I left my heart in a corolla 2014

The way these things work, is that when a builder launches a new model, he invites a group of journalists from around the world, brings them all together and makes them all drive the car all together, usually for a few minutes. hours only. This saves time and money, giving them a chance to control the public relations of the car. The builders (technically, the public relations firms to which they entrust the work) vinify and write the writers, place them in pretty hotels and choose the roads which flatter the car to the test.

I had already danced the dance with the Volkswagen Beetle, which was new then. I did not really like the car, but the weight of the launch exerted such pressure that I did not say anything about it for months. Presentations detailing consumer studies, engineering briefings on improved metrics X, Y, Z, the broad consensus of my colleagues who had begun to talk about burning canyons in manual diesel convertibles. (It was a different moment.)

It was my first time, I tell myself. This time with the Corolla would be different.

I had already seen the 2014 Corolla early on the Internet and it looked less like a brand new car than a hefty overhaul of the previous model. That's not what Toyota said, so I set out to get personal evidence. I was confident.

I knew that the old Corolla was widely regarded as a car joke, lacking sophistication compared to its rivals. It may have been reliable, at least, but it was done at a time when Toyota was caught in a number of very public consequences regarding the quality of construction that made its reputation. This 2014 model would be an update, and if it was a shit, I was not afraid to say it.

I arrived. I had the same treatment at the hotel. I had the same presentations, smiling colleagues, easy-going public relations managers.

I've harassed and got some of the proof I was looking for, namely that the bones of the car stretched for half a decade. I have not been able to prove my pet's theory that the basic architecture of the car dates back to the first years of Bush Junior's first term. It was good, a young man in his twenties with a confused heart, to plant a knife in the bloody cultural stagnation of my youth. I was proud I had fists lifted.

And then I drove the car.

It was good. The wheels turned. The painting shined. The car was simple and comfortable, economical and perfectly suited to the typical American consumer.

It's not that the 2014 Corolla was surprisingly good. This was enough. Again, it was not exactly my cup of tea, but I thought it was acceptable for an average buyer.

But that brought me a philosophical question. Who is the average buyer? What is enough for them? And this line of thought distinguishes me instantly.

I am not an average buyer. I do not put MPG first. I do not worry about warranty repairs. I do not have a trip from nine to five o'clock and shuttles on highways. I live in the city, I drive mostly my car for pleasure and I take public transport most of the time. And it's not just that I do not match the Corolla buyer's automotive needs profile. I watched Corolla 2014 and it became a symbol for the majority society. It started as a car in which I had not returned; it became a world in which I was not adapted.

Why is the 2014 Corolla not good enough for me? It's good enough for the rest of the country. They I like it, Raphael. They smile when they drive their Corolla 2014, proud to see it in their driveway. It's parked in the driveway that they pull weeds. It's next to the white palisade. They stop on their way home from work behind the wheel. I never stop driving at the wheel.

Late at night, at the hotel, I tried to file my opinion. I've finally managed to convince myself that 2014 Corolla buyers are not really treated as well as they could be. Take a look at how America is organized. People do not just like cars in the same way that some commentators can appreciate a Lamborghini when a paid press campaign, all expenses paid, in Portugal. Americans need cars to move. From this point of view, it's not that a car is pretty good for some commuter to two jobs. There is a social momentum for cars to be as good as possible. That the Corolla 2014 rolls well and will last a few years before needing big jobs, that's not enough. It should be as close as possible to perfection, in five, ten or twenty years.

But no one has made a car like this, because model builders are not interested in it. They are not paid to take care of that. Ford did it only because Henry Ford was a monomane himself. Toyota is not going to make a perfect Corolla, destined to last forever. There is no business case.

But it's a hollow statement. My colleague at the time, Travis Okulski, wrote the best half of the argument in my head. His words were the compliments of his honest pilot imagined that I did not understand how to express.

And I still can not compete with the Corolla 2014. I look in his headlights and see him weigh my heart against a feather.