Corolla cops a dose of steroids

'Toyota Corolla' and 'high performance' seldom appear in the same sentence, but here's a souped-up variant that proves there's an exception to every rule. Known as the Corolla Compresser, it's snout is stuffed with a force-fed engine that endows the hot-selling hatch with a startling amount of poke.

The Corolla Compressor uses the same 1.8-litre VVTL-i four-cylinder unit as the T Sport (which we know as the Sportivo), but the addition of a supercharger lifts performance to an altogether different plane, and -- combined with a few technical adjustments -- enables the car to meet Euro IV emissions standards.

Try this for starters: the blown 1.8-litre powerplant kicks out 160kW and 215Nm, which allows the manic hatch to dispatch the 0-100km/h dash in a claimed 6.9sec and achieve a v-max of 229km/h.

It's not just about out-and-out performance. The extra torque at lower engine speeds means it can accelerate from 80-120km/h in fifth gear in 8.5sec, while the increment from 60-100km/h in fourth takes only 6.1sec.

To cope with the power hike, the Corolla Compressor is fettled with 15mm lowered sports suspension and uprated springs for sharper handling. It looks the part, too, riding on 17-inch alloy wheels with 215/45 tyres and dressed with a roof spoiler, deep rear air dam and sports exhaust system with twin tailpipes.

But before you start reaching for your chequebook you should be aware that the Compresser is a UK-only model, with production limited to just 250 examples. It goes on sale on November 1, priced at £19,995 (about $47,000 in our money).

A local company insider says T-CAM (Toyota Australia's high-performance arm) has no plans to offer anything resembling the Corolla Compresser here. A shame, really...