Family sedan shootout! Toyota Corolla vs Kia Cerato vs Ford Focus

By Martin Pretorius

The two vehicles which have played the largest part in establishing Toyota as a South African stalwart couldn’t be more different: the Corolla is a sensible sedan, and the Hilux is a hard-working bakkie. But, as the Hilux gains market share even in the face of increasing competition, the Corolla appears to be under threat from all sides. We take a look at its chances of fending off these challengers.

Most of the action in the new-car market is in the small hatchback segment, while buyers who prefer something a little bigger rather try out SUVs and Crossovers for size. Indeed, the compact- and mid-sized sedan market segments are shrinking all over the world, leading some manufacturers to trim down their sedan line-ups in some regions such as the USA (or even abandoning it completely, in the case of Ford).

But even as this trend gains momentum, some manufacturers persevere and keep on offering competent, appealing sedans for those who prefer their cars to have a more-traditional shape. Ford may have stopped offering a compact sedan in the USA, but in other regions, the Focus sedan continues to rack up reasonable sales. Meanwhile, the Koreans have come up with some appealing offerings of their own, such as the handsome Kia Cerato (of which we’re currently getting the third-generation model, with a new model having recently been introduced overseas).

Let’s take a look at these two competent and practical sedans, and determine if they have what it takes to challenge that bastion of sense and sensibility: the evergreen Toyota Corolla. After numerous generations and with many, many millions of happy drivers, the Corolla is a sedan mainstay, because Toyota has spent from many decades developing their best-selling product into a car for all people and purposes. We compare the mid-spec 1.6-litre Corolla to its similarly-priced opponents: all of them around the same price point, and all of them with manual gearboxes.

	Corolla 1.6 Esteem Manual	Kia Cerato Sedan 1.6 EX Manual	Ford Focus sedan 1.0T Trend Manual
Engine size	4-cyl, 1.6-litre, petrol	4-cyl, 1.6-litre, petrol	3-cyl, 1.0-litre, turbo-petrol
Power/Torque	90 kW/154 Nm	95 kW/157 Nm	92 kW/170 Nm
Kerb Weight	1 260 kg	1 260 kg	1 306 kg
Length (mm)	4 620	4 560	4 534
Wheelbase (mm)	2 700	2 700	2 648
Airbag count	4	6	6
Ave Consumption *	6.6 ℓ/100 km	6.5 ℓ/100 km	5.0 ℓ/100 km
Warranty	3-yr/100 000 km	5-yr/Unlimited km	4-yr/120 000 km
Price	R 293 100	R 302 995	R 275 300

*Manufacturer's official figures.

Analysis

The first thing which may draw your attention upon looking at the comparison table is how closely the Corolla and Cerato mirror each other’s dimensions. In fact, they ride on identical wheelbases and have exactly the same kerb weight, while the Corolla is only slightly longer. Their engines have similar configurations as well, with the Korean having a slight advantage in both power and torque.

Strangely, the Focus is marginally the smallest car here, with the shortest wheelbase and overall length (though the difference comes down to only a few centimeters) but the highest kerb weight (which is still within 50 kg of the other two). There’s really not much in it, but it’s slightly unexpected nonetheless, especially given that the Focus looks larger than the others in the metal.

This size difference is reflected in their utility space, where the Focus loses out slightly on luggage space – the Cerato takes this category, with the Corolla splitting the difference between the Ford and the Kia. They all have generous boot space, however, it’s just that the Cerato is more generous than the others.

Their drivetrains demonstrate the differences between the European car and the Oriental challengers. While the others rely on traditional engineering in the form of normally-aspirated four-cylinder engines, the Ford makes use of a downsized turbo-charged three-cylinder. It may be smaller in size, but its power is right in the middle of this fight, and it has a usable chunk of extra torque at the driver’s disposal. And, by virtue of its smaller displacement, its official consumption figure is significantly lower than those of the other two – although it’s unlikely that normal use on real roads will ever see such impressive consumption as Ford claims. Still, it’s nice to have that torque advantage, especially at the oxygen-starved Gauteng altitude, where turbo engines lose a lot less power than normally-aspirated ones do.

Bear in mind that we had to select the least-expensive Corolla, in order to fit into the price bracket of the other two cars – there are two higher trim levels available, but their prices would have put them above even the rather expensive Cerato in this comparison, and made them tens of thousands more expensive than the high-value Focus (seen here in higher-spec Trend trim). As a result, the Corolla Esteem misses out on some of the equipment on offer in the others: alloy wheels are replaced by steel wheels with plastic covers, and it doesn’t have cruise control at this trim level.

None of these specification omissions are as severe as the relative lack of airbags, however: while both the Focus and Cerato have 6 airbags, no 1.6-litre Corolla derivative has curtain airbags, dropping their total to only 4. That’s a bit of a drawback in a family sedan, and has to leave a stain on the Corolla’s score sheet. And, seeing as safety is of paramount importance, this automatically puts the Corolla in the last slot.

This leaves the fight between the Cerato and Focus -  a bout which ends up going the way of the Focus, yet again based on safety equipment. See, the Cerato makes do without stability control, which is a strange omission in this day, age, and market segment. On top of everything else, the Focus is also slightly better-equipped in the comfort stakes, more powerful, and by far the most affordable here. It almost makes one wonder exactly what the Kia Cerato’s much higher pricetag buys, really...