IAN LAMMING finds out that the Toyota Corolla Estate D4D does most things well - but is less than memorable

PEOPLE often ask me how I remember all the various cars I've driven and, generally speaking, I don't find it a problem.

I was at the wheel of 88 different models last year and would be quite happy to talk about any of them, even the ones I drove months ago.

That's because I'm a bit of an anorak when it comes to cars and most vehicles do leave an impression, whether good, bad or indifferent.

Often weeks go by before I get the chance to put pen to paper, or at least fingers to keyboard, concerning a particular model and normally that's no problem, either.

But I have to admit I am struggling today, just a fortnight after driving the new Toyota Corolla Estate.

For some bizarre reason it just doesn't seem to register and I seem to be suffering some form of automotive amnesia.

But, slipping into a post-hypnotic daze, it starts to come back a little. There's an overriding image of greyness, or was that just the weather?

Yes, I think it was grey, with grey seats and a grey interior. I was wearing a grey suit and carrying a grey briefcase, though I can't recall where I drove.

Now the engine I do remember. It's the excellent 2.0 litre D4D, which I've driven before in the RAV and Avensis. I remember it because it is my sort of motor, powerful yet light on fuel and hence the purse strings.

The 109bhp on tap may not be class leading but it's more than enough to propel what I remember to be a large and roomy car as quickly as you would ever want to travel.

It also easily manages 48 miles per gallon, which projects proudly from the trip computer display - ah yes, I remember, it has a trip computer. It sat in a very neat centre console next to large, clear, backlit clocks.

Then there were nice switches arranged around a small, tidy steering wheel. And, yes, decent seats, yes, that's right, large comfortable seats.

In fact, large and comfortable seems to be my returning memory of the Corolla Estate. The load bay, that's huge, bigger still if you drop the back seats and the lip is nice and low and free from obtrusions, as I remember.

The back end? The back end is pretty plain, the front typically Corolla, a kind of blown up Yaris, I suppose you would describe it as. And there are alloy wheels, yes, definitely alloy wheels and...and...that's about it.

So there you have it, a road test on the Toyota Corolla Estate, as I remember it - just.

Not a bad car, in fact in many ways a very good car. Just not a very memorable one.

Updated: 12:26 Friday, February 07, 2003