Hi all,
Just been out for a test drive in a 2004 Corolla 1.8 T-sport. Absolutely loved it until we done a bit of motorway driving. The gearing seemed too low, and whilst it was hardly noisy, at 70 mph it was doing about 3900 revs. My old Megane does this at 3400 (although it is actually noisier).
Anyone had any experience of one of these? Really liked the car apart from this. Maybe the 1.6 is higher geared than this 1.8 and is worth a look? Had the same 1.8 in my wifes Rav 4 and that certainly didn't rev like this.
Any thoughts/suggestions?
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ooh is that the rare supercharged version, wolf in a lambs coat, i always fancied one of those badged as 1.4 and a flat cap worn at all times when driving to complete the camo, give those boy racers a mind boggle as you vanish.
Revs don't sound right, what did the rev counter read at tickover?
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>>what did the rev counter read at tickover?
Probably Unsafe At Any Speed by Ralph Nader.
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Brother had a 1.4 diesel.
Vague steering, nothing drive, but nicely made, and it bowled along better than the engine size would suggest.
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>> ooh is that the rare supercharged version, wolf in a lambs coat
That was the 189bhp direct competitor to the Honda Civic VTEC Type-R. It would be very high-revving all round, so 3900rpm at 70mph would be about right. It should rev to more than twice that figure though, that's its party trick :)
The same engine was used in the Toyota Celica and in various states of tune in the Lotus Elise.
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It would be very high-revving all round, so 3900rpm at 70mph would be about right. It should rev
>> to more than twice that figure though, that's its party trick :)
Never knew that Dave, i simply assumed that one of the reasons for supercharging would be for minimal compression lag, so further assumed the engine would be normal revving, wrongly assumed on all fronts then...again.
Can never understand why they don't sort the gearing on these cars to give them an overdrive style top gear, with such power available in such a light car cruising at 100 at 2500rpm would be the icing on the cake for me, i wonder what the reasoning is.
My lad had a much higher 5th gear fitted to his Scooby last gearbox rebuild but one..;)...made the car a lovely smooth motorway cruiser, when he ripped 3rd apart (again) finding the replacement parts to rebuild as the previous time proved too difficult so it's returned to normal revving it's guts out state, seems to thrive on it mind but the noise is horrendous...i've been overtaken by him on full bore and it's numbing.
Pete, is the car in question the supercharged version?
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>>Pete, is the car in question the supercharged version?
No GB, it was 'just' the 190BHP version. To be honest I didn't really know what I was testing - I had gone to look at something else and saw this in the garage at a good price so thought 'well why not give it a try..'.
I now do a fair bit of 'A' road driving everyday across county, so 60/70 mph is my average speed - and I'm not sure I could put up with the revs. I think as well it seemed worse because the rest of the car was very refined and quiet - certainly better than I remember the 2007 Focus I had before.
Really did like the rest of car in terms of build, finish, ride etc. Shame that it seems all versions were too low geared.
The search continues...
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>> No GB, it was 'just' the 190BHP version. To be honest I didn't really know
>> what I was testing - I had gone to look at something else and saw
>> this in the garage at a good price so thought 'well why not give it
>> a try..'.
I must be looking in the wrong place Pete.
According to HJ the 1.8T sport is indeed the Compressor version which pushes out 218hp and has top end of 143mph and a 0-62mph of some 6.9 seconds, i'd have though the acceleration would have been superb but if it's anything like my lads Scooby then it really comes into it's own after about 4k revs, so maybe you didn't drive it hard enough to find the magic g spot..;)
Did they make a non supercharged version of the 1.8T which i can't find and which you tested, was it indeed running right?
Maybe worth a call to the garage to double check if indeed it is one of these rare beasties, though maybe a call to your insurance company first.
EDIT...ah see where i went wrong, the one you tested is not supercharged and was replaced by the supercharged version in 05...apologies.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Tue 29 Nov 11 at 13:46
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Missed the edit...Pete the revs still baffle me, the T Sport model sans supercharger is still a 140 mph car with a 6 speed box, surely it's not doing 7800rpm at 140?
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Tue 29 Nov 11 at 13:55
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>> Missed the edit...Pete the revs still baffle me, the T Sport model sans supercharger is
>> still a 140 mph car with a 6 speed box, surely it's not doing 7800rpm
>> at 140?
Quote from an owner's review on HJ:
"Yes, to achieve it's potential, it requires hard work and dedication and concentration, and is probably not that easy if you with your girlfriend!! If you drop out of the lift zone, 6,000-8,200rpm, then you will not outpace any of the cars i have mentioned"
www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/toyota/celica-2000/?section=owners-reviews
EDIT: sorry that's for the same engine in the Celica
Last edited by: Focus on Tue 29 Nov 11 at 14:49
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If you drop out of the lift zone, 6,000-8,200rpm,
Blinking 'eck, i don't like seeing my petrol car's rev counter over 4k, the unblown version wouldn't do for me either then...thanks for an interesting thread though, nice to talk about less common mainstream makers models.
I'd like to try a supercharged Corolla version though, wonder if that's got enough mid range pull, you'd certainly hope so with nearly 220hp and a light body, nearly identical power to weight as my MB oddly enough and that's effortless, would be an intersting comparison.
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I had a 2005 1.6 petrol, 5 speed, nearly new for about 6 months (replaced by a diesel Saab 93) and at 70 MPH it sat at about 3400-3500 RPM and was buzzy. It was fine for short bursts on the motorway and very decent all round otherwise, but I was doing up to 350 miles a day on the motorway so it went.
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Toyota Corolla Altis - Any real world experience? - -
