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The Corolla is built in both Canada and the US, in addition to, of course, Japan.
Cars are made all over the place. American cars from Mexico, Japanese cars from Canada. It's hard to keep up with it all. With the U.S. dollar as high as it is, it's probably cheaper to make cars anywhere but here.
Last summer Hyundai sealed the deal with Alabama for an assembly plant.
Toyota is supposed to open up a new plant in the US also
In comparison, taxes are lessened, labor is cheap, land is cheap, building is cheap, and there are less complications to logistics for building in the US which just so happens at the current time (until China ramps up) to be the largest market for new cars and trucks.
Besides that ..love the car..
Regards,
How many of you, if you had to do it all over again, would still buy the Corolla?
I'm looking to get a 2003 or 2004 Corolla CE. The only options I want are automatic trans, cruise control, and anti-lock brakes. Any idea how much that'll cost?
Have you had any problems with your 03, being that it is a brand new design?
No complaints in 20 months of ownership!
Regards,
Same here (southeast US). The dealer uses only 10W30, like anybody else in the town. With the climat here, 10W30 is a better choice. I would use mineral 5w30 or beter synthetic 5W30 or 10w30 during winter in the north, though. However, you have to be aware that mineral (dino) 5W30 tend to rely heavily on viscosity modifieres. These shear with heavy service quickly leaving you with effectively 5W20 oil. Thus I would avoid it in the summer and adhere to frequent oil changes.
I know, manual recommends 5w30 yeararound. But you have to understand that some things are recommended not because there are good for car or consumer but they help the manufactures to comply with CAFE or EPA regulations.
Cheers,
Jacek
It says "use 5W-30" right on the oil filler cap!
I want the oil to flow better first thing in the morning, when this thing revs up to like 2000 rpm initially. So I want the 5-30 instead of the 10-30.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
-Vlanman
The Corrola is a 2003 CE with standard trans..
Looking at buying, possibly before Christmas.
Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
We appreciate the time you have taken to contact us.
According to the 2003 Owner's Manual, Section 8, we do recommend using 5W-30 oil, however 10W-30 is acceptable as long as the temperature remains above 0 degrees Fahrenheit. The dealership can use Valvoline as long as it is the same oil grade, ILSAC multigrade engine oil.
It further goes on to say I should contact the dealership with any questions.
-V
Then there's the whole issue of synthetics and partial synthetics?? Should I switch to that? If I do from what I read, I'm stuck there. Usually the last thing to go on my cars is the engine so I will probably skip the synthetics and go with sooner oil changes and save the money..
Regards,
-Vlanman
- wish i got power locks/windows, a/c
- sort of wish i have an automatic when i'm stuck in traffic
since i wanted to save money so i bought the base model so i can't really complain!
Well my decision is getting easier.
Thanks
But right now, I'd buy another 2003 Corrola in a second.
-V
"I'm not quite sure how using 10W30 would help car manufacturers comply with EPA regulations but I do know that 5W30 is suggested because of the more minute clearances in todays engines versus the cars of old when 10W30 was recommended."
This was in response to my post stating:
"But you have to understand that some things are recommended not because there are good for car or consumer but they help the manufactures to comply with CAFE or EPA regulations."
Let me elaborate for you.
CAFE standarts require manufacterers to limit global fuel consumption in the cars produced. The manufacterers often find some fuel savings in decreasing oil viscosity. For example, Ford went recently from 5W-30 to 5W-20 recommendation without ANY changes in some engines and mostly for the fleet fuel savings to satisfy CAFE. I wonder if this is in the best interest of the consumers. Some of this can hold true in the 5W-30 Toyota recommendation. Oil recommendations abroad are frequently diffrent from the ones preached in USA.
As for EPA, as everyone knows, EPA regulates car emmission standards. Oil was reformulated in 1996 (SH-->SJ) to effectively decrease the amount of some antiwear additives (Zn). Zink (like any other heavy metal) is toxic for palladium catalizers and low Zn oil was deemed important for the performance of catalizer conventers in the new low emmission cars.
The trade-off is that new oils (SJ and SL) are nor as good as SH in fighting engine wear.
As you can see in these examples, some things are recommended not because there are good for car or consumer but they help the manufactures to comply with CAFE or EPA regulations.
5W-30 sounds superior to 10W-30 because has better viscosity in cold. It is true. However, the way mineral oils are formulated, 5W-30 is a 5 weigt base oil with viscosity modyfiers making it behave like 30 oil at engine temp. 10W-30 is a 10 weigt base oils with viscosity modyfiers making it behave like 30 oil at engine temp. Obviously, 5 base oil needs more VI modyfiers. They tend to deteriorate with oil life (oil shearing). The net effect is, after 3k miles or so your 5W-30 behaves more like 5W-20 or so. You can measure this by oil analysis. This is the reason I would stay away from mineral 5W-30 in hot summer. Synthetic 5w-30 is a diffrent story though.
We have owned it for a whole 4 hours and 20km now!
... and I already have a question: the manual says 87 octane would do, but dealer suggested to use premium fuel. Any opinions on this? I have no problem with using only premium fuel as I want the best for my car. I'm just wondering if it's OK or advisable.
Thanks!
Use 87 - you will be wasting money to use premium in the corolla.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
my sienna van recommends premium in the manual so i use premium. i use 87 for my '03 corolla as stated in the manual.
The best gas for your Corolla is the cheapest one you can find. Enjoy driving your new car!
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
i noticed that my corolla is not as good on gas mileage right now and i'm assuming it's coz of the cold weather. takes longer to warm up the engine and so on.
rignt now, coz i warm up the car longer - i get roughly around 300kms. for half a tank. still not bad compared to my sienna which gets only 250-300kms. with 91 octane for half a tank.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)