You are right, I come from a 2008 SE Ford Fusion, which had a comfortable drivers seat. Also the steering wheel could be pulled closer that the Corolla, perhaps that gives a different feeling. I do like the Corolla very much. I live in a very crowded city with little parking spaces, and the Corolla works beautifully in small spaces.
When I was looking to change the Ford, I really was thinking about the new Yaris hatchback, which is very nice looking, but the gentleman at the local dealer was very wise, and said that I was not going to be very comfortable going from a full size car all the way down to a small hatchback, he was right! By the way I'm 5.8 feet and 160 lbs, people larger than I should look for the best trim that Corolla offers, as they come in many versions.