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Corolla Bad Points

by muzak, September 10, 2005

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Nothing is perfect, and I hope Toyota monitors sites like this to get customer opinions.

My negatives are that the little drawer beside the driver's door keeps opening and I can see my leg breaking the thing off.

I have removed two of the rear headrests as they obsure visability, but I have just tucked into the seat for installation when someone sits in the back.

yeah that drawer (coinholder?) does seems kinda loose. My biggest complaints are rattles and not getting expected mpg.

I must say I wish Toyota made Civic like brakes and a better horn! I can't be heard over a gaggling goose !! I can even hardly scare geese off the road...I only piss them off...*L*

So, there's no way anyone'd hear my horn during rush hour traffic!!

I was thinking of something today, if we took the best part of each car maker and made a car out of that...what'd be get???

haha yeahh the horn does sound puny. Allways remind me of road runner.

Max

The driver's seating position is awful. Seat cushion is too short- no thigh support, and the dead pedal is huge. Can't get comfortable and easily reach the pedals and the steering wheel at the same time.

Corolla should make a much brighter light for the trunk and a good light for under the hood. Even a little thing like adding washer fluid doesn't always happen in daylight.

Mr. Ed

The first thing I did was remove the rear headrests - they're in my coat closet.

I also replaced the original tires (Badyears) with Michelins - a great move.

As far as seating comfort - I prefer the Corolla to my wife's LeSabre Limited. I'm 5'9" & 150# - they must have used a dummy my size to design the seating because it's perfect for me.

Ahhh, the horn - I bought highway blasters (two - high & low) to replace the original - they're still setting in the box. I'll try to install them before winter and give you a review of them.

The driver's seating position is awful. Seat cushion is too short- no thigh support, and the dead pedal is huge. Can't get comfortable and easily reach the pedals and the steering wheel at the same time.

l agree about the seating comfort, no thigh support and I'm only 5'3".

 

I disagree about finding a comfortable position to reach the pedals and the steering wheel. Maybe the Corolla was made for shorter people, because I sit so I can fully depress the clutch AND be at a comfortable distance from the steering wheel. In most cars I would have to sit closer to the steering wheel so I can reach the pedals comfortably.

My biggest pet peeve (for the moment): the clutch and brake pedals are too close and my feet get often in the way of each other. Don't know what I'm going to do with heavy winter boots. default_dry

now_driving_VW

horns are easy... just buy some Hella SuperTones. Should be able to use the existing mounting brackets.

116 dB @ 6 ft!!!

The seating position issue is well documented. I'm 6'4" and what I've figured out is that I get the best seating when I actually lift the seat a bit. Usually I'd stay away from this adjustment as I'm looking for headroom, but the Corolla adjustment actually pitches the seat forward. By also moderating the recline I've been able to adjust the seat well for myself.

I'll also say, the XRS seats are VERY good on a long trip. Much better than my GTI GLX was.

My complaints are with the brakes and clutch. The are OK but nothing extra.

It's ugly.

Honda is putting on a how-to-make-it-great-looking clinic with the forthcoming Civic. If I had it to do all over again, the new Civic would probably win.

I find the Jetta, Mazda 3, and Ford Focus to all be better lookig to, but a combination of reliability (for all three) and economy (for the Mazda and Focus) keep them out of my personal running list.

The new Civic has it all though, if they can return to form on some of the quality issues Honda's been having. And maybe that's a big if.

Course, with my shimmies and pulling and rattling in my corolla I guess they don't have to do too much.

Guest unitas

I don't see the rear seat headrests as something to complain about since they are removable.

I am 6'3'' and I too wish for better seat support. And a telescoping steering wheel since I have the seat back all the way to get a little legroom. Shorter drivers probably don't need this.

The driver side sun visor hits the rear-view mirror when pushing it forward. WTF??? Plus it could use a built-in extension, like my Tundra has. Maybe an aftermarket extension is available? I also like the thin 2nd visor on the Tundra so I can have protection from the sun front and side when driving on winding roads. How much can this cost to add?

