2021 Toyota Corolla vs 2022 Nissan Sentra

Everybody knows somebody who owns or has owned a Toyota Corolla. Thanks to a deserved reputation for affordability, reliability, and efficiency, the Corolla is what comes to mind when all you want is a cheap, dependable, and thrifty set of wheels.

Over the nameplate’s 55-year history, Toyota built a handful of Corollas that were anything but rolling appliances. But those fun-to-drive gems were relative rarities. Under the tenure of Akio Toyoda, the automaker’s current president and a man who loves to drive, the Corolla has become something more than a bore. It’s a car that makes you want to cruise instead of snooze.

We’re talking about the Corolla SE and XSE, of course. Toyota still makes dull and duller versions of its compact car, but the SE and XSE trim levels add some spice to the basic commuter-car recipe.

This model year, the 2021 Toyota Corolla SE is available in a new limited-production Apex Edition flavour. It’s got a track-tuned sport suspension, a lowered ride height, revised steering calibration, a sport exhaust system, and lightweight 18-inch gloss black aluminum alloy wheels. Unfortunately, it also comes with a “Lookit me, Officer, I like to go fast!” body kit.

Fearing this would be the example Toyota sent to us for review, we instead happily accepted the key fob to a Barcelona Red Corolla XSE and discovered that you don’t need the Apex Edition treatment to enjoy driving this car.

A lot is asked of small sedans. It’s not just that they are expected to be competent, affordable machines that can accommodate a buyer on a budget. For the automaker, the small sedan body style is also the intended entry point for the brand. This is the car that is supposed to convince shoppers to keep buying from them as they move into different vehicles. The 2022 Nissan Sentra is the perfect entry point for Nissan, but it wasn’t always this way.

The 2022 Sentra sedan is two years removed from a significant 2020-model-year redesign. With such a focus on small crossovers and tight competition in the small-car segment, such a redesign sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of new vehicle debuts. So, two years into its new generation, how is the Sentra doing? And how does it stack up with a very competitive collection of new small sedans? Read on to find out.