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Prices vary from £22-£25K for what is really a Toyota Corolla Estate
A few still left on Autotrader.
You do not get a lot of "new cars" under £25K these days - up to 10 year warranty . Quality cars and over 60mpg on longer runs.
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A good car, one to buy and keep longterm. Utterly bulletproof.
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Very good value, i seem to recall these being sold cheaply pre regd when they first came out, would i be right in remembering £13/14k ish? wonder if eiither batch is/was a cancelled rental order.
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No regrets for me over a year into bargain ownership. Economy stunning in real life but it's a bit worse in winter (ok drops to 60mpg!!).
If you want to carry four 6ft+ people it's not the car for you.
If luggage space is what you want then it's fabulous & flexible. I'm always amazed what I get UNDER the boot floor above my spacesaver. When travelling I get two large camping chairs, electric barbeque , travel kettle, tea pot/cosy , tools, jack etc... Then I dop the seats flat and start packing. Even fully laden with camping gear etc I still got mid 60's mpg on a motorway run.
Edited by Big John on 09/09/2025 at 00:01
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Good value and a decent car but it is on the small size. I can't get in the back seats and the front seat needs to be all the way back for me as both a passenger or driver.
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Good value and a decent car but it is on the small size. I can't get in the back seats and the front seat needs to be all the way back for me as both a passenger or driver.
We often end up in one as an airport taxi and they are decidedly cosy in the back. It seems like the front seats are incredibly thick. Still, a good car if your back seat use is only occasional.
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Good value and a decent car but it is on the small size. I can't get in the back seats and the front seat needs to be all the way back for me as both a passenger or driver.
We often end up in one as an airport taxi and they are decidedly cosy in the back. It seems like the front seats are incredibly thick. Still, a good car if your back seat use is only occasional.
The hatch is very cozy but the extra wheelbase of the estate makes a huge difference. Really good IMHO.
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Good value and a decent car but it is on the small size. I can't get in the back seats and the front seat needs to be all the way back for me as both a passenger or driver.
We often end up in one as an airport taxi and they are decidedly cosy in the back. It seems like the front seats are incredibly thick. Still, a good car if your back seat use is only occasional.
Depends on the person. As a 6ft 4" and big driver the drivers seat /position is surprisingly good for me including the B pilar position (usually a problem in many cars) but I have the seat at its lowest and usually fully back although I can drive pretty well pulling forward a bit if someone does sit behind me. The standard height adjustable rear view mirror was a real boon - being tall in many cars the mirror really can obstruct my view out of the windscreen creating a terrible blind spot.
Mrs BJ prefers the front passenger seat adjusted higher which creates a lot more room behind her.
As with many cars (including my previous Superb) space for 3 across the width of the back seat is cosy to say the least. The rear doors are small as well which could be a problem for some, but for me it's a bonus as the front doors are bigger - possibly why the B pillar position works for me. I compared the front door between the Swace and my sons mkIII Octavia and the Swace door was about 1" longer - not a lot but somehow made a difference for me.
About 99% of the time it's just me and/or Mrs BJ upfront though. This was a compromise car to find a luggage capacious car that I like driving and Mrs BJ would drive. She found the Superb too big. For people of "normal" height though there is pretty good room for 4 adults in the Estate format Swace/ Toyota TS.
We are all different re needs and requirements though.
Edited by Big John on 10/09/2025 at 22:58
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I know these are basically rebadged Toyota Corollas, but can a Toyota dealer service them or must you go to a Suzuki dealer? Suzuki have stopped selling new ones so the ,Swace could become a bit of an orphan. As time goes by a Suzuki dealer will be less and less familiar with e them. I guess balanced against that is the much cheaper prive than the Toyota version. Also, they seem to have heated steering wheel which is very rare on the Toyota version., and different colours.
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A Toyota dealer can service the Suzuki BUT you will not get the up to 10 year Suzuki Warranty or the 10 year Toyota Warranty.
Then again it is unlikely to go wrong in a serious way. Regular servicing should be OK at Suzuki and if they have an issue the Suzuki Dealer will talk to a "Toyota friend"
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Also, they seem to have heated steering wheel which is very rare on the Toyota version., and different colours.
Ours is a 2025 Corolla TS Icon and has a heated steering wheel which was standard. Only found out when I spotted a button and looked in the manual to see what it actually was.
Never used one and probably never will.
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You don't know what you are missing. Our Honda CR-V has one and it's invaluable in the winter. Never had one on any of our previous cars, but wouldn't be without it now.
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You don't know what you are missing. Our Honda CR-V has one and it's invaluable in the winter. Never had one on any of our previous cars, but wouldn't be without it now.
As an old-timer I find it sad when people consider a heated wheel a significant factor when buying a car. Whatever happened to those crochet-backed leather driving gloves ? :-)
Or warmer ones for that matter ? Ah - I realise that they are no use for the touch screen ... :-(
Come to think of it, that is probably why the makers had to heat the wheel. Just one more thing to complicate the wiring loom.
