Faults:

Catalytic converter went bad, cheap to repair

General Comments:

Reliable, gas saver.

Faults:

Transmission failure at 101K soon after moving to the valley from the mountains.

Exhaust leak at downpipe/manifold interface.

Piston slap, and valve noise when cold at about 100K for the piston, and about 50K for valves.

This isn't really a problem, but the suspension is washy, and feels like it has blown dampers at 50K. Makes for some... interesting mountain road experiences!

General Comments:

It handles like a road legal go kart. 75mph in the corners in the mountains!!! Never felt like it was TOO bad as far as handling.

SLOWish!!! In order to keep a steady 75-80 on the freeway, it's almost floored, and kicking down a gear a lot. Then as soon as you slow down for someone in front of you, the fun's over, start in gear 2 until you're at 6000 RPM, then pop it in drive. It accelerates out of the hole pretty well though. 0-maybe 35 is relatively quick.

Loud engine. Buzzy and harsh in hard driving conditions. My 00 Xterra is less harsh, and I'm running a top mount filter no AB, and 248-248 cams in the KA24DE. Kinda fools you into thinking that you're moving REALLY fast. This could be partially because of the exhaust leak. No... it is because of the exhaust leak. I tightened the bolts, bought new gaskets, new manifold, new downpipe, and it keeps COMING BACK!!!

The transmission when new was really smooth. Then it got really jerky, and then one day driving in town going like 35, the engine revved out to 4000 slowly, and the car slowed to a crawl. Made a nice smoke show, smelled like a science experiment, and the tranny was DEAD! Now that it's replaced, we beat the crap out of this car. Smart I know.

Interior is AWESOME!!! If you are normal sized. I'm 6'3". I have the seat pegged back, and resting on the floor pretty much. I like how the seats fold, I literally put a semi disassembled 91 RM125 in the back!!! Now if you're normal, my skis also fit very well, bags galore, and downhill mountain bikes. This car took me to Iowa and back many times.

This car got pretty good mileage too. Not quite 45 MPG at one point in Kansas on a flat country road going 55!!! It's fun to see what kind of mileage you get, so I got a computer. When we drove like a bat outta hell, we got about 15 MPG, which still, for how much we were beating this car, isn't THAT bad!!!

Now some odd things. Starts really good 9-10 times. 1-10, it takes about 20 minutes to start. I don't understand. I seafoamed it, new injectors, fuel pump is running great, new plugs, blah blah blah. And when it decides to start, it jumps to life VERY suddenly and revs to about 3K for a sec. The brakes are ABS, but lock up sometimes. Shifts really weird on slick surfaces like gravel/slush. Give it all you can in drive from a stop and it hesitates, burps, then accelerates. I'm intrigued.

Other than that, and the fact that it's as exciting to look at as a drying picket fence in a suburban neighborhood, it's pretty sweet.

Faults:

Cabin fan is on its way out now, at 145k, but that's an easy fix.

Other than that, zero problems.

General Comments:

The Corolla blends in, so you'll never stand out. But I like that. It looks nice without being excessive in any way. Bland, but not offensive. Some call it boring, but I rather like it.

The ride is surprisingly smooth for a compact; most of the compacts I've driven - including an 01 Corolla - had pretty stiff suspension. The newer Corolla rides a lot more like my 01 Camry than the 01 Corolla, honestly. The 06 handles the crappy roads out in the country well, though, and does just fine in the curves (though you'll never mistake it for a BMW).

It also gives plenty of warning before the tires let go, which is a big plus for me. My 01 Camry was like that, but my 01 Corolla had a nasty tendency to fishtail suddenly under emergency braking. Not the 06; nice and stable.

Reliability. This is why I drive Toyotas. Growing up, my family always had GM cars (almost exclusively Chevy); three Cavaliers, a Safari 6000 wagon, a Celebrity, a Lumina, a Nova, and a Malibu (not necessarily in that order). All have had numerous problems, from everything with a 3.1L V6 getting a leaky head gasket by 100k, the 1990 Cavalier's driver's side door falling off one time when I opened it, the 02 Cavalier's window motors dying (all four of them!) before 50k, the Lumina's transmission needing to be replaced by 125k, the Celebrity constantly dying while driving... When the time came to buy my own car, I decided I was through with that mess.

I bought the 01 Corolla with 78k; drove it 20k before it got totalled. The 01 Camry I got with 108k, sold it at 185k still driving like it did when I bought it and zero issues. This 06 I encouraged my mother to buy (the decision to buy new was hers, not mine, though), and we haven't been disappointed.

After 145k, two accidents, and a nasty hail storm, the car still runs like new. I still get 29mpg in the city, without trying for economy. Never had any unusual issues of any kind, just regular maintenance needed due to normal wear and tear. In spite of the accidents (which, granted, were fairly minor, though both damaged the front end) the alignment is still spot-on. The doors all still shut with that profoundly satisfying *thunk* of a new, well-made car. I'm actually putting in a cruise control, so it'll be more fun on road trips, and I'm fully expecting to keep this thing well over 200k.

A note about people saying they were told their cars couldn't be aligned: be suspicious. I took a family member's 09 Yaris they'd just bought to a local national chain shop (won't say who) for an alignment, because it was wandering a fair bit on the highway. They were told it couldn't be done, because the chassis had been bent. They claimed a little chip in the undercarriage was the only remaining sign of an accident bad enough to misalign the chassis, and we'd have to pay them $1200 for the part alone to fix it. I said, "Uh huh, sure," and left. Closer examination revealed three of the four tires on the car were different brands, and all four were at widely varying levels of wear. She got the tires replaced, bam, zero wandering even at 85mph.

Another time, my sister took her Civic in to get her brake pads replaced, and they wanted her to buy new calipers, pointing out how the pads on one side of the wheel were more worn than the others... they didn't tell her that was as it should be, seeing as her car was designed with calipers that pull from one side instead of both. They did, however, tell her it was a very common problem with the new Civics (sound familiar?). There are con men out there, and they may well tell you it's a common problem. That redirects your anger at the vehicle manufacturer, rather than the greedy jerk trying to pull your chain (and wallet).