The Corolla Cross is the embodiment of the Corolla sedan, sharing styling elements and much of its interior design with the popular car.

What’s New for the 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross

The Corolla Cross is only a year old at this point, so there’s not much to update, but Toyota made a larger 8-inch touchscreen standard for 2023. The automaker also added three new trim levels and introduced the Corolla Cross Hybrid variant.

Design

The Corolla Cross is as close as you can get to a Corolla in crossover form. It features a similar headlight design, and the overall vibe is Corolla through and through. Toyota offers sporty trims that bring more visual appeal, but there’s little to write home about with Corolla Cross styling. The crossover comes standard with 17-inch wheels, but the XLE trim gets 18-inch rollers, and two-tone paint is available for some configurations.

Powertrain

The 2023 Corolla Cross comes standard with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine making 169 horsepower and 150 pound-feet of torque. It’s paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and front-wheel drive (FWD), or optional all-wheel drive (AWD). The powertrain looks underpowered on paper and feels that way in operation. It’s loud under heavy throttle, and the CVT feels clunky at times. The upside is that it returns solid fuel economy of up to 32 mpg combined with FWD and 30 mpg combined with AWD.

Interior

Cloth upholstery and manual seat adjustments come standard, and higher trim levels add synthetic leather upholstery. The five-seat crossover has good space in the front seats, and the front buckets offer good padding and support. The back bench offers good headroom, but legroom is limited. There’s a good amount of cargo space, with 26.5 cubic feet behind the second row and 66.8 cubic feet with the seat folded flat.

Technology

Toyota equips an 8-inch touchscreen as standard equipment. The display brings Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, six speakers, Bluetooth, and SiriusXM radio. Top trims add a 7-inch digital gauge cluster, additional USB ports, a JBL audio system, wireless phone charging, automatic climate controls, and more. Toyota’s infotainment system is far better than it used to be: It’s not on par with interfaces from Ford or Stellantis, but it’s far more intuitive and responsive than it was in previous model years.

Safety

Toyota includes several advanced driver aids as standard kit, including forward collision warnings, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warnings, rear seat alerts, automatic high beams, a rearview camera, adaptive cruise control, and pedestrian detection. Top trims get blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alerts, parking sensors, adaptive headlights, and rear automatic braking.

Pricing

The 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross starts at $23,610 before options, taxes, or destination. The top XLE trim can reach $32,000 with options, but it’s possible to get out the door for less than $30,000, even with the top model.