Toyota Corolla

terceltom1

Consumer Reports tested the 2001 Corolla and reported that overall MPG. would be about 29 MPG.(city and highway combined). So if you and I are getting 25 MPG. right now doing almost all city driving get used to it because we are right on target with what they say. Anyway, forget about it and enjoy your great little car!!!!

britton2

well, I knew I should not have let my subscription to Consumer Reports run out - then why did the sticker say 30 MPG city? This does not seem like truth in advertising to me - in spite of this, I am enjoying my car very much - terceltom1 - does the needle on your gas gauge ever fluctuate about 1/8" in the span of about 15 seconds? Mine will move down and then gradually back up and has done this several times - I am debating on whether or not to take it to the dealer and ask them to check it out - even though they said it was normal -

terceltom1

Those federally mandated mpg. figures are unrealistic in my book. I never got the posted sticker gas mileage that they said I should. I feel they are kinda like the yellow stickers on the new appliances we buy about the energy cost in a years time. They are only to compare against another appliance or in the case of the stickers on the cars another car. Every person drives differently and every body pays a different price for their electricity, so they are only gauges. And by the way my driving is as normal as the next guy.
Yes, every new car I ever owned had a fluctuating gas gauge. If I would go up or down a hill they would fluctuate and if I would start or stop quickly they would fluctuate.
Good luck with your car and I hope you continue to like it as much as I like mine.
Tell me what options you got if any.

britton2

I got the extra value pkg #2, floor mats, cruise control, the all-weather guard pkg, with the 4-speed automatic - so if you were me and you saw the needle on the gas gauge move 1/8" downward in about 15 seconds (and then move back up) would you disregard it? This just does not seem right to me - and what is troublesome is that nobody else seems to have this happening with their gauge, I know I am obsessing a little but I can't help it - this is the first new car I've had since 1986 and I doubt my husband will agree to get me another new car for another 15 years!

denniswade

are not generated by the carmakers -- they're generated by the federal government. Blame them!

lovejava34

I bought Corolla last weekend. My gas gauge fluctuates too much! Go down about 1/4 or go up 1/4. It drives me crazy! Because it would make me feel worry what if the gauge line goes down to "empty" fast. I use to drive Ford Contour. It is a great car since the gas gauge does not fluctuate at all! I wonder whether Ford Contour uses "computer" stuff for gas gauage while Toyota uses other way such as mechanism stuff.

denniswade

"Ford Contouris a great car since the gas gauge does not fluctuate at all"???

You are easily pleased! (Why did you get rid of it, by the way?)

lovejava34

I do not trade Ford Contour. I keep it. This is for my wife.

denniswade

Well, don't worry -- it takes a long time to run out of gas in a Corolla.

Funny -- never had that problem with my last two Corollas -- wonder what the deal is...

britton2

well, I'm sorry your gas gauge is doing the same thing as mine - but in a way it makes me feel better to know that I'm not the only one with this problem (or is it a problem?) I guess I'll wait it out another couple of hundred miles and if it is still doing it - take it to the dealer - I don't want to wait unitl my first oil change and have them ask me "it's been doing this ever since you got it - why did you wait so long?"

britton2

OK everyone - the problem is not with my Corolla's MPG - it's the gas gauge...I went ahead and filled up today (even though I still was showing a little over 1/2 tank) the pump stopped after I put in 4.32 gallons, the car holds 13.2 gallons - since I've had the car, I have put 132 miles on it until that point - so that means I was getting 30 MPG afterall! (132 divided by 4.32) I believe the gas gauge is less than accurate - which is not as big of a deal to me as not getting the 30 MPG/city I was expecting - thanks to everyone for your input/advice and opinions! Whew, I feel alot better!

denniswade

a little brighter!

