potential corolla buyer here

[timothyc1984]

i was just wondering if anyone has purchased a new (2005-2006-2007) corolla and how it has held up so far. i purchased a 2006 ford focus last year and after 1 year i am worried about keeping the car past the warranty. i have had that car back to the dealer so many times i have lost count. i have a 1981 toyota corolla-tercel and it is nice...

[mopars&corollas]

Ford is horrible dude very unreliable. I have a 2004 with about 66000 that consistantly gets 40 MPG and I drive 120 mi in every day. I have done some work but other than the driver side brake drum assembly falling apart in the middle of my commute- no problems. And to be fair I should have been paying those drums more attention.

[timothyc1984]

thanks, i went and did some late night car shopping, and it looks like i could do a swap between the focus and a corolla and refinance without spending too much more then what i already owe. if i can talk them into a say..2.9 apr that would be even better.

[mopars&corollas]

Good luck- I drove a focus as a rental car once, truely terrible. I would say the corolla would be a totally welcome change. I think its a much more solid and smooth ride to get around in- plus, ford transmissions ...lets just leave it at that. I would at least go test drive one if you have not.

[ae92Xtruen0Xsr5]

if u want a decent focus u need to get the more expensive ones like the all trac rally endorsed versions...but thoes tend to be expensive...so yea a toyota period will be your best bet...

[w203]

Originally Posted by mopars&corollas

Ford is horrible dude very unreliable. I have a 2004 with about 66000 that consistantly gets 40 MPG and I drive 120 mi in every day. I have done some work but other than the driver side brake drum assembly falling apart in the middle of my commute- no problems. And to be fair I should have been paying those drums more attention.

Rear drum brakes do not need to be paid attention to. My 03 went past 60k miles and the rear drum brakes were never touched. Having them fail (which I have not heard of for the 9thgen) should be of concern.

[timothyc1984]

yeah the ATX sitting in my focus is sometimes sketchy. you want to pass someone, so you put your foot into the pedal and then the tranny acts like it has to find the gear. i tend to travel a lot so a car that will not give me any major troubles would be nice. what are the maintenance intervals on the corolla? 5K oil changes? how long do spark plugs (i don't race) last on average?

[mopars&corollas]

Originally Posted by w203

Rear drum brakes do not need to be paid attention to. My 03 went past 60k miles and the rear drum brakes were never touched. Having them fail (which I have not heard of for the 9thgen) should be of concern.

I could easily beat that number with any number of cars I have owned so a fair enuff assumption. The stud on the side where the parking brake cable attaches seems to have broken or fallen off- not very likely I know. Once the stud was gone things quickly pulled themselves into bad places and ruined just about every piece- I had to order a bunch of pieces from the dealership. I only say "pay attention" in that I had been meaning to at least take the drum off and take a look at things. If that would have helped I have no way of knowing- probably not.

To answer the question- I drive over 100mi a day and use the 15000 mobil one- I usually change it around 14000 and seem to have pretty good luck. Plus, synthetic usually helps your MPG. I think the manual says the plugs have a base life 100000? Cant remember for sure.

[wonger]

other than the MPG.. comparing the corolla to other options and price.. i would say the civic is better.. but if you wanna keep toyota.. the tC would be a better pick to the rolla.. just from what i see and know.. tC= rear disc brakes, powerful engine, better interior colors, steering wheel control, larger wheels, handles better, 4 wheel independent suspension vs the rolla which doesnt have any of what the tC has.. also price is about the same and the tC you get more but slightly less MPG

[w203]

Originally Posted by mopars&corollas

I could easily beat that number with any number of cars I have owned so a fair enuff assumption. The stud on the side where the parking brake cable attaches seems to have broken or fallen off- not very likely I know. Once the stud was gone things quickly pulled themselves into bad places and ruined just about every piece- I had to order a bunch of pieces from the dealership. I only say "pay attention" in that I had been meaning to at least take the drum off and take a look at things. If that would have helped I have no way of knowing- probably not.

