2001 corolla preformance, gas mileage, and more

[Crowbar911]

Hello, I bought a 2001 toyota corolla around 2 years ago. I currently have 42676 miles on it. I do an oil change every 3000 miles. If I know that I can't do it before I hit 3000, i will do it earlier. I have never been late. I use 5W-30 as recomended. I just did my spark plugs at 30,000. My transmission is a 3 speed with automatic(also know as 4 speed?) I just did the fluid change at 40,000. 10,000 miles late. My fluids are always checked/topped off when I do my oil change. My front window was broken on the turnpike and I got a new one installed. I have put some mods on the car The list follows and my reasons why:

Oil filter - I use a K&N preformance filter only because it has a bolt that I can use to get it off. I got one stuck once and had to put a screw driver though it to get it off.

Strut bar - I used it to reduce my body roll. It reduced my body roll alot.

K&N Air Filter - This greatly increased my throttle response. It also helped increase my gas mileage a little bit.

Horn - I got a new horn, people no longer wave at me when I honk at them when I tell them they messed up.

Sound - I got a new Headunit, 4 new speakers, and an amp. My sound is pretty good

Hubcaps- I learned to park with this car - enough said. lol I have new ones.

Exhaust tip - $4 at walmart. Looks damn good.

I wash and wax my car almost every weekend, or as best as time permits.

I use middle grade gas as much as I can.

I get around 37 MPG city and 43MPG Highway.

My wuestions is, how am I doing with car ownership? it there anything I could improve on?
What can I do to get better gas mileage out of the car?
What else can I do to increase preformance?
Any other Ideas on what I can do in a general car maintenance?

[Crowbar911]

bump

[Bitter]

sounds like you're doing really well. perhaps use sythetic oil, purge and replace the old brake fluid from the braking system, inspect the pads and shoes, check the tire pressures each month.

[Amber]

Originally Posted by Crowbar911

Hello, I bought a 2001 toyota corolla around 2 years ago. I currently have 42676 miles on it. I do an oil change every 3000 miles. If I know that I can't do it before I hit 3000, i will do it earlier. I have never been late. I use 5W-30 as recomended. I just did my spark plugs at 30,000. My transmission is a 3 speed with automatic(also know as 4 speed?) I just did the fluid change at 40,000. 10,000 miles late. My fluids are always checked/topped off when I do my oil change. My front window was broken on the turnpike and I got a new one installed. I have put some mods on the car The list follows and my reasons why:

Oil filter - I use a K&N preformance filter only because it has a bolt that I can use to get it off. I got one stuck once and had to put a screw driver though it to get it off.

Strut bar - I used it to reduce my body roll. It reduced my body roll alot.

K&N Air Filter - This greatly increased my throttle response. It also helped increase my gas mileage a little bit.

Horn - I got a new horn, people no longer wave at me when I honk at them when I tell them they messed up.

Sound - I got a new Headunit, 4 new speakers, and an amp. My sound is pretty good

Hubcaps- I learned to park with this car - enough said. lol I have new ones.

Exhaust tip - $4 at walmart. Looks damn good.

I wash and wax my car almost every weekend, or as best as time permits.

I use middle grade gas as much as I can.

I get around 37 MPG city and 43MPG Highway.

My wuestions is, how am I doing with car ownership? it there anything I could improve on?
What can I do to get better gas mileage out of the car?
What else can I do to increase preformance?
Any other Ideas on what I can do in a general car maintenance?

Crowbar - Sounds to me like you are one the smartest dumbasses on these forums. It sounds like you are maintaining your car well, and keeping it looking good at minimal cast.

37 / 43 is outstanding, I really don't think there's much more mpg to be had. At least not for a reasonable amount of money. With those numbers, you are way ahead of most of the other cars on the road. Enjoy that fact and learn to live with those numbers, they probably will never go up.

As for an increase in performance, I have a good suggestion. Due to your informative post above, maybe you will listen. 1) Continue down the path of ownership you are on. Your vehicle expense is about as low as it may ever be for the rest of your life. 2) Due to your low vehicle expense, put your money in the bank (instead of 1 or 2 hp bolt-ons) and spend what you save on a real performance car.

Trust me, when you get a real performance car, you will be glad that you didn't waste money trying to make a Corolla "fast."

- Amber (saving my money to spend on body work for my '93 RX7)

[retiredat44]

Our 1989 Toytoa Corolla Sr5 Carb model, only gets 20 mpg avg. 310,000 miles on the car now. That is mostly street driving.

I think it's horrible mileage, but that is when it is running it's best. I think it was getting about 26 mpg average when it was new. Then the gas mileage really dropped after it got over 200,000 miles on it.

[case310350]

your really getting that kind of MPG?

[Crowbar911]

Yes. I seem to get a little less since the really cold weather ha kicked in. thats probably in fact that I put 40 lbs of cat liter in the trunk incase of snow. Is there anything that I can do To increase the mileage? I would love to be able to get 40MPG in the city. I baby my rolla alot, so thats why I get the mileage.