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Heated steering wheels really are wonderful thing, particularly if you turn it on remotely before even getting in the car.
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Never thought about a heated steering wheel in the past
Last car & the current one both have heated steering wheels.
Magic! -
As good as or better than heated seats
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Whatever happened to those crochet-backed leather driving gloves ? :-)
Or warmer ones for that matter ? Ah - I realise that they are no use for the touch screen ... :-(
You can get gloves that operate touch screens, the missus has some for reading her kindle while waiting on cold platforms
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As an old-timer I find it sad when people consider a heated wheel a significant factor when buying a car. Whatever happened to those crochet-backed leather driving gloves ? :-)
Or warmer ones for that matter ? Ah - I realise that they are no use for the touch screen ... :-(
Come to think of it, that is probably why the makers had to heat the wheel. Just one more thing to complicate the wiring loom.
Albert Steptoe's old fingerless gloves would to the trick.
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You don't know what you are missing. Our Honda CR-V has one and it's invaluable in the winter. Never had one on any of our previous cars, but wouldn't be without it now.
As an old-timer I find it sad when people consider a heated wheel a significant factor when buying a car. Whatever happened to those crochet-backed leather driving gloves ? :-)
Or warmer ones for that matter ? Ah - I realise that they are no use for the touch screen ... :-(
Come to think of it, that is probably why the makers had to heat the wheel. Just one more thing to complicate the wiring loom.
I added a diesel cabin heater and heated windscreen as extra-cost options for my VW Touareg but didn't bother with the heated steering wheel - as I wear SealSkinz leather insulated gloves in winter - these have special leather on the index fingertip to allow use of the touchscreen - the car's also got voice control but I'm too set in my ways to learn how to use it.
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Ours is a 2025 Corolla TS Icon and has a heated steering wheel which was standard. Only found out when I spotted a button and looked in the manual to see what it actually was.
It also has a heated lower section of the windshield - my Excel has neither (who knows what goes on in Toyota GB's marketing dept. when they do specs. for trims?).
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Ours is a 2025 Corolla TS Icon and has a heated steering wheel which was standard. Only found out when I spotted a button and looked in the manual to see what it actually was.
It also has a heated lower section of the windshield - my Excel has neither (who knows what goes on in Toyota GB's marketing dept. when they do specs. for trims?).
Yup, spotted that as well.
In truth I have no idea what kit our car has and doesn't have since Toyota have not produced a spec brochure for the MY 2025 Corolla, if you download one now its for the MY 2024 cars.
First thing I spotted was on collection and obvious. The 2 litre models from introduction have had twin exhaust pipes that are visible, the 1.8's have always had a single pipe that exit just behind and below the bumper. The other obvious differences are the gear selector, flappy paddles behind the steering wheel and the location of the battery in the boot (the 1.8's have it under the bonnet). The under bonnet layout is different as well if you are a real anorak.
I asked the salesman and he said that as far as he was aware (they did not have spec details either) the twin pipes were only fitted to the GR models for MY 25 and he had no idea if that was for 1.8 and 2.0's.
If you go on the Irish Toyota site the MY 2025 specs are downloadable but the models have different names and no 2 litres so pointless trying to compare.
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Ours is a 2025 Corolla TS Icon and has a heated steering wheel which was standard. Only found out when I spotted a button and looked in the manual to see what it actually was.
Never used one and probably never will.
I thought that until I tried it last winter - lovely.
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I agree, specs are all over the plave. I asked our friendly local Toyota dealer about heated steering wheels and his reply was "not on UK models", so you have got lucky if you have one. I did find, in the Toyota owners group, someone said the Icon spec from about mid24 got the heasted steering wheel, but bizarrely none of the highet up trims.
No wonder they don't publish a spec sheet. It would look barmy.
I did quite like my test drive in it. i drove a 24 year GR Sport trim, which apparently in the UK is just a trim level, unlike the proper souped up version they get in some markets. The think that put ne off it the most wad the dark interior. That and the fifdly to turn off speed warnings, that only stay off until you restart it.
Edited by Sparrow on 16/09/2025 at 17:24
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Be interesting, if someone has an up to date version of Techstream, to see if they can permanently disable some of the nannying stuff on Toyota versions, dare say the same diagnostics tech would work on Swace versions too.
Also, perusing ebay motos after the helpful OP, i notice several of these bargainous Swace models were from what appears to be (happy to be corrected) an indy dealer in Scotland, these arn't by any chance parallel imports are they? this used to be a thing some years back with Malta featuring if my memory serves, and whilst nothing wrong as such they sometimes had different specs to standard UK models and i'm wondering if the 10 year service based warranties would still be valid.
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Also, perusing ebay motos after the helpful OP, i notice several of these bargainous Swace models were from what appears to be (happy to be corrected) an indy dealer in Scotland, these arn't by any chance parallel imports are they?