To answer the question- I drive over 100mi a day and use the 15000 mobil one- I usually change it around 14000 and seem to have pretty good luck. Plus, synthetic usually helps your MPG. I think the manual says the plugs have a base life 100000? Cant remember for sure.

Did you get the extended warranty to cover that issue? I am guessing not since you had 60k+ miles and bought the parts yourself. Its a first I've heard of.

100k miles for the iridium spark plugs but I would change them at 80,000 miles.

Why are you changing your oil at 14,000 miles? The 15,000 mile oil is recommended for cars like Mercedes/BMW where their service interval and oil change service last much longer. Even then the dealers change them at 10k-13k miles. You can prolong the oil change with a larger capacity oil pan, synthetic oil, and a larger oil filter. Even with all highway driving the small 4.x quart oil pan will get very very dirty. But thats your choice.

[wonger]

Originally Posted by w203

Did you get the extended warranty to cover that issue? I am guessing not since you had 60k+ miles and bought the parts yourself. Its a first I've heard of.

100k miles for the iridium spark plugs but I would change them at 80,000 miles.

Why are you changing your oil at 14,000 miles? The 15,000 mile oil is recommended for cars like Mercedes/BMW where their service interval and oil change service last much longer. Even then the dealers change them at 10k-13k miles. You can prolong the oil change with a larger capacity oil pan, synthetic oil, and a larger oil filter. Even with all highway driving the small 4.x quart oil pan will get very very dirty. But thats your choice.

cuz the oil he is buying can handle up to 15k.. even tho i know what he is talking about.. and which oil it is.. i still dont trust it.. also if the oil can handle 15kmiles .. your oil filter can only handle 5k miles

so if u gonna keep doing 14k mile oil changes.. change ur oil filter ever 5k

[wonger]

Originally Posted by w203

Rear drum brakes do not need to be paid attention to. My 03 went past 60k miles and the rear drum brakes were never touched. Having them fail (which I have not heard of for the 9thgen) should be of concern.

because you never did any clean and adjust to the rear.. so they probably did like 1% of your braking.. after they went out of adjustment

[timothyc1984]

im trying to keep the budget to around 14,000 and i want cruise, manual, power windows/locks and i can do corolla, nissan versa (haven't looked at one of those yet), and another fuckus and a breakdownbalt (cobalt)...i am an ipod addict how much trouble would it be to get a cable ran from the cd player for the ipod...and has anyone else used the factory radio for a sub?

[mopars&corollas]

Yeah, I already felt dumb about the warranty. I have an extended something but completely forgot about it until my girlfriend said something while I was putting it back together. I need to do some digging on that as I did not think brakes were covered when I got it.
As for the oil change stuff, everyone has their opinion on that and I am not going to argue about what I do. I use the Mobil 1 oil filter and keep an eye on the oil and its level- I would like to have some of the used stuff analyzed at some point. The oil says it can handle 15000, the car doesnt see anything extreme, so I figure if I change it a little shy of 14000 I should be fine. I use to have a roommate who was a mechanic and refused to run a mile over 3000, we argued a lot about synthetics and lifetime of oil. I disagreed with him and consider this car an experiment to see how it does with a long history of 15000 mobil 1.
Can't say much about the factory radio- I put a pioneer in with an ipod adaptor-very happy. I dont think it would be hard to put a sub in if you really wanted.

Originally Posted by w203

Did you get the extended warranty to cover that issue? I am guessing not since you had 60k+ miles and bought the parts yourself. Its a first I've heard of.

100k miles for the iridium spark plugs but I would change them at 80,000 miles.

Why are you changing your oil at 14,000 miles? The 15,000 mile oil is recommended for cars like Mercedes/BMW where their service interval and oil change service last much longer. Even then the dealers change them at 10k-13k miles. You can prolong the oil change with a larger capacity oil pan, synthetic oil, and a larger oil filter. Even with all highway driving the small 4.x quart oil pan will get very very dirty. But thats your choice.

[FinalGear]

Just get a Corolla, why because you can park in a fleet of Honda and not be worry that some one will jack it...