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The Truth About Cars Corolla Article

by calleging stoodent November 10, 2006

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Hey The Truth About Cars has quite an article about Corollas.

The Link

It includes mention of David Zatz, apparently the guy who runs this site! To me the article may seem quite controversial to reasons why some people post here.

What do you guys think? default_smile

Hey The Truth About Cars has quite an article about Corollas.The Link

 

It includes mention of David Zatz, apparently the guy who runs this site! To me the article may seem quite controversial to reasons why some people post here.

What do you guys think? default_smile

You would think that site would have it's own pic of an '04 or '05 Corolla LE instead of the one that they "borrowed" from another web site. That car and picture is the one that helped me pick out my "Cactus Mica" colour back in 2005.

 

 

This may not be a popular opinion, but the article is pretty much right on. The Corolla is excellent basic all around transportation, but it's nothing to write home about.

I would prefer to drive my chevy fullsize pickup around as a daily driver, but fuel would cost 2x as much, it's not as reliable, and 4wd vehicles cost more to maintain. I would rather drive our minivan because of the ride quality, but don't want to throw all the miles on it. (my wife can take me off the line and keep gaining ground on the rolla default_ohmy ). I drive the Corolla (Prism) because it's good on gas, cheap to maintain, and "disposeable".

Am I the only one who thinks the 9th gen corolla is awesome? I don't care for the body styling of the CE and LE, but with the body kit and lowered, I think the car looks like an athletic shoe...in a good way!

http://www.9thgencorolla.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47153

Combined with respectable power, excellent reliability and unbelievable economy...I mean, come on...what more could you want? A sports car? An SUV? A luxury car? Its not either of those three things, but its the best of what is left...

I agree with the article too - the corolla is not, i repeat, not a sporty car. However, that is because it was not designed to be sporty. What the corolla was and still is designed to do was to be cheap to buy and run, to be reliable and reasonably comfortable, and to be basically ok in every respect. It is a car which, in day-today operations doesn't really have an achilles heel, in relation to its competitors

For example:

Mazda 3: Noisy as all hell, stiff ride

Ford Focus: No storage, unreliable

Opel/Holden Astra: Unreliable, cheap plastics

Honda Civic: Lacks torque, stiff ride

Driven in a legal and efficient manner the corolla is as exciting as any BMW. I have driven both. Yes I noticed a dynamic difference, but it wasn't worth getting a 10 year old BMW 318i over a new corolla.

Besides, a car being 'exciting' is merely how much a company spend on a car's image marketing. Eg, alfa romeos are now all FWD but for all the italian sports heratige, a mazda 3 actually handles better. 'exciting' sports cars are frequently purchased by people with an inferiority complex. Yes your mazda MX-5 is exciting - just keep telling yourself that...

This may not be a popular opinion, but the article is pretty much right on. The Corolla is excellent basic all around transportation, but it's nothing to write home about.

I would prefer to drive my chevy fullsize pickup around as a daily driver, but fuel would cost 2x as much, it's not as reliable, and 4wd vehicles cost more to maintain. I would rather drive our minivan because of the ride quality, but don't want to throw all the miles on it. (my wife can take me off the line and keep gaining ground on the rolla default_ohmy ). I drive the Corolla (Prism) because it's good on gas, cheap to maintain, and "disposeable".

The corolla drives like a small, light car, nothing more than that.

I do not find that it handles well in terms of stability. The opinion is right, but

if you want to drive cheap, the corolla wins hands down.

My minivan is also much more stable and comfortable than the toyota.

Why toyota cannot learn from the Germans in terms of handling.... I do not know.

Any German Car is alot more stable.

"Do you know what the best-selling flavour of ice cream is? Vanilla."

Corolla, Camry. May be of vanilla flavour, but gets the job done day in day out and at the end of the day leaves me satisfying.

Exactly my opinion.

Does its job, does it well.

If you want glitz and sport, Corolla's not your cup of tea.

I think that the corolla is leaving out one very ver simple aspect...........make it modable.

they should make the corolla like the scions. I personally hate the look of scions (all of them and the worst is the shoe box xb! - seriously, a box, who likes boxes; literally?). Corollas would be more appealing to the younger crowed and since corolla has developed a rep for itself, the older gen of people will still trust it. Toyota is making so much profit that IMO they can make the car a little less expensive and leave room for customization.

I think customization for mechanical would be nice too (ie. splitter, spoiler, skirts, headights, taillights, higher flowing exhaust, intake, etc) Exhaust is a component that just doesn't fail like parts of an engine or tranny, likewise, for the intake, just a bigger pipe.