Enjoy your car...

terceltom1

Britton to be quite honest with you I never even thought twice about my gauge moving. I thought all cars did that because every car I ever owned did it. I can understand why it does it so I guess that is why I don't care. If you make waves in a bathtub or anywhere else there is a liquid there will always be a low and a high spot in the liquid. When you drive you are always creating low and high spots in the tank with starting and stopping so the float will always be moving.
As far as the MPG's., suppose the dealer topped off the tank like most people do and not just stopped filling when auto. stopped the pump? That means he could have gotten around another gallon in there more then you did. Now you used 5.32 Gal. and went 132 miles, now your gas mileage is 24.8 MPG. Just wondering !!!!
I check my MPG. every tank full the same way, except I don't use that automatic shut off technique, I always top it off then you know your always dealing with a correctly filled tank. All shut offs are different but if you top it off it is always the same fill. But always divide you miles by the actual gallons used like you did.
Dennis, your correct those stickers are generated by the government and that was my point exactly. You can use them for comparison from car to car because they are uniform standards and not created by each individual auto manufacturer.

britton2

good point - you may very well be correct in suggesting the dealer put in an extra gallon more than me - hmmmmmm, but I would rather think that I got those 30 MPG! What I did is I set my trip meter to zero before I drove away, so when my low fuel indicator light comes on I should be able to determine (perhaps not exactly) approximately my mileage - I can understand the needle moving up or down if rounding a curve or going up or down a hill - but mine did this just driving down a level road - don't know - I really do hope that my gauge is just a little off -

denniswade

Trust me.

Two reasons: #1, you're not supposed to, because the tank won't vent properly; #2, it costs the dealer more money, so why bother.

terceltom1

Your just suggesting he might not have topped the tank off and I am saying there stands the possibility that he might have. You may very well be correct, but isn't better to get a more accurate reading to do it twice yourself then to guess how the tank was filled the first time by someone else?
Britton, Instead of estimating again, why don't you just fill your tank up when the light comes on(if you want to wait that long)and calculate again filling the tank like you did the first time with the automatic shutoff technique.
Then I would suggest from that point on when you want to check your gas mileage I would fill it completely each time to get a more accurate reading.

britton2

when you say fill it completely, you mean top it off, right? I'll do that next time - but when the manual says your tank holds 13.2 gallons, they are not measuring that amount by topping off the tank, are they? I figured that when the pump cut off my tank was full (but not topped off) so I thought that it was holding 13.2 gallons (or close to it) and then I figured based on the miles I had put on it since picking it up what my mileage was - my Dad says I should not even been concerned with MPG until it's broken in anyway, thanks for your opinion though!

liufei

Or if you're really curious, you can get one of those precision meter, put it in the fuel line, it can gauge the correct mpg

Really though, 25mpg is fine for me. 30mpg will be great of course. I wonder if the EPA estimate is with the AC blazing as well ?
The Echo probably has the best mpg in all of Toyota's lineup, but at least in the highway my corolla mpg is aint that far behind it.

xyzipp2

Call me crazy, but isn't there an easier and more precise way then risking running out of gas by letting the light come on? There are two problems with letting the light come on. First, even though you know that the tank holds 13.2 gallons, you will not know exactly how much is left in the tank. Sure, the manual tells you how much..but this is on the same car that the gas gauge fluctuates. The same gauge that is fluctuating is likely what measures what is left. Personally, I have never pushed it to the point of activating the gas light. The second issue is if you happen to be caught miles from a gas station when the light comes on. May not apply to you, but I live in the heartland of nowheresville.

There is an easier solution. Fill up your tank. Remember what you did. For example, did you use the autoshutoff, or did you top it off. Reset the trip odometer to zero. Drive the car. When it gets to a point..say a quarter of a tank left go back to the gas station and fill up the car the same way that you did before. Then, look at the gas pump which will tell you exactly how many gallons you used in the period of driving and write it down, say it reads that you put in 7.8943 gallons. Then, look at your trip odometer and record the amount of mileage that you drove, say 304. Now you have the exact amount of gas that you used to drive a certain amount of miles. Divide the two. 304m/7.894g = 38.51 mpg
There is your exact gas mileage. If you are really fanatical (as I am)..you will record this in a book (all three numbers) and at any time you can obtain your overall gas mileage over a long run. By the way, that is straight out of my book. I think that this is what tercel was saying..but wasn't positive..if so..sorry for the redundancy.

liufei

Thats exactly what I did. With the addition of the date and the gas price as well!!! ^__^
Good to hear that someone else is doing this. At least now I can say I'm not the only doing it when the guys tapping impatiently for the car to start rolling. :P

denniswade

DO NOT TOP OFF YOUR TANK!!!!

