27th Jul 2004, 11:06
I live in the UK. Having bought a two year old Corolla vvti 1.4 GS last May (2004) a major problem has just emerged. The car had done 11,000 miles when I got it. 11 months and 6,000 miles later it's pinking like crazy going up hills. Use Shell premium fuel the dealer suggests. Helps a bit. Turns out that it is a problem with the onboard computer which has no adjuster for the fuel mix. Only answer is to fit a new unit, at cost of around £500 plus labor. The new unit will have an adjuster, because of course lots of other people have had the same problem, so Toyota had to modify it. Just 6 weeks out of warranty too. Outrageous for a car that's done only 18,000 miles.
17th Feb 2005, 04:25
Power windows motors do blow on new or old cars. This is usually caused by the window getting stuck as it goes up. It's usually quite obvious, instead of a clean up and down motion it usually stutters. I say this because this is a warning sign that the motor driving the window is struggling.
On my Suzuki swift it actually pops out (common problem). If you see this problem immediately get it looked at. It is easy to fix, adding some graphite powder to the windows tracks should put things right (you can use silicon sprays, but that can damage paintwork and is messy). Failure to see the warning sign results in a shorted motor as they aren't designed to have strong resistance applied.
This potential for this problem exists in any car with power windows, only some are more susceptible to it. Extremes of temperature do make the problem worse.
1st Jul 2008, 02:31
Toyota is the best. I drive a pre runner Tacoma with total chaos long travel, and I beat it up, but she holds up really well.
I have a 2000 Corolla too; it gets 38 mpg on the highway and runs like a champ. It's the CE model and everything works great still, and it's a good car.
20th Apr 2004, 12:52
Just read your review because I am having issues with my 2001 Corolla. Bought it because I heard how reliable Corolla's were. (My '93 Paseo only lasted me 7 years, I was disappointed when it stranded me 3 times in 6 months after that with high repair bills, and later heard that the Paseo's did not meet usual Toyota standards, hence the reason for their being discontinued.) So I bought this Corolla and am having the same issues with the power windows. Fuse has blown 3 times in less than a year, something is overloaded. Concerns me that I will have additional problems with other power equipment in a few thousand more miles (at 35,000) right now. Also the vents plastic pieces broke a few months after I bought the car. I have heard wonderful things about them and hope this is an isolated issue with this car, but am having doubts whether my next car will be a Toyota.