Xli Review

[asd123]

well,,thank all of u,for commenting on my xli,,,,as i promised here is a unbiased review of the vehicle based on the first 600 km of my drive on M2 and M3.

Brakes,,on of the most cotroversial thing about this car is its brake,,what i have felt is that brakes are ok,,they skid on hard braking even at low speeds,,,but i felt very little problem with them as of now,,,,,on motor way i did some braking at speeds of 140 km/hr,,but they worked fine,..

engine,,i think engine is very good,,one thing which i could not understyand is that it become very noisy at speed in excess of 100 km,,,why is it so????someone should tell me.

ride quality,,its very good,,on M2and M3,,at speed of 120 km,,it just flows like water,,no problem,,in city u feel like u are driving an expensive car,,so its good.

interior,,,,,its good,,with 4 speeker and MP3 player,,its OK.

Aerodynimics,,here is a big problem point,,the car is UNSTABLe aerodynamicaly,,,when u cross a truck or bus at speed of 130 on motorway,,it SHAKES like a doll,,i was astonished to feel it,,,,,,,,,,why is it so? how to deal with it ?,,by the way i had to switch over to third lane while crossing a bus or truck ,in order to avoid shaking due to wind...........................the car is with stock tyres .....

i a, waithin for ur comments and answer to my questions.
bye.

[spectra]

Although i hate my GLi, but
handling and braking can be improved by changing front dampers and putting in softer ones.
Check the thread named
Facts about Road Grip of Toyota Corolla
FLi_GTi has mentioned part number of dampers which will make things better for you.

[Ghuncha]

teh shaking of the car is not abnormal. it happens with every car.
i never noticed the excessive sound at 100km +.. at 100 km in top gear you are doing aprox 3k rpm. and you can check with the sound by revving higher than 3k in low gears.

[Alcapone]

Brakes; i totally agree with you. but trust me these are very dangerous in wet conditions. try maintaining atleast 2 to 3 cars distance

Engine noise; if u put the padding provided in Altas under the hood maybe the noise level would reduce. i havent tried it but possibilities are it'll work. plus put in some good floor mats and seat covers, they absorb the noise as well

aerodynamics; its a high mounted design and hence a lot of air resistance. cant help it at all.

[FXGenius]

Hello ASD and everyone!

I too am driving an XLI for about 3 months now and once I also drove it from Karachi to Hyderabad.

My Review of Corolla As Follows:

Braking:
Yes, it skids, and if you turn your steering wheel during braking to avoid an accident, it skids even more. It is may be due to the fact that all balanced cars do bow their head forward on hard braking, but this Corolla seems to be a rebellious horse and does not bow her head on order from the driver to stop/slowdown. Anyway, this must be considered as manufacturing fault ... Period...no less & no more.

To overcome this problem most of Corolla owners are now using wide tyres with alloy rims. I too deployed 195/65/15 and the problem of braking has been overcome to comfortable level.

Engine Sound:
Sorry, but I think it is a quite engine, even at 100KM/Hr, I did not find its engine to be barking at distracting level. At the same time, I am of the opinion that the quality of engine is not as good as its predecessor, that is, EE80, which was used by Toyota in Corolla from 1986 to 2002. My father bought 86 Corolla in 1986, it was Japanese and mostly I drove it during the course of its life. Then we bought 1993 Corolla and again I kept/drive the car untill few months back, I sold it. I think both cars had far superior engine, suspensions and braking than the current Corolla.

Suspension:
This is the worst part of new Corolla, I kept Baleno for few months before buying Corolla and it is my honest experience that even Baleno has far superior suspension and it does not let shocks felt by the riders, whereas Corolla does.

Suspension has disappointed me most, I think an expensive car, costing 1- 1.2 million Rs. must have a very comfortable ride.

Shape & Show:
This is the best part of new Corolla. I love its shape, basically its shape combined with its resale value and economical spares are the reasons due to which I bought one.

Aerodynimics:
Though Corolla has a decent aerodynamic shape but the problem is with its ground clearance. Due to road conditions of our cities Toyota had to keep ground clearance higher and I think Corolla has hight gournd clearance in its class. To over come the problem of its swaying on higher speeds on highways when overtaking heavy vehicles, you can use low profile tyres of 195+width and 14 size rims, which is the original size of Corolla's rims.

Mileage/Fuel Consumption:
Fuel consumption of Corolla XLI/GLI 1300CC is just fine, not too good not too bad.

Interior:
Once again, the interior of Corolla is far superior than most of other cars of its class. The shape and fitings of Dashboard are just beautiful. Seats are very cosy. The interior gets 10 out of 10 .... no more & no less.

By looking at the following pictures, you fall into a dilemma of deciding which company (Toyota & BMW) copied the other's interior design.

[enigma]

@ FXGenius

Kahan Raja Bojh kahan Gangu Tailee

Kahan BMW kahan Toyota

[Ghuncha]

@fx
yar i cant see any similarities between both the interiors

[deadalive123]

i preffer Lancer GLX 1300 in this Catrgory, becoz it gives all in this category of cars,
Toyota is also changing about 90,000 extra for just power window and some other stuff (gli), while lancer is for 999, a lil more expensive but a complete pleasure of ride.
what u guys say !

