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- iangillam's review
Have a picture of Toyota Corolla T-Sport?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of john CASSIDY.
| Performance | 8.9/10  |
|---|---|
| Practicality | 8.9/10 |
| Reliability | 9.7/10 |
| Value for Money | 8.8/10 |
| Reviewer Rating | 9.1/10 |
| Overall Rating | 8.9/10  |
By iangillam
on 7th Jan 2005
| Year Manufactured | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Length of ownership | 1 Year |
| Performance | 9/10 |
| Practicality | 10/10 |
| Reliability | 10/10 |
| Value for money | 10/10 |
| Overall value | 9/10 |
 iangillam's recommendation | |
Good top end speed,
Nice kick when the valves lift at 6000 RPM.
Group 14 insurance - Bargain (Only costing me £394 a year - Not Bad!).
A little bit plain, then again, car thieves ignore it!
Not enough feedback from the steering.
A little too much body roll, a friend's Civic Type R ran rings around me on country roads.
The Toyota Corolla T-Sport is a lovely drive, starting with the cabin (2004 model) which is rammed with extras, including digital climate control, aluminium kick plates and pedals, electric everything and this really handy rear view mirror that merrily dips of its own accord when the usual idiot comes up behind you, lights-a-blaring.
Mercifully, lights-a-blaring fools behind generally are't a problem for too long, as when you stick your foot down, the VVTLi engine kicks you in the back, and leaves you well ahead of most cars on the road. Torque isn't too good at low revs, and you need to keep the counter above 4000 to make the most of the acceleration through the box. However when you hit 6000 and the valves lift, you fully understand what the L in VVTL means, it's as close to a turbocharger as any conventionally aspirated engine I've ever driven has felt. Motorways are an absolute dream; I cannot fully convey the joy felt at dropping nasty little BMW drivers!
Handling is, well.. Nice. People have ranted about this car's inablility to compete with the Type-R, and they're probably right. Then again, I'm a 31 year old bloke, not a boy racer getting kicks screwing my car round country lanes; and as such, do I NEED a Type-R for my purposes? The handling is crisp in all but the most extreme of cornering scenarios and the ESP and Traction control will coax the car around all corners (at least all the ones I've tried). So unless you're a nutter wanting to put your car through the road equivalent of an assault course, you'll be fine.
Value is good on the whole. Don't pay the £15.995 quoted though. Armed with some quotes off the internet, I marched into my local Toyota dealership and knocked them down to £14,250. This was rapidly knocked down further to £13,250 when I informed them I had the capital to pay immediately and they introduced a finance dodge where £1000 was knocked off the price of the car, by taking out finance and settling early. Without this deal, I would have probably only given 9 stars for value.
Finally, the boring stuff. Loads of luggage space, nice comfy seats and stuff. Starts every time; never broken down; Cheap tyres and servicing.
In summary.. It ain't sexy, It ain't a Type-R. But by gum it's fun!
| Helpful | Unhelpful | Agree | Disagree |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Total Respect: +6
adaitiyt on 13th Feb 2005
evilnads on 21st Jun 2005
jpants on 1st Aug 2005
Sky1000 on 7th Apr 2006
jpants on 8th May 2006