Faults:

- Fuel cap

- Gutter/drip rail

- Clear coat

- Radio

- A/C drainage

- Climate control switch

- It's ugly

Numerous other parts have failed, but those are due to normal wear & tear and a lack maintenance so I won't list those here.

General Comments:

I wouldn't recommend this car to anybody. It has lots of body roll, very sensitive to winds, dangerous handling and steering, cramped and uncomfortable interior, very loud cabin and barely heats up in the winter. Water gets in to many areas of the interior. The windows rattle if it's not all the way up.

Am I driving a Saturn or a Toyota seriously?

Made in Japan means nothing when it comes to Toyota.

The gauges in the center is ridiculous. Many other ergonomic issues around.

The plus side is the engine. Its 1NZ-FE engine is very reliable. Virtually maintenance free, requiring only oil changes. The only issue I encountered was rough idle which was fixed after changing the PCV valve.

The transmission and clutch are awful though. I would still avoid the auto transmission. If the manual is this bad I can only imagine the automatic.

Performance is decent. 0-100 is about 10 seconds. The car climbs up to 160km/h with ease. Lots of torque, it can tow.

One might argue that all of that is to be expected from an economy car, but let me remind you that this car had a similar price to the Chevrolet Cruze at launch.

One thing is for sure, my next car will be domestic.

Faults:

Nothing. Maintenance only.

General Comments:

I bought this car at least partially with the Toyota nameplate behind it. This was the sedan version of the car, as it also came in a hatchback version. It was super reliable for the time I had it. I used it daily, putting on around 20000 km/year. Also took it on one long distance trip (about 2000 km). No problems.

Fuel economy was hybrid-like. Regularly got better than 7 L/100 km in mostly city driving. Highway driving, I got in the 5's (L/100 km). Power was by no means great, but the manual transmission added to the fun factor, and made it seem more powerful.

Only took this car in for its scheduled maintenance, so I had zero other problems with it. Because I anticipate traffic when I drive, and generally don't slam on the brakes, I still had over 80% brake tread left even after 80000 km.

This was an entry level car, so the interior was pretty Spartan, though generally durable. I put aftermarket seat covers on the two front seats to keep them in mint condition. I noticed the inside door panels would lightly scuff, but it was nothing excessive. The drivetrain was surprisingly very refined for a car of this level. You could see Toyota put all their money here. The 1.5L engine has been in other Toyotas before it like the Echo and Tercel, so I knew it would be a sturdy beast. The doors closed with a reassuring "thud". The car felt very well put together.

It was rather unfortunate, that I was rear-ended rather harshly and that severely crumpled the rear end. Modern cars tend to crumple. It looks awful, but it absorbs a lot of energy, and actually makes it safer for the occupants. The car was deemed a write off. It was too bad, as it felt like it could go to 300 000 km!