Didn’t they just get it right this time, though?

The latest Toyota Corolla saloon kind of just slipped into our consciousness in recent months. The company here didn’t make any ballyhoo about it, and it was only when I started to see a few on the road that I realised it was already picking up Irish customers.

The saloon is built in Turkey, and as I write they’ve just run the first units of the wagon version of the ‘new’ Corolla off the same production lines, so I guess we’ll see some of those soon too.

But back to the saloon. It has to be the smartest-looking 3-box Corolla ever. And it clearly came from the same styling pen as did the latest version of the large car Camry. Which, to most of us, means it has to be good.

Scaling down a successful style doesn’t always work. But there was a good-looking basic car there to begin with. In particular, the strength of the front end styling, which was done in the new Corolla very much with European taste in mind, has a good purposeful look.

And in the saloon version, they didn’t touch that. Rightly so. That grille design with the slightly sculpted curve in the bonnet metal just above the Toyota badge has the effect of cheering, without being cute. And those strong lights covers balance things well.

No, it is from a side and rear-three quarter view that the work of the saloon designers really show their mettle. The car still has the high window line of the hatch, but with the extra medal for the boot end, there’s a nicer balance. There’s also a real sense of substantiality.

And that complex curving of the C-pillar, framing a really large rear window and stretching it back to leave a fairly short rear ‘deck’ just works so very well. The rear lights covers treatment is almost Mercedes-like.

Overall, it is a handsome car without being dramatic, and I expect it will last quite a long time without becoming tired-looking. Though, I’d suggest NOT to buy the black colour. As with the big brother Camry, silver is really good. There’s also a nice dark bronzy look available which stands out well on the road.

But anyway, our review car (which WAS black!) came with the top-end Luna specification, and that brought a number of extra goodies over the basic car. Such as larger aluminium wheels, air conditioning, front fog lights, steering wheel audio controls, and remote central locking.

It also comes with the better audio system, including CD, of the Terra grade below it. And that level’s colour-keyed mirrors, door handles and side protection trims. And the Optitron instruments which give that distinctive feel to the driver’s side, a kind of brightness and sharpness, particularly in daylight, not possible with normal instrument lighting.

All Corolla saloons come with ABS as standard, and both Terra and Luna specs bring the possibility of side airbags to the safety features options.

Sitting in, the Corolla saloon shares much with the hatch versions, including very decent headroom and space for many elbows, along with a highish driving position. The dashboard is strong-looking and ‘taps’ well (a very European thing, tapping the dashboard to see how hollow it sounds. It doesn’t).

I do wish, though, that Toyota would give us a variety of interior colour options in this range. There’s a lot of ‘Men in Black’ about it (though without the strange and messy creatures).

The review car had the the 1.4-litre VVT-i core engine of the Corolla series (you can also specify a 1.6-litre petrol or a 2-litre D4D diesel) and it is very hard to say anything more about that excellent powerplant than we’ve done already in reviews of the hatch versions. But, for the record, it outputs a peppy 97bhp, performs a 12sec 0-62mph, and can return a combined 42mpg.

Corolla is an ‘everyman’s’ car - or every woman, of course - and doesn’t make grandiose claims to be anything more than doing what it should do very well. There ARE specials, like the T-Sport version, which shout a little louder and are at their best on fine-day long trips, but the saloon is for everyday, for the school run, the shopping, the commuting, and - hopefully - for a long time between service stops.

It’s a sweet driver, feels really well-built - as it should do given its pedigree - and will reward the buyer with long and faithful service. I’ve said before that this is the first Corolla to come close to the driving dynamics of the Ford Focus, and in saloon forms the two cars are well matched also.

The prices start at E18,430. The review car rolled out at E21,505.