The Swace like the Corolla is built in Derby. Pretty sure that the estate is a Europe only model and Derby is the only plant that makes it.
So if people are importing them it would seem odd since they would have been exported only shortly before.
Had a Puma back in the late 90's that was a parallel import. They were all made in Germany to the exact same spec for all countries so no difference whatsoever to a UK supplied one. There were some colours that the imports had that were not sold in the UK, best to avoid those since it advertised the origin of the car.
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Also, perusing ebay motos after the helpful OP, i notice several of these bargainous Swace models were from what appears to be (happy to be corrected) an indy dealer in Scotland,
If you mean Ian Grieve they are Suzuki, Jeep, Subaru & Isuzu dealers & are fine. I very nearly bought a Swace from them.
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Also, perusing ebay motos after the helpful OP, i notice several of these bargainous Swace models were from what appears to be (happy to be corrected) an indy dealer in Scotland,
If you mean Ian Grieve they are Suzuki, Jeep, Subaru & Isuzu dealers & are fine. I very nearly bought a Swace from them.
Many thanks, proper buys then.
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I did quite like my test drive in it. i drove a 24 year GR Sport trim, which apparently in the UK is just a trim level, unlike the proper souped up version they get in some markets.
The only "real" GR models sold in the UK are/were the GR Supra and GR4 Yaris. In other models is just a badge with trim differences.
The think that put ne off it the most wad the dark interior.
Most cars I have owned have been dark, not an issue.
That and the fifdly to turn off speed warnings, that only stay off until you restart it.
That is the same for every car sold now, its part of the EURO requirements.
Not a problem for us, for town use we leave it alone, for out of town use its a few presses of a couple of buttons each time you don't want it on.
At least the lane alert is pretty unobtrusive, on our 2024 Yaris it tries to wrestle the wheel out of your hands if you don't cancel it every time even for short trips.
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I did quite like my test drive in it. i drove a 24 year GR Sport trim, which apparently in the UK is just a trim level, unlike the proper souped up version they get in some markets.
The only "real" GR models sold in the UK are/were the GR Supra and GR4 Yaris. In other models is just a badge with trim differences.
Although apparently Derby is gearing up to build the "proper" GR for Europe & that apparently will include selling it in the UK!
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>>Although apparently Derby is gearing up to build the "proper" GR for Europe
and apparently the USA as well!
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>>Although apparently Derby is gearing up to build the "proper" GR for Europe
and apparently the USA as well!
I had read initially about the GR being built in Derby but only for the US. But that was before Trump imposed import duty on the UK and Europe so things may have changed.
Some magazines have suggested it would be introduced onto the UK/European market in late 2016 which is clearly wrong since that is when the new Corolla is due for release (probably brain dead jouno's confusing the 2 cars). Why would any manufacturer start to sell an out dated model, Toyota are cleverer than that.
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I did quite like my test drive in it. i drove a 24 year GR Sport trim, which apparently in the UK is just a trim level, unlike the proper souped up version they get in some markets.
The GR Sport is just a sporty trim level - some models ( listed below ) also get suspension & steering tweaks on GR Sport trim level but the Corolla isn't one of them.
C-HR 1st gen
Yaris & Yaris Cross
RAV4 - suspension only
Hilux - also has upgraded brakes
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The thing to look for on Toyota based models is double wishbone rear suspension, not all versions have it.
I know Yaris Cross AWD, Corolla TS/Swace and possibly CHR have the better suspension and I think the GR hatch Corolla does.
Despite its staid reputation, excellent ride and taller profile tyres(which I prefer!) I've found the Swace to be a surprisingly neat handler.
Edited by Big John on 17/09/2025 at 23:01
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The thing to look for on Toyota based models is double wishbone rear suspension, not all versions have it.
I know Yaris Cross AWD, Corolla TS/Swace and possibly CHR have the better suspension and I think the GR hatch Corolla does.
Despite its staid reputation, excellent ride and taller profile tyres(which I prefer!) I've found the Swace to be a surprisingly neat handler.
All Corollas, hatch, estate, Icon, Design, GR and Excel have exactly the same independent rear suspension.
VAG use torsion beam rear on lower powered Golf's, Octavias, Leon's and I think A3's, not sure about the SUV's.
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VAG use torsion beam rear on lower powered Golf's, Octavias, Leon's and I think A3's, not sure about the SUV's.
Yup - my son's 2016 Octavia 1.2tsi has rear torsion beam suspension.
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The thing to look for on Toyota based models is double wishbone rear suspension, not all versions have it.
You need a vehicle built on the TNGA platform = Toyota New Global Architecture, so 4th Gen Prius from late 2015 onwards.
Current Yaris, Yaris Cross & Aygo X while TNGA, these all use a rear torsion beam - unless its an Yaris / Yaris Cross AWD version & then it uses double rear wishbones.
As for Corolla, the only suspension difference was a 20mm raised ride height on the TREK special edition model.
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