[JeromeyS]

Hello, I wife and I are looking at buying our first Toyota. We have been a Honda family until we test drove a 05 Corolla Sport yesterday. We are upgrading to a sedan from a coupe as we have recently had an addition to our family and she is tired of crawling through the back seat.
Can I get your opinions on this car, both good and bad on what to expect, any problems that have occured, longevity, fuel mileage, etc. It currently has only 30,000 km (18,000 miles). The basic warranty expires in 1 month. We did notice a high pitched whistle while listening to the FM stereo. Thank you for you advise.

 

[mikered30]

Hello, I wife and I are looking at buying our first Toyota. We have been a Honda family until we test drove a 05 Corolla Sport yesterday. We are upgrading to a sedan from a coupe as we have recently had an addition to our family and she is tired of crawling through the back seat.
Can I get your opinions on this car, both good and bad on what to expect, any problems that have occured, longevity, fuel mileage, etc. It currently has only 30,000 km (18,000 miles). The basic warranty expires in 1 month. We did notice a high pitched whistle while listening to the FM stereo. Thank you for you advise.

I can give you my opinion. It seems the radio is too far from the driver, so you will have to reach for it, but since I am tall I have to have the seat all the way back. Gas mileage is very good, I get 37 on the highway, and I drive pretty fast. I get 29 at worst in the city. The serpentine belt squeaks sometimes on start up, especially when wet. Low end acceleration is not great, you do not really get power untill above 4K RPM (max torque). Reliability is great, make sure you ask about the TSBs when you go back to the dealer, I do not think there were any major recalls. The 05+ has a drive by wire acceleration (electronic), I am not sure what your honda had, but acceleration might feel a bit different, but the ECU will adapt to your driving.

 

[botticelliman]

If you are looking for a family car, I would suggest getting a Camry. It is a better ride, and is more spacious. It is also quieter. If I were u, I would go to a dealer and test the Corolla and the Camry out and see the difference. I guess it's all up to personal taste. I have the Corolla cause I'm a college student, so it's great on gas and I still can fit 4 of my friends in if need be. Just think about the long run (if u keep ur cars for a while), what would be more practical.

 

[Slaander]

really if you are looking for a family car corolla is not bad idea, but same as JeromeyS said is all depends what type of car you really need, if you planning to have up to 4 family members, corolla will be good enough but if you going to have maybe 5th member. corolla will be very tight, anyway is also in your buget and how long you gonna keep the car, if you going to keep the car for 2-3 years then I can say spend a little for a new car and when you have more family members, and sell the car and get a minivan, because toyota have high resell value so you can easy to use the cash of the car and buy a minivan.

myself just bought a Corolla S in Jan, car is great on gas, since I drive the car mostly to work and go out with my GF.

PS. always look for future value of the car in lease or purchase. like now is 2008 always look back 5 years(2003) or 3 years(2005) and see how those car selling.

 

[prescill]

I have a 04 sport and love the car, great on fuel(~44mpg) for me. this is a second vehicle for us, we also have toyota highlander also. These were the first toyota's we had and its nice not having to put repairs into a vehicle evey 5 to 10 thausand km, .. The corolla replaced our 99 pontiac grand-am(what a piece of junk that was, invested 15000.00 into repairs in the last three years.. head gasket every 20 to 30 thosand plus other repairs all the time... It will be toyota or honda for now on.. anyways corolla is a good investment plus we have a 2 year old and 7 and no problems getting to the car seats. No repairs at all on both, but I still like the highlander , and if its in your budget the highlander is the best joice. Lots of room, 4 wheel drive, towing availabity, smooth drive(camry platform) good fuel mileage, (~27mpg), resale value, more safety features, vsc program, saved me from the lossing control

 

[PhantomS]

Our '05 S has been an outstanding car.....very tight and quiet, power is about adequate, gas mileage is quite good for an automatic (we average 33-34 mpg all around city/hwy combined). My only words of advice are to be forewarned that the tensioner pulleys seem to be a weak link (ours is "noisy" at certain rpm when cold, but not "bad" enough to replace yet), and our factory tires suck out loud - Hmmmm, Goodyear Integritys, or some such nonsense.....not quite sure of the name, but they are Goodyears and they are horrible in the rain, to say the least. All season tires that only work when it's warm and dry outside, and they still leave a lot to be desired, imho.
But the car itself is very well built and roomy enough for long road trips for us - family of four, including an 11 yr old and a 15 yr old. I'm expecting to keep this car a long time Of course, I'm expecting to keep my '92 Celica GT convertible for a long time too :smokin:

 

[JeromeyS]

We bought it today! My wife is very happy to say the least. She did not feel comfortable in a full size sedan like the Accord/Camry line so that is why we stayed with a mid-size, and we have a 03 Ram 1500 Quad Cab. We will have to get new tires for it as it only came with new Michelin X-Ice. Gonna transfer the warranty over next week then book it in to have the radio looked after. Thanks for all the input, hopefully it will run great for many more years.

 

[mikered30]

X ice are great winter tires, rated highly in most tests, I would save them.

 

[botticelliman]

^^yea, just get a set of summer tires and use the xice for the winter. Snow tires are worth it, and since u already have them, why not keep them.

 

[Slaander]

if you looking for some over all balance all season tire and in good price, try kumho 795 A/S Touring. those is nice tires and cheap.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Touring+A/S+795

or you can get Yokohama Avid TRZ

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=AVID+TRZ

Yokohama and Kumho is about same price. so pick either one is good, or if you want to spend little more money you can get Goodyear Assurance TripleTred, but this set tires will be a forture.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Assurance+TripleTred

all 3 set of tires have very good rating at Tirerack. Myself using Kumho 795 A/S, very nice set of tires for the price. I paid $393CDN for set of 4, Tax in and installed.