2005 Corolla XRS

The inside of the gas lid and the owners manual for the Corolla XRS say to use premium grade fuel only. I'll try dropping down to mid-grade and see if that changes anything. Thanks for the info on how altitude affects performance.

The inside of the gas lid and the owners manual for the Corolla XRS say to use premium grade fuel only. I'll try dropping down to mid-grade and see if that changes anything. Thanks for the info on how altitude affects performance.

who's there?

your engine

Sorry for the lame attempt at humor, bed time now.

Pumped in about 5 gallons of mid-grade. Seems to be running ok. If there's any spark retardation going on to prevent knocking, it doesn't seem noticeable. Still kinda hard to tell if there's a performance difference in either direction. Feels about the same.

On a side note, I got my car back from the dealership yesterday as I wanted them to disable the twilight "feature" of my car. I want this done because I work on a base and they prefer you dim your lights when approaching the guard gate. I also need to dim my lights when cruising the luminaria tours during the Christmas holiday.

Well, they disabled the headlights all right. Had to drive home last night with my hazards on so I could see where I'm going. Same thing coming into work early this morning. Took it back to the dealership and they said the DRL relay had short circuited. Since the headlights run through that circuit, that's why mine quit working. They pulled one out of a new car on the lot to replace mine with and I'm back to square one. At least they refunded my money. They said the wiring for the 05's is totally new and different. They have been in contact with Toyota Corp. and said they would contact me with any additional info.

Well, after cruising around a little longer on the mid-grade, I have noticed that it doesn't accelerate like it used to. It's not that significant, but noticeable. Good thing I only put a little in (although 5 gallons was still about half a tank). Going back to premium on next fill up.

Dealership called back and said that Toyota Corp. told them about a wire they could disconnect at a certain point to the DRL relay and it should do the trick as far as disabling the twilight feature. I'll take it in next week and cross my fingers.

Car runs better on Premium.

As far as the twilight feature (automatic night time headlights), the dealership was getting ready to try something else (that worked on the 04 models), but were told by a Toyota rep to hold off. The wiring for the 05's has more "multiplexing" involved and that there's a bulletin coming out soon from Toyota Corp. that will address this. Guess I gotta wait a little longer..

I'm more worried about the dirty fooking reverse beeper being disabled, I need to get on that one day, that and the seat belt thing, I hate having to hear it just to move my car from the Garage to the barn....

And hotchkis sway bars are awesome....That is all.

Yeah, the XRS can be a pretty noisy little car - going off for every little thing. Not wearing the seat belt from the mailbox to the house can get pretty annoying. Then of course there's the backup beep. That's actually saved me a couple of times, but I think it would have been done better if it just beeped for a few seconds then have a light on the dash flash for the remainder.

I was driving home from work yesterday and all of the sudden my XRS began its obnoxious beeping. I looked down and was wearing my seatbelt so I knew that wasn't it. I wasn't in reverse. I couldn't figure it out. Then I noticed the passenger airbag symbol was blinking. Turns out that my briefcase and binders from work that I had on the front seat weighed so damn much that the car assumed there was a passenger in the seat and the seatbelt was buckled. Talk about annoying. I threw all my stuff onto the floor so that the car would shut up. I can't figure it why I got half way home before it started beeping though.

You could always reach under the seat and unplug the sensor, not sure if it'd shut up or just randomly beep at you though.

i'm so jealous of whoever has an xrs! i got my 04 s last august and i love it, but now the new xrs came out i was about to put a supercharger into my S which will make it about 160-170 horsepower. right now the S has 130 horsepower. too bad the xrs only come in manual and i also like the new black housing headlights and the middle headrest in the rear. The new seats in the xrs are better too because they are made of a stronger and stiffer material and won't wear out as fast as the S seats. I already put 22,000 miles into my car and i bought it with only 3 miles(right off the truck). it still runs great!

bump for newfie

My 05 Corolla XRS just lost to a Mazda Protege by a full car length off the line.

What's up with that?!?!

I know the XRS has been "retuned" for a flatter torque range, but can anyone suggest anything I can do to get some more low end torque?

I don't think TRD makes a supercharger for the 2ZZ-GE engine (TRD for warranty reasons) and since it's already at an 11.5 - 1 compression ratio, I'm not sure if I have a whole lot of options.

What can I do to give my XRS a nad lift?

Thanks

You won't blow it up bouncing off of the redline while speedshifing through the gears...

'beat it like it owes you money'

Powershift the hell out of the thing, just watch out for the 1-2 wheelspin and the sharp pull in the front.

Sounds as though I just need to practice some "performance driving".

...although I still would like to bump up that 127 ft/lb of torque somehow.

Just think of how cool it would be then!