Faults:

Apart from one warranty replacement on the front shocks, there's not much to be changed.

There's some rattling noise on the steering cover and when on uneven roads, it has the tendency to squeaking sound on the dashboard.

General Comments:

This car is somehow like style over substance.

The front suspension is so busy and noisy over the slightest uneven roads.

Every time when you go over a small bump or pothole, the front suspension kind of "crashes" badly!!! Why is it so??? There is no finese, sophistication and suppleness at all!!!

I certainly expect Toyota Altis can do far better than this!!! After all, we pay more than RM100K, right?!

Any owners out there can shed some light on this please??? I really appreciate it... THANK YOU!

Faults:

So far minor squeaks with the glove box.

General Comments:

In Malaysia, we called it Corolla Altis. It comes with three versions, 1.6E (M), 1.6E (A) and 1.8G (A). M means 5-speeds Manual Transmissions and A means Automatic Transmissions.

Mine is a 2005 Cosmo Red Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8G (A). To tell the truth, it's a whole different world with my previous 2002 Proton Waja 1.6 (M). The Altis easily outperformed the Waja at all angle such as fuel consumptions, ride and handling, comfort, fast accelerations, etc.

Prior to buying the Altis, I did test drive the Honda Civic, Ford Focus and Nissan Sentra.. no doubt the Civic and Focus looked cool and retrospective... Sentra is just not good enough for me... I settled on Altis as I felt good behind the wheels, powerful acceleration is always on tap, the sweet engine noise just took my breath away, the look... it ain't that bad either.

Toyota Corolla Altis or Corolla CE or Corolla XRS... after all they're all the same except my tail lights are LED type and the radio antenna is printed on the rear window screen... it looks more stylish with that.

I seriously give BIG THUMBS on this car!

Faults:

The car has not let me down, but it is one of the most uncomfortable cars I have driven.

The accelerator pedal position is so awkward that my foot is always at an an acute angle, which has given me a constant sprain in the ankle.

I am comparing the pedal position with my previous car, Honda Civic, which was a dream to drive.

The Civic's seat position vis-a-vis the steering and the foot pedals was perfect, which cannot be said for Toyota. If I push back the seat to make my legs comfortable I end up having to stretch to reach the steering.

While coasting downhill at 70 kmph, a touch on the brake pedal suddenly drops the revs by 1,000 units, the car jerks to a lower gear and takes an interminably long time to move back up into higher gear before the ride smoothens.

General Comments:

Altis also falls short in the fuel consumption department when compared to Civic, both in city and highway driving. I used to get about 14 kilometers to a liter on highways on the Civic, but only 11 or maximum 12 with Altis. City consumption is far higher -- 10 kmpl on Civic and barely 9 kmpl in city.

The interior is extremely noisy, allowing street sounds to filter in. At above 100 kmph, the tyres (Goodyear) make an awful racket.

The MP3 sound system is excellent though.

Finally, the 1.8 liter engine is nowhere near the power of Civic's 1.7 VTEC engine.