Corolla is already starting to draw in the younger crowd so all I say is fertilize that area of designing a littlebit, not a whole lot. The reason why civic is nice is because they are modable, a cheap personalizer, a "myspace" of cars if you will.

  • 1,424 posts
The reason why civic is nice is because they are modable, a cheap personalizer, a "myspace" of cars if you will.

The Civic my be more modable, but it is not a "cheap personalizer" by any means. I was choosing between a Civic EX and a Corolla LE at this time two years ago and I chose the Corolla. The one and only one reason I chose the Corolla LE over the Civic EX was price. My Corolla costs 1k less than an identically equipped Civic before I added the dealer installed options to the Civic. With those options, the price was almost 2k more. The higher residual value of the Corolla meant a lease payment of $190 instead of almost $250 with the same down payment.

I liked the Civic a lot. I liked the idea of two doors, and it had everything I wanted in terms of equipment as standard. I had to order everything as an option on the Corolla, which meant a special order. I waited almost 3 months for my car, I could have got a Civic with all the toys in 1 day.

Now a Civic DX may be a different story, as it is a low priced car, but a Civic gets to be a pricey car when you add on the options.

Why would someone need to modify a Corolla?

I have a friend who is considering buying one because of the reasons everybody owns one - its reliable, fuel efficient and affordable to maintain and service.

However my friend wants to put 19" rims and tyres on his, Im thinking why? Thats just dumb in my view.

The car wont drive as well and the insurance costs go up too, not to mention the suspension will have to be modified to improve the handling and ride of the new rims/tyres, it becomes a headache. And its harder to brake so you may need to install bigger rotors and calipers, and on and on and on.

Its a commuting car, ideal in todays age of high maintenance motoring, it gets the job done, its not a sports car, thats what I use my Corvette for. I buy cars to suit my application and purpose, not to please others.

Corolla is the daily driver commuter, the Corvette comes out on nice weekends to enjoy, the toy car.

I understand where you are coming from Accent1zzfe.

However, at 20yrs old, I cannot afford a vette and I would love to have that as a play car. I don't know, after 3 years of driving it every day you get a little bored with it. However, more than likely, if I change my 98 corolla to another car, I won't realize how good I had it driving the corolla. For people like me, to have something that can move as well as be fuel efficient. I'm not even asking toyota to improve that much on hp, just on handling, a pseudo sporty feel to it. A couple of mods to a corolla that are cheap off the bat is an intake and a muffler. Both of those inexpensive item can give you another 5-10hp while not harming the fuel efficiency. Firmer struts and an optional strut bar would greatly enhance the performance, especially if you can get lowered springs as part of an optional package. Window tinting would be another. Those little/slight touch-ups would greatly increase one's personal value of their automobile because you went from everyday, reliable, fuel efficient vehicle to a reliable, agile, fuel efficient commuter. That's really it. Like everyone says, the 1zzfe is pretty much maxed out unless they decide to put the VVTL-i on the intake cam shaft as well.

I mean, how much harder is it to make a corolla with a bigger higher flowing exhaust to begin with, something like that would help the car's overall performance and efficiency would it not? They put exhaust piping under the car anyways so why not make it a little bigger, optimized for the engine. All it would do is help it breathe better so why doesn't toyota do that in the first place? If the 1zzfe was truely in fact maxed out and has reached the pinnacle of its design, then simple mods like SRI and muffler and heat wrapping the headers would serve absolutely no gains.

I'm not big on ricing out, I'm big on suping up something subtlely in both appearance and performance. Little touch-ups (inexpensive ones) can significantly improve hp in whatever aspect of performance one decides to work on.

I just shake my head at all the people who try to extract performance out of a car which was designed as a fuel efficient, reliable commuting vehicle.

Dont get me wrong, I can understand why though.

You could do it, but it would be a wasted effort in my view, the costs involved and the result achieved to make tiny little gains is simply not worth it.

You are much better off saving up for a sportier car where the gains are bigger, given the cost.

I'm not big on ricing out, I'm big on suping up something subtlely in both appearance and performance. Little touch-ups (inexpensive ones) can significantly improve hp in whatever aspect of performance one decides to work on.

Word default_cool

 

 

I mean, how much harder is it to make a corolla with a bigger higher flowing exhaust to begin with, something like that would help the car's overall performance and efficiency would it not? They put exhaust piping under the car anyways so why not make it a little bigger, optimized for the engine. All it would do is help it breathe better so why doesn't toyota do that in the first place?

Because it costs money - it would have placed the Corolla out of its chief competition and into the price range of some serious machines.

I would love for Toyota to release a limited edition "sports-oriented" little car, but unless I live overseas or import one here - not likely to pick one up here in the states. Corolla XRS is a good stab at it - but I think they stopped a bit short.

Too bad the market didn't respond as well as it could have to the XRS and other sportier variants in Toyota's lineup. That's why cars like the Celica, MR2, and Supra got killed off - not enough people buying them to justify keeping them on the shelf.

I mean, how much harder is it to make a corolla with a bigger higher flowing exhaust to begin with, something like that would help the car's overall performance and efficiency would it not? They put exhaust piping under the car anyways so why not make it a little bigger, optimized for the engine. All it would do is help it breathe better so why doesn't toyota do that in the first place?

Because it costs money - it would have placed the Corolla out of its chief competition and into the price range of some serious machines.

I would love for Toyota to release a limited edition "sports-oriented" little car, but unless I live overseas or import one here - not likely to pick one up here in the states. Corolla XRS is a good stab at it - but I think they stopped a bit short.

Too bad the market didn't respond as well as it could have to the XRS and other sportier variants in Toyota's lineup. That's why cars like the Celica, MR2, and Supra got killed off - not enough people buying them to justify keeping them on the shelf.

However, an exhaust would only be around another $500. Not like a race exhaust, just better than stock. It wouldn't be that much more expensive

 

 

Bikeman982

I bought my Corollas from e-Bay (because the price was right) because I like the style.

I also want a dependable and reliable transportation vehicle that can go many miles fairly cheaply.

The Corolla is ideal for me.

  • 320 posts

To be fair --

I think I didn't get my whole point across.

The Corolla has more than enough performance to be fun; indeed, the straight line performance is simply amazing, given the gas mileage and interior space, especially in the most recent version. You can get similarly sized cars that have slower acceleration with more horsepower and comparatively awful gas mileage.

Cornering is much better with replacement of the stock tires, and then it's good enough to be fun. Nobody said that a car has to outperform a Corvette to be fun; indeed, i found the older, slower Tiburon to be much more fun than the current one, and one of the most fun cars I've driven is the Jeep Wrangler, which is hardly a sports car. (Likewise the Saturn Sky was more enjoyable than the most recent MR2, in my opinion, which is one reason the new MR2 didn't last.)

The Corolla does pretty darned well and feels good too. Of course if you compare it with a FIRST generation Neon stick-shift, it won't do nearly as well in cornering or acceleration; then again, those Neons cleaned up in their SCCA class. They also gave up a few things to do that, mostly in creature comforts and noise reduction. (And the cost-cutters chose a cheap head gasket and exhaust donut which essentially made the Neon unsellable, but that's a different story.)

Anyway, I was trying to emphasize the positive qualities of the Corolla. It might not outperform a Corvette, but it can still be fun to drive - and NOT having a big huge engine under the hood means that pushing it to the limits is far safer than pushing a muscle car to the limits.

To be fair --

I think I didn't get my whole point across.

The Corolla has more than enough performance to be fun; indeed, the straight line performance is simply amazing, given the gas mileage and interior space, especially in the most recent version. You can get similarly sized cars that have slower acceleration with more horsepower and comparatively awful gas mileage.

Cornering is much better with replacement of the stock tires, and then it's good enough to be fun. Nobody said that a car has to outperform a Corvette to be fun; indeed, i found the older, slower Tiburon to be much more fun than the current one, and one of the most fun cars I've driven is the Jeep Wrangler, which is hardly a sports car. (Likewise the Saturn Sky was more enjoyable than the most recent MR2, in my opinion, which is one reason the new MR2 didn't last.)

The Corolla does pretty darned well and feels good too. Of course if you compare it with a FIRST generation Neon stick-shift, it won't do nearly as well in cornering or acceleration; then again, those Neons cleaned up in their SCCA class. They also gave up a few things to do that, mostly in creature comforts and noise reduction. (And the cost-cutters chose a cheap head gasket and exhaust donut which essentially made the Neon unsellable, but that's a different story.)

Anyway, I was trying to emphasize the positive qualities of the Corolla. It might not outperform a Corvette, but it can still be fun to drive - and NOT having a big huge engine under the hood means that pushing it to the limits is far safer than pushing a muscle car to the limits.

I think "fun" is overrated.

Bikeman982

I wouldn't call my car "fun", but I would say that it is "nice" to drive.

I like the gas mileage, the comfort of it and the reliability.

I don't have anything fancy, but I am pleased easily.

If it starts up and gets me from point A to point B without breaking down, it is just my kind of car.

I don't need a loud exhaust or race-track acceleration or speed.

It can go as fast as highway traffic and stop within a reasonable distance.

The style is great and I can even put my hockey sticks in it (when I fold the rear seats down).

I don't usually carry passengers, but if I needed to, it has the capability.

