Toyota Corolla T Sport?

Tipsy Mac

Anyone driven a Corolla T Sport before, any opinions on them? Have been looking at importing one from UK and they seem fairly cheap for the spec and power.

Henry Ford III

You can do much better. They are cheap for a reason.

bazz26

Tipsy Mac wrote:

Anyone driven a Corolla T Sport before, any opinions on them? Have been looking at importing one from UK and they seem fairly cheap for the spec and power.

They have the same 1.8 VVTi-L 190bhp engine found in the Celica T Sport. The only thing is that they don't look much different on the outside from the 1.4. But this could keep the knackers away from it.

Not as bad as some people would have you believe though. The 190bhp engine is very fast but is a bit of a disappointment since the chassis and handling are not able to match it.

Have a look at the Skoda Octavia MkI vRS also. It has the same 1.8 litre turbo 180bhp engine from the Audi TT and they are cheap to buy in the UK also plus they are very practical.

Smiegel

i would have no reservations in recommening a corolla tsport. There was a new model released in 2004 with a bit more bhp and a slightly more agressive look that differentiates it from the standard corolla. The car is lively, with a six speed gearbox and reaches a top speed of 140 mph. The car is completly at home at 120 mph and it hardly feels like 70mph. It is the same engine as the celica tsport. You do have to rev the car hard to get at the power. Its quite good on fuel and is probably one of the most powerful cars you can get at the price.

smash

Well I had a Celica T-Sport and it was great.

bazz26

There was a limited edition of the Corolla T Sport out in the UK since about January this year I think. It is a run out of the current model, it has a supercharged version of the 1.8 VVTi-Lift engine but now produces 225bhp. They tweaked the suspension, steering and upgraded the brakes over the standard Corolla T Sport afaik.

225bhp might be a bit much though for a front wheel drive car, it most probably suffers from torque steer similar to the Astra OPC.

Smiegel

steve06, you seem to be referring to celica tsports in your reply where as the initial poster queried corolla tsports.
There are indeed 1.4 litre corollas and a 1.6 version that is not sold in ireland

bazz26

Smiegel wrote:

steve06, you seem to be referring to celica tsports in your reply where as the initial poster queried corolla tsports.
There are indeed 1.4 litre corollas and a 1.6 version that is not sold in ireland

There was a 1.6 litre Corolla sold here up to about 2004. It was only available with an auto box afaik and is as rare as hen's teeth. This was replaced by the 1.4 litre with the MMT box.

The only other 1.6 litre Corolla is the Verso MPV.

sneakyST

bazz26 wrote:

225bhp might be a bit much though for a front wheel drive car,

The OPC has 240bhp, ST-225bhp, Cupra R outgoing 225bhp, Mazda MPS 256Bhp, New Gti rumoured to have 240bhp (limited ed.)

I think the obsticle is how the power is delivered not the fact that the car is FWD.
There is a Ford approved upgrade kit for the ST which will bring the car to 300bhp. The ECU is remapped to limit torque is first and second gears to limit torque steer, and it does just that.

Sorry for off topic..

Smiegel

the one thing I have remarked about the tsport corolla is how hard you have to be on the accelerator to get at the power , I am just wondering if something like a Golf GTI would drive the same or would it be more responsive at lower revs?
overtaking at 60-70 mph and the tsport becomes a bit of a noisy drive, I'm just hoping that the overtakee doesnt hear it.

smash

oops, sorry about that.... misread the title.. I'll edit now

colm_mcm

we had one two years ago, it's quite a noisy car, the engine is quite boomy and you sound like a boy racwer even when you're driving slow. The interior is quite similar to the standard Corolla except for red dialls and climate control, there is no loud bodykit, or anything obvious on the outside to suggest that it's a hot hatch.
You really have to rev it really hard to get the best out of it, some guys enjoy this, but I'd prefer a Golf 150TDI for real world driving, the T-Sport is quite tiresome after a while.