $30K for a Corolla if you tick all the boxes...and no more grunt under the hood. $26K to enter the stadium - the same base price as a Mustang.
Great example of niche marketing. In this case, the niche is "enthusiasts who have never heard of a Civic Si, Elantra Sport, or Jetta GLI." My understanding is that this niche is about as big as the storied "brown manual diesel wagon" niche. Kidding aside, I've heard good things about the new Corolla's chassis, so maybe this is just Phase One; let's hope Phase Two involves real performance.