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Comments: 1-15, 16-23
-Ash tray fall down on the first day of purchase and never fixed.
-Electric window for rear right passenger just stopped working.
-Brakes squick a lot when cars moves in first 2 kilometers.
-Stereo system with four speakers, but only two work.
One word. Economical. It's a good saloon car, but its not what you call driving pleasure. Steering is too low even adjusted at highest, but not high enough. Engine is very loud.
Interior is big, but its functional (surprisingly).
Rims are too small (14").
Engine managed to reach 5000rpm in first 2 gears.
Lots of storage spaces and lots of functions are available.
I previously owned a sportage and it was a big mistake. Compared to that it's a brilliant car. But compared to my Honda it Sucks.
I saw a report recently that Toyota is scaling back production worldwide. Their rapid growth rate in production has been done at the cost quality, the very fact there is such high demand for their cars in the first place. They have admitted that their quality and reliability has taken a big hit due to the incredible demand they have experienced. Part of the problem has been they have run out parts at times for one car and used parts from others, which is inherently problematic. I recently bought a new 2006 Corolla and have had three minor problems already. I am worried about issues cropping up going forward. have only put 2500 miles on it so far. If I would have known at the time about their quality issues I would have bought the Civic.
Just to clarify.
The Corolla is the bestselling nameplate in history, not the bestselling car. The 2006 Corolla has no parts in common with its 1970's ancestor.
The bestselling car (meaning original design kept throughout production) is the VW Beetle.
As to your problems, I have read numerous times that car manufacturers, even revered Toyota, will "customize" quality depending on the region, and that is sad.
Thanks for an honest review. I test drove a Corolla before buying my last vehicle and I couldn't get the thing back to the dealer's lot fast enough. What people see in these things is beyond me. The quality and ride were vastly inferior to the Chevy Cobalt and Ford Focus, and it wasn't nearly as fast either. The ride was rough, and the one I drove had a rattle in the dash (and it was BRAND NEW!!). The Corolla was less expensive than the much nicer Cobalt, but even for less money it was no bargain. I also drove a Dodge Caliber and liked it, but I'm wary of buying any first-year model of any car. As for the Civic, they are just ludicrously overpriced and the one Civic our family had was not remotely reliable. We'll stick with the proven reliability and value of domestics.
I just read an article today that said that Toyota executives had ADMITTED that their quality and reliability had DROPPED DRASTICALLY due to "shortcuts" in their manufacturing processes and that Toyota was CUTTING BACK PRODUCTION in order to try to once more MATCH THE RELIABILITY of American cars!!
Of course 20:14 will, no doubt remain in total denial, keep screaming "Toyotas are better and everyone knows it." (uh...except apparently TOYOTA!!!) and continue to rant about his (non-existent) Focus that had 4000 recalls, spent 2 years in the shop and blew an engine every 32 seconds. At least it makes for good reading. I enjoy good comedy.
To comment 20:12: You are right. After test driving a new Corolla, I went looking for a good, low mileage (under 200,000 miles) 1983 Cavalier. I've driven domestic compacts with a QUARTER OF A MILLION MILES on them that would outrun, out corner, and were TWICE as comfortable as a Corolla.
In the late 90's I had a good friend who SWORE by Toyota. He and his wife owned a 1990 Corolla and a 1990 Dodge Omni 2.2. The Corolla blew up at 100,000 miles in 1998 and he bought ANOTHER one. I bought his old Omni with 180,000 miles on it and drove it to 240,000 miles. I knew the car's history completely, and I know for a fact that since my friend bought it new until I sold it with 240,000 miles on it it had had exactly TWO brake jobs, TWO timing belts and ONE heater hose...That's it. The engine or transmission was never touched in a QUARTER MILLION MILES!! Even the factory A/C NEVER HAD FREON ADDED and worked perfectly when I sold the car (still in perfect running condition). And my friend?? Well, after his SECOND Corolla went to Car Heaven (or that other place probably!!) at only 90,000 miles he wised up and bought a reliable GM compact (a Pontiac Sunfire GT). It still runs perfectly.
Well, I've yet to see one of these "magical" Corollas that has supposedly made it to 200,000 miles. No one I know has ever gotten 100,000 out of one without having some really major problems, and I know of half a dozen people who bought brand new Corollas and had engine failures before 36,000 miles.
I owned a 94 corolla and sold it at 163xxx miles for $3200 couple years back. I have 2 (two) sets of brake replaced, 3 sets of tires, starter, thermostat, timing belt, water pump, regular oil change, cd player and bunch of wipers.
That's all.
Go justify the quality of corolla.
I guess Corollas actually are magical, because they do in fact easily get 200-300,000 miles on them, some reviews I've read here, the car seems to be headed for more mileage than that.
"And explain why these wonders of American automotive engineering like the Chevy Cobalt are sitting on dealers' lots for months on end when Honda can't make enough Fits to fill the demand. Again, it makes no sense if Japanese imports are on the level of Yugos as you people continue to intimate."
But you just said your buddy got a Chevy Aveo and it's been great. Way to contradict yourself again. So, are you driving this car as well as your room-mates Focus? Maybe you're the one who beats the crap out of your friends' cars, and then you both sit around shrugging your shoulders about why his cars are so unreliable. Maybe it's time to buy your own car and quit mooching off your friends.
I don't own a Corolla. I have a 2006 Camry LE V-6 that has convinced me NEVER to buy another Toyota. This car has been in the shop an average of once a month since I bought it (new). The service is much worse than Ford (my previous car) and the bad transmission still is not fixed. If I can find someone stupid enough to buy my Camry for what I owe on it, and there seem to be plenty of those folks on this site, I'm going to buy another Ford. My last Ford had less problems in 100,000 miles than this Toyota had in the first month of use.
I'd think the build quality of the Corolla would be even worse than the troublesome Camry, as it is a cheaper car. I think commenter 12:12 will be much happier with the more reliable domestic.
I have a 2003 Toyota Matrix with 5 speed transmission. The tranny went out at 125,000 km's...That's about 75,000 miles. Hmmmm... maybe the engine will go to 300,000 miles, but if I need a new tranny every 75 at 3000 dollars a pop it will cost me 12000 which is almost the cost of a new car!
The Corolla I'm replacing with a newer model had 276,000 miles.
I bought a brand new corolla 3 months ago. Starting that car disturbed me too much, and the car was missing all the time and was going on road like an old car of 1970 (like no tuning from the factory). While visiting the vendor twice a day, but found no result, after going to a local mechanic he told me that the fuel tank of this car is not clean. After opening the fuel tank we saw a lot of rust, full of sand that was just like a fish tank full of green fungus; so how could this car run smoothly? I just sold that car and bought a used car from port.