Toyota Corolla Hatchback Design Hybrid 2.0 VVT-i auto 5d Owner Review

Having being a previous Toyota owner (a 54 plate Celica Blue Edition), from 2017 to 2020 I wanted to switch back after a brief disappointing period of owning two cars from VW Group (Polo GT and Ibiza FR) from 2020 to 2022.
Having bought my Corolla in February 2022, I am very happy with my purchase.
I have the two litre engine in Design Trim. It didn't come with Apple Play as had been advertised (september 2019 registration) and was told it wasn't brought in as standard until 2020, however after some gentle persuasion to the dealership manager, he agreed to upgrade the hardware with a software update so it would run Apple Play or Android Auto.
This brings me to the only glitch with the car. The connection on Apple Play seems to be very temperamental and will unexpectedly glitch at the most inconvenient of times. It sometimes has issues multi tasking of using Iphone's sat nav (i use Google Maps rather than Apple Maps on an iphone 12) while playing music and then receiving or making a call en route to or from work. The screen kind of becomes reminiscent of a sci film when tv screens become intercepted by other worldly entities. It requires the connection with the phone to be reset, which when driving alone is not possible without pulling over into a safe place to do so. Also, the quality of the phone calls is not great, I know it is not the phone or network coverage as it didn't happen on the VW cars.
Aside from that, the car is very reliable and has lots of great features that you can turn on or off.
Auto Full Beam dipping. Follow me home headlights. Eco,normal,sports selections. Auto gearbox that can shift over in to a further sports mode to adjust the revs to get maximum power from the cvt gearbox. The Cruise Control has radar function so the car will slow if the car in front does and will follow the flow of traffic up to the speed you have set. If you get stuck behind slowing traffic on the left lane in a dual carriageway or motorway, you can break through the Cruise Control radar by pushing the accelerator pedal to change in to the right hand lane if safe to do so.
Very comfortable seats with good lumber and height adjustment, plus seat rake. You can also adjust the wheel reach and height. Very easy to get a comfortable driving position.
The car will certainly shift if you want to make swift progress. Great acceleration. Handles well on country lanes and brakes work well.
2 litre hatchback comes at cost of boot space as the engine battery is in the boot and they had to fit a higher boot level as a result. It does easily fit a weeks worth of shopping and if going away would fit two large sports holdalls and few little bags, coats, shoes etc. Not sure about suitcases though. If you have children, then the rear seats are roomy for people up to about 5 foot 8. Any taller than that, they will struggle for leg room behind the front seats.
According to Toyota it will do 700 plus miles to a tank. You would have to drive very frugally to achieve that. The worse case scenario I have had so far is 350 miles from a tank, and the best was 500 miles. Worst was driving in Sports mode, best was in Eco. I'm currently averaging at 54 mpg. Mix of motorway and countryside driving. If you know the areas M6 and M5 from Solihull to Black Country and A452 from Solihull to Leamington are my regular journeys.
I would recommend this car if you want a smaller family hatch that is capable of meeting most of your needs.