[bilal49er]

whats the similarity between the two interiors?
yes...both have a steering, a speedo, a tacho, a horn button, a windshield, 2 pillars blah blah bla

what crap..comparing shitty XLi with a mighty BMW!

[asd123]

@fxgenius

well the engine rev were about 5000rpm,,but i felt that sound was a bit high to my liking,,may be its a brand new engine and still within its running period that might be the reason behind high noise.,,,,,,,,but the most difficult thing is the overtaking on motorway at higher speed,,did someone else also felt the shaking?????

yes interior is good,,its rated as OK,in my book

while driving the car,,the driver positiion is so high thAT it feel like u are driving a JEEP......

i am not in favour of changing the tyres until absolutely necessary,,the noise ,,i think comes from engine ,not from tyres,,,,,,the noise is not extraordinary,,but a bit too high..

can anyone tell me about the best security system within 6000 rupees with best mechanic in islamabad/pindi????

i am going on M2...M3,,tomorrow,,i will revise the review on my return.

@bilal
i told everyone above,,its unbiased opinion,,,so if someone comapres it with bmw,,i think there should be no harm in it.......

[janleva]

mubarak ho
if u are coming to fsd go to city car decoration on jail road.near eid gah.
those guys have some cooool variety at reason able prices.
about the n0ise of your ride check the gear sometimes a person accodently shifts to 3rd gear instead of the 5th.

never observed shaking while overtalking.even at 140.in my car.

[asd123]

@janleva

which car u own ?? and which tyres??,,,,i cant believe that shaking is not felt while overtaking at higher peeds,,but like i said earlier ,,i am again going on M2 and M3,tomorrow,,and i will post my experirnce on return to pindi from lahore................................where are others ,,do comment on my experince described above.

[Jinn]

@FXGenius
You put 195/65/15 tires on your car. The original size was 185/65/14, and a compatible size would've been 195/55/15. What you did was further increase the height of the car, thus making it more unstable. It also messes with your speedo.

I dont blame you. I went to change tires for my corolla and every tire guy insisted to put 195/65/15. They said "sir jee sab loug yehi size lagatai hain kionkai iss sai tire aur gari kai beech mein gap kam hoo jata hai". They looked astonished when i asked for 195/55/15.
If 195/55/15 aint available, go for 195/60/15 (thats what the indian corolla has), but not more.

Bowing your head forward while braking, is not a good thing. Its more common on old cars, as you had mentioned

The seats are also not at all cosy. The driving position is very high. You get tired when driving for long. The rear seats however feel better, I dont know why.

And btw I also dont see any similarities between those 2 interiors.

I didnt mean to be offensive, but I just dont like the car. I have one because I needed a diesel car and considering all aspects its the best available in the Pakistani market.

@asd123
When overtaking a big car/bus you do feel the air pressure specially in a corolla or a smaller car. Test it on another similar sized car to check if there is a problem or not.

[asd123]

@jinn

yes,,the driver position is too high,,it feels like i am driving a jeep ,,,i cant comment on comfort lvel as of now,,,,but i think if seat had been a bit lower then comfort level must have been increrased.

[usman_20]

i agree wth asad123......if ur goin at around 120kms.....the engine is a bit noisy.......maybe cuz of the weight of the car.....1.3 needs to put in extra bit...i guess...its a big car......otherwise the engine is a jem.....best in 1.3 category.............the versions wth MP3 player have 6 speakers not 4.........i personally like the driving position ! but the front seats r not good at all......seems like u filled up a cussion wth cotton ......not real good support of the back.......the driver & passenger seat headrest is not positioned well......neck support is not good......can feel it specially after long drives.......

[bilal49er]

dear asad..no offence..i mean none at all..its totally my personal opinion (which may not matter to anyone else) i just dont like an XLi....

[janleva]

brother
i have a honda civic vti97,05 exi
honda civic is a a low profile designed for better road grip even at high speeds.no feel of even a slight shake.
i have dunlop on my 97.on original rims. for people who travel on the motorway frequently civic is best..
yet to check the exi on the m2,m3

[Newton]

yar saray loog aisay baat kartay ho jaisay pata nahi only ur car is the best, bhai saree gariyaan achee hein your guys are getting into very minor things, if you want speed then buy a ferrari why corola city or liana if u want comfort then buy a mercedese why these cars I mean come on people start saying Allah ka shukar instead of picking out mistakes nothin and no one is perfect in this world. I tell you one thing even phantom wont be perfect trust me (i have not seen it for real) nothin is this world is perfect.

[Jinn]

@Newton
everybody wants comfort and speed but not everybody has the money to buy a ferrari or a mercedes.
And i'm criticizing the car here only so that others buying a car can make an informed decision.

@janleva
every good sedan is designed for good grip at high speeds.
But I do agree that every civic after 93 feels more stable at high speeds than this new corolla. Although apart from the new civic the corolla's front end grip is better compared to old civics. The rear end however is touchy and the steering gives no feel, and that i think are the main reasons people prefer a civic's handling over it.

[FXGenius]

AOA,

The observations and opinions that I mentioned in my post are based on my experience. Here I don't want to fall into any controversy, all the positives and negatives of Corolla XLI have been mentioned, without any prejudice.

Other people may have different opinions and observations. You are free to post yours based on experience, but never try to impose yours on to others.