When searching for a compact sedan, there are many things to consider. Whether or not you recognize the name of the vehicle you’re looking at is likely one of them. Fortunately, that likely isn’t an issue with the 2024 Kia Forte and 2024 Toyota Corolla.
The Forte is one of Kia’s best-sellers, while the trusty Toyota Corolla has been around for decades. Let’s check out two easily recognizable sedans and see how they compare.
2024 Kia Forte
The 2024 Kia Forte may represent the best value in the compact car arena, with pricing for its entry-level LX model starting at just over $21,000. For that money, you get a good-looking sedan with a spacious cabin and a fair bit of technology.
For that price, you get a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder putting out 147 horsepower. It’s not a speedster, but it’ll get you around town just fine. On the flip side, Kia offers potential buyers plenty of options to step up into more compelling — and more powerful — versions of the Forte. In all, there are five trim levels available: LX, LXS, GT-Line, GT, and GT Manual.
The GT puts you into a 201-horsepower 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder that gives you plenty of punch for knifing through traffic or ensuring you easily merge onto the highway. Perhaps even more impressive is that the highest-priced Forte is only slightly more than the starting range for its competition in this segment. Pricing starts at $21,145, including destination charge.
Kia Forte Highlights
Spacious: Perhaps not big on the outside, the Forte is plenty big inside — more significant than most competitors. It’s also laden with advanced driver assistance safety technologies like a collision warning system, lane departure warning system, pedestrian detection system, and a raft of airbags around the passengers.
Outstanding warranty: Kia’s 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty and 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty offer you peace of mind — for a decade. While you may not drive the Forte for a decade, if this vehicle gets passed down to a younger driver in your home, it’s good to know there may still be some warranty left in it.
Fuel miser: Kia’s 2.0-liter 4-cylinder isn’t a racer, but that means fewer trips to gas stations. The Forte’s combined mpg average is 34, among the top in the segment. Even the hopped 1.6-liter turbo powerplant gets 30 mpg combined.
Check this week’s Fair Purchase Price or see the Forte models for sale near you.
2024 Toyota Corolla
The Toyota Corolla may have been the first car for tens of thousands of Americans. It’s now in its twelfth generation, having been produced since 1966. It’s safe to say Toyota really knows how to build this compact. It’s a proven product.
Keeping up the tradition, this latest edition offers good looks, excellent mileage, and lots of technology at a great price. Not only that, if a sedan isn’t your thing, you can slide over to the hatchback, and if 35 mpg combined isn’t good enough, you can move up to the Corolla hybrid and its 50 mpg combined. The sedan comes in four trim levels: LE, SE, Nightshade, and XSE. Each offers more options as you move up the ladder. Pricing for the LE starts at $23,145, including destination charge.
Toyota Corolla Highlights
Nightshade: The exterior’s already stylish, but this year, Toyota made its Nightshade package available on the Corolla. It’s an appearance pack with blacked-out badging, a sport mesh gloss-black front grille, black sport rocker panels, black-capped side mirrors, and 18-inch bronze wheels for some contrast.
Intelligent Assistant: A feature typically found on much more expensive vehicles, the available tech package allows you to simply utter “Hey Toyota,” and you ask for directions, turn up the radio volume, change the cabin temperature, and more.
Safety first: Ensuring it remains a safe choice, the Corolla comes standard with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, which includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, lane tracing assist, road sign assist, and automatic high beams.
Check this week’s Fair Purchase Price or see the Corolla models for sale near you.
Similarities
Compact sedans fight hard for consumer dollars, and these two sure offer great mileage, good looks, and low prices. They also have similar safety and infotainment tech features.
Conclusion
The Forte wins on price: $2,000 less at the start. It also offers more room than the Corolla. However, the Toyota gives you more power and slightly better fuel economy — plus, a hatchback is available. There isn’t a wrong choice to be made.
| 2024 Kia Forte | 2024 Toyota Corolla | |
| Starting Price | $21,145 | $23,145 |
| Popular Powertrains | ||
| Engine | 2.0-liter 4-cylinder | 2.0-liter 4-cylinder |
| Horsepower | 147 hp @ 6,200 rpm | 169 hp @ 6,600 rpm |
| Torque | 132 lb-ft @ 4,500 rpm | 151 lb-ft @ 4,400 rpm |
| Transmission | CVT | CVT |
| Fuel Economy | 30 city/41 highway/34 combined mpg | 32 city/41 highway/35 combined mpg |
| Also Available | 1.6-liter turbo 4-cylinder | Hatchback body, hybrid |
| Specs | ||
| Basic Warranty | 5 years/60,000 miles | 3 years/36,000 miles |
| Powertrain Warranty | 10 years/100,000 miles | 5 years/60,000 miles |
| NHTSA Overall Safety | 4 stars | 5 stars |
| Max Seating Capacity | 5 | 5 |
| Wheelbase | 106.3 inches | 106.3 inches |
| Overall Length | 182.7 inches | 182.5 inches |
| Width | 70.9 inches | 70.1 inches |
| Height | 56.5 inches | 56.5 inches |
| Turning Diameter | 34.8 feet | 35.6 feet |
| Headroom, Front | 38.8 inches | 38.3 inches |
| Headroom, Rear | 37.5 inches | 37.1 inches |
| Legroom, Front | 42.2 inches | 42.0 inches |
| Legroom, Rear | 35.7 inches | 34.8 inches |
| Shoulder Room, Front | 56.1 inches | 54.0 inches |
| Shoulder Room, Rear | 55.3 inches | 51.7 inches |
| Cargo Volume | 15.3 cubic feet | 13.1 cubic feet |
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