I think the headlights are not good enough for night driving. I plan on looking into aftermarket lights.

I wish anti-lock brakes were standard although I know they are an option.

I am one of those full-size spare tire in all cars zealots. But at least a full-size spare does fit in the trunk so I did buy one. At least they made the tire well big enough to allow for this upgrade.

I agree with the comments about needing better OEM tires.

Someone remarked about disappointing gas mileage. My gas mileage ('05 LE, now with 3200 miles) has been great. On a recent vacation of over 2400 miles, I filled up 7 times and topped 40 mpg on 5 of them. Two drives were mostly in the mountains and one of those was 35 mpg and the other was 39. I'm very satisfied with this feature of my car. For those who like numbers, here are all of my mpg figures since buying the car - 37.5, 37.2, 42.5, 40.1, 41.1, 41.4, 35.1, 38.8, 41.0.

  • 1,424 posts
It's ugly.

Honda is putting on a how-to-make-it-great-looking clinic with the forthcoming Civic. If I had it to do all over again, the new Civic would probably win.

I find the Jetta, Mazda 3, and Ford Focus to all be better lookig to, but a combination of reliability (for all three) and economy (for the Mazda and Focus) keep them out of my personal running list.

The new Civic has it all though, if they can return to form on some of the quality issues Honda's been having. And maybe that's a big if.

Course, with my shimmies and pulling and rattling in my corolla I guess they don't have to do too much.

The Mazda 3 has great reliability, it's damn near as good as the Corolla. It's way nicer interior wise, it looks better on the exterior. The seating is more comfortable, and it has features that aren't available on any model Corolla. I'm driving one right now, so I would know. However, I will admit that the 3 I'm driving cost almost 24k, whereas my corolla cost less than 20k.

 

BTW, the reason for the reduced fuel economy is a simple. One, the Mazda 3s that I'm driving right now has a 2.3L vs a 1.8L. Two, every time I drive the 3, and whenever I see a 3 being driven, the driver has it in manual mode and is upshifting the thing at 6K+. That kills fuel economy. Corolla drivers don't do this too often, but if we did, our car's gas mileage would suck too.

Max

The driver side sun visor hits the rear-view mirror when pushing it forward.

That much you can fix. The mirror is adjustable at the mirror itself and at the windshied. Move the arm attached to the windshield to the right a little and it won't hit your visor anymore.

 

 

Dai_Shan

The driver side sun visor hits the rear-view mirror when pushing it forward. WTF??? Plus it could use a built-in extension, like my Tundra has. Maybe an aftermarket extension is available? I also like the thin 2nd visor on the Tundra so I can have protection from the sun front and side when driving on winding roads. How much can this cost to add?

I had that problem also until i read here on the forums that you can shimmy the mirror to the side sorta...kinda hard to explain but it works great.

 

Kinda slide the whole mirror to the right...and then reangle so you can see. works great.

Do a search if i didn't make any sense. (cause i'm sure it didn't)

Max

I've seen lots of complaints on Edmunds about the Mazda 3. JD Power shows Corolla to be the most reliable in its class, Scion xB next, then Civic, then Mazda 3. Glad you're having good luck with the one you're driving. I think it's the best looking car in the class.

Comfort - cockpit is too small, my 6' frame feels cramped even with the seat moved as far back as it will go, tilt-steering wheel doesn't tilt low enough for me.

Height - it seems like I have to crawl into the driver's seat, and sits low like a go-cart going down the street.

Ride - it seems comfortable enough, although I don't think I'd recommend it for a cross-country drive. Commuting to work and around-town destinations it fares well, the longest trip I've driven it was to San Antonio - about 3-4 hours.

Reliability - no complaints there. Hers has over 130K and the only problem so far was the starter, which has been fixed with a unit from a salvage yard and hasn't failed yet.

