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-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.
My Ford Focus had 10 recalls and was in the shop 20 times in three years. Left me stranded lots of times. Lost a ton of money selling it.
Cobalt is no prize pig either, based on both reviews here and auto tests in every magazine I've read.
Yeah, "reliable" domestics.
Considering that there are half a dozen (or more) reviews from Corolla owners whose cars self-destructed before 30,000 miles, over HALF the 2006 Camry reviews are HORROR STORIES of people getting taken by the Toyota ad-hype myth, and out of about 400+ comments on the 2002 Tundra site NOT A SINGLE TOYOTA OWNER HAS FURNISHED A SHRED OF PROOF OF THEIR "SUPERIOR RELIABILITY" (just rants and "Toyota is better because I say so"), I'd have to say I'm not convinced that my money wouldn't be better spent on a domestic. Oh, and MY 2001 Focus ZX-3 never saw the inside of a service facility and I NEVER got 20 recalls on it. Someone is spreading that myth around too. The previous commenter obviously abused his Focus (IF he really owned one). Friends of ours have over 100,000 miles on their Focuses with no problems.
18:38, you are correct. The 13:38 comment is from the same person who tells the same story over and over about the "10 recalls and 20 times in the shop". When he first started telling the story, it was "a friend" of his, and pretty soon he started telling the story like it was his car, and even admitted that he just started saying it was his car because he got tired of people saying that he didn't even own the car!
I agree, I don't understand what people see in these bland Corollas. Could it be the cardboard with thin piece of vinyl glued on that passes for interior trim? Maybe it is the total lack of amenities or accouterments in the cabin--it looks so bare it probably has a "radio delete" option! Or maybe it is the narrow seat with cheap cloth upholstery that reels in the customers.
You have to hand it to the Japanese for a fabulous marketing campaign to convince so many people that less is more. These things are on par with a stripped-down, no-option 1983 Cavalier. In fact, the Cavalier is nicer!
To 18:38.
Here's a myth for you: your Fords suck. That myth is true.
Here's another myth people are spreading around; Ford is doing very badly right now. Also true.
Myth #3; The Corolla and the Camry (along with the Accord and Civic) are the best-selling cars in the United States. Also true.
Myth#4; out of the 400+ comments on the Tundra thread, you keep regurgitating the same comments over and over again that prove only that you don't like Toyota's, and no proof of anything else.
Myth#5; Despite the fact that you don't like them, everyone else knows they are indeed "superior", including the Corolla, which is a better car than Ford could ever hope to design and build. That myth is also true. (I know it's hard to accept, but still true, EVEN THOUGH you don't know it).
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.
<<18:38, you are correct. The 13:38 comment is from the same person who tells the same story over and over about the "10 recalls and 20 times in the shop". When he first started telling the story, it was "a friend" of his, and pretty soon he started telling the story like it was his car, and even admitted that he just started saying it was his car because he got tired of people saying that he didn't even own the car!>.
My friend who owned the Focus was my roommate, and I drove the Focus a lot - as much as he did. It was easier for me to say I owned it rather than saying "my friend who is a roommate's Focus that I helped him buy and had to take him to the Ford dealership every other week for recalls".
As for your continued insistence that the Focus had no recalls, just check your facts for once. The Focus is one of the most-recalled cars in recent history.
After the Focus, my friend leased a Scion xB and now owns a Korean-built Chevy Aveo which he's had for over a year. NEITHER car has had the endless problems the Focus had, and the Aveo hasn't even been to the dealer for any repairs at all (the Scion had radio problems, but the radio was from Pioneer, not Toyota). I'm not saying the Aveo is the paragon of quality, but it has started every day (unlike the Focus), has not had flooding inside the passenger compartment when it rains (unlike the Focus), has not had the ignition mechanism disintegrate (unlike the Focus), and has never had to be flatbedded to the dealership (unlike the Focus).
And let's be clear. I RECOMMENDED that he buy the Focus over ALL the imports, and he got a top of the line ZTS with every option. I EXPECTED this car to last him for ten years as he BOUGHT it outright, and assumed that Ford would make a good product given this car had been available in Europe since 1997 and all the bugs should have been worked out.
And STOP accusing me of making posts I DID NOT MAKE. 20:14 comment was NOT ME, but, of course, you people have no argument so just have to attack anyone who remotely disagrees that domestic products aren't gifts from God.
Oh, I don't own any Toyotas and have not owned any Toyotas since 1987, so yet again another one of your arguments fails miserably. Toyotas err on the side of comfort, not sporty, and I don't like cars like that.
And, once again, you people cannot explain why, if domestic cars are so incredibly reliable, that ALL three domestic manufacturers are in deep, deep trouble financially and why Toyota will soon be the #1 car maker on the planet with record-breaking sales.
If Toyotas are the worst cars sold in America, why isn't the company suffering the same fate as Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Fiat, and other unreliable cars that were sold here? It makes ZERO sense.
You'll also explain why Scion has the lowest average age of buyer (30) of any car brand, meaning YOUNG PEOPLE prefer that brand more than any other. And young people today expect quality. Again, it makes no sense if these cars are sooooo unreliable. Young people simply don't have the money to spend on rental cars when their "quality-built" American car is in the shop yet again.
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.
You simply have no argument, This talk of 300,000 Cavaliers and such is either myth or just more proof that if you get one built mid-week when the workers were happy and not drunk (see the book "Rivethead" for details on American quality control) you can possibly get a vehicle that doesn't break down.
To 10:51; I appreciate another voice of reason and reality here.
Good point about the Fit vs. the Cobalt. That's what these Big 3 people don't understand. If Ford or Chevy could ever build anything that was that much in demand, they would simply increase production with no concern for quality, and ruin the whole project.
Wait a minute; they do that now, even with almost no demand for any of the crap they build! Hence their crappy sales numbers, and, like you say, the number of junk Cobalts sitting around. Now there's a car that lost all it's momentum in a hurry. I guess people just realized, HEY!, this is just another crappy Cavalier that kind of looks like a Nissan. Oops.
Honda will continue to build as many as they can WITHIN the constraints of their quality control, a term that the Big 3 have no concept of. And yeah, I have yet to see a Cavalier that made it over 135,000 miles in reality. I guess it's easy to type whatever mileage somebody wishes their Cavalier would have gotten when they're on line anonymously. Like a Rock, right? That's correct, they just sit there.
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.