Toyota has revealed a raft of upgrades for the Corolla, Corolla Cross and RAV4 in the US, and some of them point to what we can expect to see here.
The Australian division has already released some details about the updated Corolla and RAV4 and the new Corolla Cross, all due in the second half of 2022.
Toyota Australia didn’t provide any further comment today.
RAV4
The US-market RAV4 gets a new Woodland Edition for 2023, featuring a range of mechanical and aesthetic tweaks.
It’s distinguished by its bronze-coloured wheels wrapped in Falken Wildpeak all-terrain tyres, as well as black roof rack cross bars.
Other details include black chrome-finished dual exhaust outlets, plus black badging and mud guards, plus a 120V inverter.
Under the skin, there’s a TRD-tuned suspension which Toyota says has been engineered to improve body control and isolation of small bumps, both on trails and on pockmarked urban pavement.
The coil springs have been retuned for an off-road focus, with the twin-tube shocks featuring internal rebound springs and unique valving to help the RAV4 handle large bumps and dips.
The presence of bump stops helps to maximise compression-direction wheel travel.
The Woodland is the latest in a series of more ruggedly-styled crossover variants for the US market, like the Subaru Forester and Outback Wilderness and the Ford Explorer Timberline.
Toyota Australia has previously confirmed it’ll introduce its latest-generation infotainment system to the RAV4 with USB-C connectivity, and Toyota USA has provided more details.
The system supports over-the-air updates and voice prompts, and you can summon the virtual assistant with the phrase “Hey Toyota”.
It also features cloud-based satellite navigation and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and 4G connectivity will be available in the US which will support a mobile hotspot.
The touchscreen is an 8.0-inch unit in most US-market 2023 RAV4s, with up-spec models receiving a 10.5-inch screen.
Also present on up-spec RAV4s is a 12.3-inch digital instrument display.
Toyota is introducing its Toyota Safety Sense 2.5 suite of active safety and driver assist features, and the Australian division has confirmed this includes emergency steering assist (which can help panicked drivers steer around an obstacle to avoid a crash) and intersection pre-collision safety (which prepares the car if it detects an imminent crash pulling out of an intersection).
These new features are in addition to autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, plus adaptive cruise control, Lane Tracing Assist (lane centring), traffic sign recognition, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.
Corolla
The US-market Corolla gets an all-wheel drive option, giving buyers all-paw traction without forcing them to step up to the hot GR Corolla.
It’s an electronic on-demand set-up, with a rear-mounted electric motor to power the rear wheels when needed.
It’s available with an updated hybrid 1.8-litre four-cylinder powertrain, which Toyota Australia has confirmed produces 8kW more peak power for a total of 98kW for the front-wheel drive versions.
Styling tweaks include standard LED daytime running lights across the range and redesigned LED headlights in up-spec models.
There are new rear bumper designs, a redesigned front grille for the hatchback, and new wheel designs and interior and exterior colours.
Toyota Australia has previously confirmed the Corolla will get the new Toyota Audio Multimedia system plus more safety equipment, and Toyota USA has confirmed the Corolla receives Toyota Safety Sense 3.0.
This includes autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, lane Tracing Assist, traffic sign recognition, automatic high-beam.
However, these features are already present on the current Australian-market model, though Toyota USA notes rear cross-traffic assist and adaptive front lighting will also be available – neither of which currently feature on Australian models.
The latter moves the low-beam lights in the direction of the turn, based on the car’s steering angle and speed.
Corolla Cross
It hasn’t even been released here yet and already Toyota’s new small SUV is getting a range of updates.
The headline act is the new fifth-generation Toyota Hybrid System and electronic all-wheel drive, with a total output of 145kW.
While Toyota Australia hasn’t confirmed local outputs, it has confirmed we’ll get this powertrain.
So equipped, the crossover can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 8.1 seconds.
Featuring a 30.6kW rear-mounted electric motor, the 2.0-litre hybrid powertrain was already introduced to the European-market Corolla Cross, as was the new infotainment system – shared with the Corolla and RAV4 – that’s been announced for the US.
The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster appears to be remaining a European exclusive for now, while there’s different front-end styling between markets.
The 2.0-litre hybrid is expected to be joined locally by a front-wheel drive 1.8-litre hybrid, like in the Corolla, and a petrol-only FWD model has been confirmed for Australia.
Like its hatch and sedan siblings, the Corolla Cross also receives the new Toyota Safety Sense 3.0.
MORE: 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross: Initial details
MORE: Everything Toyota Corolla
MORE: Everything Toyota RAV4
