There are few things more stressful than a road trip.
For hundreds or thousands of miles, you're stuck in a tiny space that may or may not have adequate air flow.
Depending on the destination, you might end up in totally new territory, making your navigation tools more than simple luxuries.
And on the longest trips, there's the headache that comes from watching the needle on your gas tank steadily creep towards empty.
A few weeks back, Toyota let me borrow a new, ~$20,000 Corolla S for my road trip from the Bay Area to Southern California to attend the Coachella Music Festival.
I'll be honest, as someone who personally drives an older model of the car as part of my commute, I expected the worst: a bumpy ride in a tight space for ten longs hours each way.
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was the car fun to drive, it was also incredibly comfortable — something that can't be said for most cars its size.
From the hills of Berkeley to the desert in Joshua Tree, the Corolla offered a smoother ride than most cars of its size that I've experienced.
It also managed to average about 34 miles per gallon for the trip, beating the combined 32 MPG estimate.
And it did it with more style than you'd expect from a compact sedan. Even covered in sand, the wheels Toyota put on the Corolla S are way better looking than the what you'd normally get on a car like this.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider