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Corolla Buying Advice

by urville, September 13, 2008



I have been looking at the 05's Corolla XRS and Matrix XRS and the Solara SE Sport

I know the solara will obviously use more gas. Other than this though I read the reviews and some people say the corolla and matrix are sporty throughout the bands, but some say they are only sporty at over 6-7k, this includes the reviews here. One thing you have to keep in mind is that the sportiest car I have ever owned was a 90 Subaru Legacy base, the sportiest I ever drove was a early 90's turbo dodge shadow. As long as driving it isnt any worse than that subaru I'm a ok. Can anyone chime in on this?

Premium gas on these right which means Unlead Plus or better or octane increasers, which I read about but seems more expensive than just buying plus.

thanks for the help!!! It's these or a civic si same year

  • 1,424 posts

I drive an '08 Solara SE, Same as an '05 SE Sport without the gfx. Anyway, it gets about 34 Highway, which is better than the XRS gets for most people.

The Solara is a nicer car, hands down. IIRC a '05 SE Sport should have standard 4 wheel disc ABS, keyless that opens the trunk, tilt and telescope steering wheel, steering wheel audio controls, 6 disc CD changer, trip computer, etc.

One caution about the Solara, it has poor rear visibility, you can loose a semi in the blind spot and backing it up is a PITA.

Just my .02 though.

Go and drive all three and buy what you want.

I drive an '08 Solara SE, Same as an '05 SE Sport without the gfx. Anyway, it gets about 34 Highway, which is better than the XRS gets for most people.

The Solara is a nicer car, hands down. IIRC a '05 SE Sport should have standard 4 wheel disc ABS, keyless that opens the trunk, tilt and telescope steering wheel, steering wheel audio controls, 6 disc CD changer, trip computer, etc.

One caution about the Solara, it has poor rear visibility, you can loose a semi in the blind spot and backing it up is a PITA.

Just my .02 though.

Go and drive all three and buy what you want.

Thanks, did not know that. My friend had a probe once, cant be worse that that! So you like the 4 cyl in that Solara? I dont expect a miracle but I've never had anything really fun to drive.

The official word on the XRS's I read was :

1.8-liter four-cylinder with not only variable valve timing but also variable valve lift to boost output to 170 horsepower at an exhilarating 7,600 rpm and 127 pounds-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm — still a piddling amount, but now spread a little more broadly to improve stop-and-go behavior. That's been Matrix XRS' problem — not much torque and none at useful speeds.

I know most nor I, will be driving this thing at 7000 rpms everyday, but still isnt that hard on the engine?

Run fresh oil and change it on time and red line shouldn't be a issue. Different car, but I had a Escort GT as my first car and it had a Mazda DOHC 1.8l in it. I revved that thing out all the time, and I do mean all the time and I personally put over 200K miles on it.

The rev limit is their for a reason. I'd go for the Corolla XRS, but that is just me. It is faster then a regular corolla below 7K RPMs too. Those reviews are just silly. I test drove one with serious intent to buy and it is much nicer then the regular corolla. They only had a rose color one that day and we had a lemon to unload, so we got a regular corolla. The XRS wants premium fuel, so if you get one, feed it what it wants, or it probably really won't have much more power over a standard Corolla.

  • 1,424 posts
I drive an '08 Solara SE, Same as an '05 SE Sport without the gfx. Anyway, it gets about 34 Highway, which is better than the XRS gets for most people.

The Solara is a nicer car, hands down. IIRC a '05 SE Sport should have standard 4 wheel disc ABS, keyless that opens the trunk, tilt and telescope steering wheel, steering wheel audio controls, 6 disc CD changer, trip computer, etc.

One caution about the Solara, it has poor rear visibility, you can loose a semi in the blind spot and backing it up is a PITA.

Just my .02 though.

Go and drive all three and buy what you want.

Thanks, did not know that. My friend had a probe once, cant be worse that that! So you like the 4 cyl in that Solara? I dont expect a miracle but I've never had anything really fun to drive.

The official word on the XRS's I read was :

1.8-liter four-cylinder with not only variable valve timing but also variable valve lift to boost output to 170 horsepower at an exhilarating 7,600 rpm and 127 pounds-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm — still a piddling amount, but now spread a little more broadly to improve stop-and-go behavior. That's been Matrix XRS' problem — not much torque and none at useful speeds.

I know most nor I, will be driving this thing at 7000 rpms everyday, but still isnt that hard on the engine?

If your engine will handle it, you will rev it every day, trust me. You'll find yourself doing it without any conscience effort.

Anyhow, I like my Solara, but there is one thing I would like to point out to you: 2 doors does not always equal sporty car.

A Solara is a 2 door Camry. It mission in life is to move its occupants in style and pretty good comfort, not to rival a BMW 3-series in terms of sporty driving. My Solara drives like my mother's last Camry (a 2005 LE) albeit it has better brakes and a lot less body roll on cornering and braking.

If Toyota intended the Solara to be a sporty car, all of them would have the 3.5L V6 and they would all have 17" wheels with VR rated tires. It would also weight about 800 pounds less and lose much of the backseat and trunk. As it is, the 2008 Solara has a trunk that is not even 1 full cubic foot smaller than the Camry Sedan and the backseat isn't much smaller either.

The car is big, there is no other way to put it. I can put everything I need for an entire year at college into the trunk and backseat and not have to pack things so they block the back window.

As of right now, the Civic Si is about the only Japanese sporty coupe being made that isn't an outright sports car. If I were you, I'd try out the Si. I've heard good things about them and Hondas in general.

Well and thats why i tired to temper the question with the statement about the Subaru. It was painfully slow in the 1990 model. 0-60 in 13 point some seconds and that was revving it which it didnt have the redline to support it at all. So you can guess regular driving was sort of a bore... this was long before the sti's even existed, etc. I'd just like to have a car for once that at least has regular pep, sufficient even, lol.

So, does the mid range unleaded count as premium or is premium only the "super" unleaded or whatever their calling it? Do you guys find the increased octane fuel need eliminates all the advantages of any fuel saving it has?

Again this jeep is eating me alive so... I think it gets 12-14 city and maybe 19-20 maybe even as high as 22-23 highway depending

After that 90 Subaru i owned a early 90 jeep cherokee, a 2000 honda cr-v, and a 92 dodge dakota... I'm replacing the jeep with this car. I dont need 4wd in my car as the winters get increasingly mild here. None of these are exceptionally speedy cars. The jeep feels more powerful than the CR-V but only somewhat, it's an incredibly heavy vehicle. So so you can see my experience is limited. I only drive that turbo shadow like 6 times. Again i dont expect that, I just know I dont want something thats agonizing to drive either. The Cr-V is a nice car, but I dont find myself say wanting to open it up a bit on the highway or anything you know, and driving the jeep makes me feel like a school bus driver. I dont need the sportiest car, just a good car with some pep. The solara cathes me because one guy told me it has pep and looks great, sounds like a good deal for around the Edmunds TMV for an 04-05.

  • 1,424 posts

A Solara is sportier than any of the cars that you've had and it certainly does not take 13 seconds to reach 60. It seems like that is what you are leaning towards anyway.

I can tell you that it is a good looking car, I get compliments on mine all the time.

I can also tell you that with what you've had as your other cars it is going to feel sporty.

I think that if my car was identical to a 4 door Camry I would still say it was more fun to drive. It is a Psychological thing, cars with two doors just seem sportier and more fun to drive than their four door counterparts.

In reality, the performance of a 4 cylinder Camry and Solara are about the same, although like I said earlier the Solara has better brakes and handles slightly better.

Go and find one to drive. If you can't find a used one to test drive, go to your Toyota dealer and drive a new one. I looked at a 2005 Solara when I bought my Corolla in '05 and it is almost exactly as the same as my '08 Solara minus a couple of very minor features.

Well it's a tie between the corolla xrs and the solara se for me...

And you've named one of the hardest parts which is finding one to test drive close, let alone buy lol. I'm in Wyoming where people have barely started driving smaller cars. So what small used vehicles there are are being bought up, but there arent many to start with because mostly, STILL people (edited) are buying huge trucks for driving around town. That sounds like a joke but it isnt, at all. God I hate it here.

But i'm on the search and I appreciate the help. I've also been looking at the 04 Celicas and mr2's now as they have a very similar gas footprint and arent a whole lot more expensive, and are also fun to look at, though I heard the celicas have tranny problems.

My sister has a Solara. It's nice to look at, but not really a sports car. Maybe a sports touring coupe at best. The Corolla XRS could drive circles around a Solara. It has much sportier suspension and tires. Even has a stock strut tower brace.

IMO, they are nothing alike. Get a Solara if you want a touring coupe and get the XRS if you want to rev out a 6sp gear box and take corners fast.

IMO, they are nothing alike. Get a Solara if you want a touring coupe and get the XRS if you want to rev out a 6sp gear box and take corners fast.

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