Toyota Corolla Commercial

FINAL REPORT Car-based van has been great, except for a couple of actual blind spots

- Dean Gibson

I HATE to admit it, but driving the Toyota Corolla Commercial made me a little bit paranoid. This feeling wasn't due to worries that it would break down or need some TLC to keep it in tip-top shape - it was a Toyota, after all - but was more to do with what was going on around you. Chiefly, the things you couldn't see.

Part of the Corolla's conversion from five-seat Touring Sports estate to two-seat Commercial is the addition of opaque tints for the side windows, but these had a surprising impact on rearward visibility.

If you're tall like me, then you'll appreciate the wide range of seat adjustment that's on offer. But those with long legs will find that they're sitting in line with the B-pillars, just ahead of where the tints start. As a result, quite significant blind spots are created.

It's only when you're in a model such as the Corolla Commercial that you realise how much extra peripheral vision you get in a conventional car. During our time with the van, motorway slip roads needed extra care, with a quick lean forward and an over-the-shoulder glance to make sure there was nothing in the lane that you were joining.