Extended Test Drive, 2015 Toyota Corolla

I'll start this one very simply: this Corolla did not make me hate life like the 2013 I had as a rental and reviewed previously.
Was it as fun as the one I drove from age 16 to 19? No, I do not like this as much as I liked that 1995, but this one was much better than the 2013.

Starting with handling. I like to do a steering rack test. Basically I test the steering by starting from a stop and doing a left or right turn to see how many turns of the steering wheel are required, and another test at low speed, not from a stop.

Rental Cars

So, recently I've had reason to rent cars a few times...

2013 Ford Focus SE:
It was fairly peppy even though an automatic. I like that I could choose the gear. The dash was ridiculously busy. The seating position was blah and the visibility was just okay. That being said, in retrospect, it was great.

2013 Kia Forte:
This thing was meant to go from A to B. The dash and seating were okay, no complaints. The pickup and gas mileage were nothing to write home about, gut again, just fine. It was good for going A to B and did it fine.

2013 Toyota Carolla:
This was a complete and utter disappointment. It was big, it was heavy, it had tons of road and wind noise, the gas mileage was okay but nothing impressive and the entire experience was just no fun.
The seats were super foamy and gross and extremely uncomfortable.
I was miserable and I took this one for a long trip (1200+ miles to be exact).
And this was all made a lot worse by the fact that from the age of 16.5 to 19 I was driving a 1995 Toyota Corolla, she was tan and her name was Coyote. It was light, so wonderfully light. The seats were simple and comfortable. The car did not like downshifting and passing at all. Up at 70 MPH or so things got shaky. But who cares? It was a great little car, it was peppy off the line, handles wonderfully, had great brakes, and so on. I miss it. I used to drive it in the snow at a 30 degree angle to the curb because it would drag its rear end all day.
The sad thing is even that 1995 was not as good as the rear wheel drive Corollas that came before it (the 1995 was a front wheel drive). And now the car has evolved into something bloated that rather do a barrel roll than go around a corner.

I can always give more details to anyone interested.