General questions on 2010 LE

[GA Squid]

I gave into the gas price war and bought a Corolla after owning nothing but full size pickups for the past 15yrs. Im looking for suggestions on a few things I could see changing if worth the effort.

1. options for seats
2. sway bars or better rims/rubber to get rid of the floating feel?
3. what add-ons for performance are worth the $ and not just "cool"
4. can the armrest be removed?
5. am i just nutz or does the AC not cool like a GM brand?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[leonvx671]

Originally Posted by GA Squid

I gave into the gas price war and bought a Corolla after owning nothing but full size pickups for the past 15yrs. Im looking for suggestions on a few things I could see changing if worth the effort.

1. options for seats
2. sway bars or better rims/rubber to get rid of the floating feel?
3. what add-ons for performance are worth the $ and not just "cool"
4. can the armrest be removed?
5. am i just nutz or does the AC not cool like a GM brand?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Seats are gonna be custom so you might have to make your own custom bracket

Refer to the List of Aftermarket Parts for an ideal set up of Struts and Sways...mostly TRD and UR...as for rims, there's a rim thread as well

add ons that are worth it would be the Borla 11795 Axle back exhaust, an SRI either K&N or Takeda or maybe Weapon R, and lowering springs or coilovers...if you wanna save yourself some money go for TRD or Eibach Pro Kit Lowering springs

theres a DIY for a Scion Armrest on the corolla

as for the AC, i always have to shut it on and off cuz it gets cold...

[Tom 2000]

Toyota Matrix seats have a little more side support. They will probably bolt-on, but not certain (side airbag) and probably very pricey.

17 or 18" wheel/tires from Toyota Matrix will bolt on, but you probably want to look at the suspension.

[msncorolla422]

As far as bars goes. There are six of them and my friend has 5 of them and I have to say it is a world of difference and he has coilovers so combined the feel of the driving experience couldn't be more confident and fun

and I find myself turning up the thermostat b/c it's too cold On my silverado it was cold but never as cold as my Toyota's. Well especially now as the silverado's air conditioning doesn't work anymore its only a 2000(biggest fail of a truck ever, its such a lemon, don't get me started on how many problems we've had/have. doesn't run right now) << oh and it gets 14 mpg vs. our 4runner that gets 20mpg and has a lot more power and another reason why I too bought a corolla

Oh and I've driven other Chevy's and the a/c was like any other car since they were new rentals. they were fine

[GA Squid]

Thanks guys for the ideas. Does the KN intake truly make a difference, and without affecting MPG? This is only a commuter ride for me so I have no NOPI dreams but a little more hp is never a bad thing. I also have a 2000 Silverado with 230K on it and repairs have been nothing more than a H2O pump, Cat, brakes, and lots of tires. The AC will still give you a chill even in GA heat and still gets 18mpg like the day i bought it. If not for the $120/week gas bill I would still be taking it to work but now its a weekend toy. Hate that you had such bad 2000 you must have got a friday truck:-)

Thanks again for the pointers..

[msncorolla422]

yeah its a shame. we are the last one on the street with that gen silverado...actually any silverado. there were 4 of us(they all copied us ) Im trying to fix it so that we can get another car. But for right now it's saving me on insurance haha "old" car FTW!

we have replaced all the o2 censors, the cats, the muffler, the brakes the tailgate assemblies, the front shocks as the OE ones were busted, the coil pack, the dizzy, the rotor in the dizzy, the spark plugs x3, the spark plug wires, plenty of tires of course and it only has 115k miles. Broke down numerous times, went off road once and got stuck(it was just sand)<<corolla beat it so far on off roading (im sure it could do better). the brakes failed on my mom 3 times( went straight to the floor), the abs and all the warning lights come on the dash while driving(apparently a lot of chevy's that year has an electrical problem in one of the computers or something, etc.

cousins silverado's not as bad but bad enough to get rid of them. one of them their a/c was dripping on the dizzy, and also his horn didnt work for a few years. and it just a had a few other problems and was an 03' but it had a lot more miles.

oh and the intake will only really effect the mpg when you first get it only b/c you will like the sound of it and whatnot and then after you get used to it then your mpg is restored

[leonvx671]

As far as the intake goes, you'll definitely get some HP over it in the throttle response area...it may or may not be too noticeable...and MPG is never really sacrificed...but in best case scenario you do get maybe 1-2 MPG gain maybe more...