The positive qualities outweigh the negative and I would be likely to purchase another Corolla.

Just don't think Corolla should be aimed at the performance and customization customer.

That's not its mission. As Toyota ads said many years ago, "Cheap to Keep".

snip.................Too bad the market didn't respond as well as it could have to the XRS and other sportier variants in Toyota's lineup. That's why cars like the Celica, MR2, and Supra got killed off - not enough people buying them to justify keeping them on the shelf.

The market responded the way it should have in regards to the Corolla XRS. Ever driven one? I have, and even though the engine sounds great when it's on the aggressive cam, the whole package with the transmission was awful. There was no way to keep the engine in the 2nd cam between the 1-2 shift and even 2-3 shift without abusing the clutch. WTF? Who gave the rubber-stamp approval after the 1st drive of the prototype. I have yet to drive a Honda that has engine falling out of VTEC between shifts. Then you have the tiny tach, it's the same size as my CE tach but with an extra 1,000 RPM range....and it's too small on my car. The rest of it was okay, but it wasn't enough to offset the frustration in driving it. And then the kicker was that it was $10,000 more than I paid for my Corolla. Ouch.

I just got around to reading that. Overall, a good read, but Toyota sure missed out if it thinks moding cars is stupid. I wouldn't do it because they don't have the correct after market support, but Honda's sure got in on the action. If you take a car that weights about 500lbs less then a V8, give it some more pep, it is fun. For a Honda, it is pretty easy to get a 15s fun daily driver to buzz around town in. I've seen all motor Honda's run 13s myself. I think they can do even better down days.

IMO, Toyota looses out on sport because they don't stick to it long enough. The Celica and MR2 both have a history of dropping from production. TRD dropped a SCer for the newer Corollas. One of the reason's I got ours was because I wanted to add the TRD SCer. Only, I can't get one for a 05. It was a selling point for me, but now I own a car with little to no after market support.

The market responded the way it should have in regards to the Corolla XRS. Ever driven one? I have, and even though the engine sounds great when it's on the aggressive cam, the whole package with the transmission was awful. There was no way to keep the engine in the 2nd cam between the 1-2 shift and even 2-3 shift without abusing the clutch. WTF? Who gave the rubber-stamp approval after the 1st drive of the prototype. I have yet to drive a Honda that has engine falling out of VTEC between shifts. Then you have the tiny tach, it's the same size as my CE tach but with an extra 1,000 RPM range....and it's too small on my car. The rest of it was okay, but it wasn't enough to offset the frustration in driving it. And then the kicker was that it was $10,000 more than I paid for my Corolla. Ouch.
Yeah, I agree with the Corolla XRS - not the most pleasant vehicle to drive. I know first - as I have the Matrix XRS and it falls off the big cam after every gear change - having to run back up there to stay in the powerband, coupled with a weird clutch engagement point. too much weight, and ackward angle of the shift gates - makes for not so smooth driving, but it is still pretty fun to drive. I was hoping they would address that with the Corolla XRS - but they just ended up fattening the middle of the powerband, moving the switchover point higher and lower the redline?? Honda has Toyota spanked on that respect - but the interior has to come way up - as it screams economy car, even with the higher trim packages. Toyota on the otherhand are starting to act like little Lexuses (not really, but atleast they are trying). But it might also be with the marketing region - some markets get different trim packages.

 

Too bad about aftermarket support - as Toyota is in a good position to start supplying the market, if they take the initiative. I mean even Nissan and Mitsubishi are better at this game than Toyota. I was playing with Hondas before they had the support they have now. There was no Hasport Performance kits back in my day, no online DIY guides - everything was trial and error (mostly error) - if there was, good chance I'd probably still be with Honda today.

I also believe that the corolla article is pretty close to my opinion of the car.

Driving my Integra is more fun, but it gets irritating when trying to drive it in traffic - too harsh, transmission slam into every single gear when I want to slow down. Corolla gets the job done the way I want it, smooth ride, not sensitive to the gas pedal, EASY TO DRIVE AND NOT TO WORRY ABOUT IT.

The fuel economy is not as good as I want (28 mpg in 95 1.6L, who was still using 3spd transmission at that time?), the handling down right suck (safety hazard, I could feel the tire spin every time it rains because the OEM tires size and traction suck, no front sway bar, etc), even a Chevy cavalier is better.

Reliability is good enough, and very good for the price. I had some minor plastic problems and a few gasket leaks, the engine mount fails, road noise sucks, etc.

But for $12888, there is no better deal, unless you buy a suzuki or Daewoo (Aveo), which in 5 years you will pay it all back in repairs.

p.s. when I am going somewhere with traffic, I still take my corolla over the Integra.



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