Economy - I think the best it gets on the highway is 35 MPG with the air conditioner on, which isn't too bad. Changed to platinum spark plugs, which improved a little although I expected the difference to be more signifigant. Definitely boosted its punch from a stop, though.

Overall, it's a good car. Easy to park, parts are cheap for it (when compared to others) and Wifey's gotten her money's worth for it. We're hoping it hangs in there for the next 5 years when our RAV4 is paid off and we'll be ready to buy another one, although I think she'll be getting the RAV and I'll get a Tundra for me... default_cool

Guest unitas

The driver side sun visor hits the rear-view mirror when pushing it forward.

That much you can fix. The mirror is adjustable at the mirror itself and at the windshied. Move the arm attached to the windshield to the right a little and it won't hit your visor anymore.

 

Max, I tried your suggestion and it worked great. Thanks for the tip!!!

 

 

I've seen lots of complaints on Edmunds about the Mazda 3. JD Power shows Corolla to be the most reliable in its class, Scion xB next, then Civic, then Mazda 3. Glad you're having good luck with the one you're driving. I think it's the best looking car in the class.

I agree, I doubt any Mazda comes close to any Toyota in reliability.

 

And I never thought any Mazda was particularly attractive. But that's my opinion.

I see those yellow Mazda 3 hatchbacks everywhere, drives me nuts. Such an annoying-looking vehicle.

I will have to wait till 2008 or beyond before I get a new car. I have been looking at Civics alot recently, but I must believe that the reliablity of a Corolla will outmatch any other small sedan. Yet a loaded Civics cost more than a loaded Corolla, which is why I bought a Corolla...

I hope they come in pretty new colors...there was a Passat that was pearlescent w/a touch of green to make it a faint metallic green, but not the ugly desert cactus color on the current Corollas...

I always like those ocean-like colors... teal, pale beige....etc. default_smile

Max

ycr- Before the Corolla came in that cactus color, they had "mineral green pearl," for 03 and I think 04 as well. Just beautiful. You could barely tell it was green- it looked like an opalescent silver. Maybe they'll revive that color sometime.

I wonder why they retire some colors...

Personally I like the blue they used on the current Civics??? (not sure what year, but pretty sure it's from 2002+) some reason I don't take to the blue they used on the 05 Corollas...

Where did they put that n ice raspberry maroon color that the 8th gen. corollas have....

The newer Corolla colors are so limited...*sigh*

I hope they expand their color pallette.... ocean colors.... opalescent green...hunter green, beige (that looks like the perfect vanilla ice cream), a light blue that matches the sky.... and...dare I say it...a sunset orange..yeah Mazda has orange cars...why not Toyota....

I must be getting old as the day I bought my "Cactus Mica", I had just come from the Dodge dealer about to make a deal on a new van. I was looking at the Corollas for some reason and all of a sudden the one Cactus Mica struck out at me and I can say I would not have bought the Corolla that day if it wasn't for her unique colour. I probably would have bought the red Dodge van that everyone else has. She looks great now with new rims and dark windows by the way.

My previous Tercel and current 2000 Corolla does not have a Band of Shade on the top the of front windshield. All the other cars I have driven it's standard. This really helps reduce the glare from the sunset or sunrise.

Hey, Happy Mom and others! I have been reading for years about this, but I just drove my neighbor's '04, and I found it was NOT at all comfortable (steering and clutch too close).

On the other hand, my '99 is perfect for me (5'11"). However, my wife (5'3") has to move the seat much too close to the steering wheel to reach the clutch. In fact, it is a safety hazard being that close to the air bag! However, she hates driving stick, so this is not an issue for us, but I built a clutch pedal extension (2.5") just in case she is forced to drive my car.

So it seems that Toyota built the current generation for smaller people, while the last generation (pre '03) is built for taller. Why can't they come up with a good compromise?!?! I would say that this issue is the only real "bad point" of the current Corolla.



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