Read your owner's manual -- they'll tell you the szme thing. The gas tank vent will not work properly if you top it off, and there's no point in doing that anyway -- you will get just as accurate a reading by consistently letting the pump shut itself off.

As for tracking gas economy, I calculate my mileage every single time I fill up -- it's been a habit for over thirty years. Just follow the prcedure I told you about and which you followed this time, and you'll be fine.

As for letting the low fuel light come on before refilling, there's no point to that either, although doing so will give you an infinitessimally more accurate reading because of the larger sample data. Just drive normally, fill the car up somewhere between a quarter and half a tank, and do your math regularly. (Hell, you can do it in your head -- 240 miles with an 8 gallon fillup means you're getting 30 mpg on the nose, right?)

britton2

OK, yesterday what I did was fill up until the pump cut off (did not top off) and then before I drove away set my trip meter to "0" - if I knew exactly how much gas is left in the tank when my light comes on, then I could calculate the mileage based on how many miles I had driven on the gas I had used up to that point - thing is, the manual does not tell you how much gas is left when your light comes on, and since my gauge is inaccurate, I can only judge how much gas I have used based upon how much I can put in before the pump cuts off - I will just have to subtract how much gas I put in from 13.2 gallons - which is what I did yesterday -exactly how much was in the tank when I picked up the car I'll never know - anyway, you guys have been very helpful and I'll let you know if I ever get this figured out

denniswade

Simply fill up the tank next time (stopping when the pump shuts off) and look at the pump to see how many gallons it took to fill it. Divide the elapsed mileage on your trip meter by the number of gallons used (I always go to at least one decimal place, but I'm anal about stuff like this), and that's your mileage, pure and simple.

"Miles per gallon" means exactly that -- how many gallons did it take to carry you the number of miles indicated on your trip meter. The number of gallons it takes to fill your tank is the number of gallons you used to go that far. Simple.

pat

Some off-topic posts (and responses) have been removed. Pardon the interruption.

Pat
Host
Sedans and Women's Auto Center Message Boards

britton2

I see what you mean - sorry, I think I have just been obsessing about this a little too much!

xyzipp2

Wow, thought I was about the only one that was this anal. Least thats what the spouse says. I must say I don't write down the gas price. That is too much for me. Here is the kicker...do you carry a calculator in your car in order to do the calculations on the spot? I must say that I do. Oh well, glad to know somebody else sees benefit in doing what I am doing.

denniswade

from my dad -- who wrote down the mileage every time (I don't, ever).

It's a great way to tell if your car's running right or not (which is why he did it -- I remember he was really cranked about the fact that our '56 Pontiac was only getting 10 mpg!).

terceltom1

Does anyone know how to calculate gas mileage in a car??????????????

terceltom1

Where in your manual does it say not to top off the fuel tank, it certainly does not say it in the 2001 manuals? Maybe they deleted it because they thought it was a myth!

denniswade

Participation in these boards requires that you read. Check out post #573.

And the fact that your 2001 owner's manual doesn't mean that the laws of physics no longer apply. Your fuel filler has a vent in it that allows small amounts of fuel vapor to escape -- because as liquids heat, they expand. This is why really clean cars -- the SULEVs of the industry -- are actually cleaner when they're runing than most cars are at rest.

There is no good reason to top off your tank -- you get maybe an extra pint of fuel, and for what?

BTW -- I notice that you have a '95 Tercel. I had an '86, with the TRD suspension, 16" Primaxes, Toysport intake and exhaust and full tint, and I absolutely loved it. Great car, with wonderful styling. Write me at dennis_wade@toyota.com, and I'll send you a picture of it. I'd still have it if it wasn't for my daughter wrecking her Corolla (I took the one I had on order for her after that, and sold my Tercel).

denniswade

That's '96, not '86....

terceltom1

My post of #578 was obviously a joke. I think we more then covered the issue of how to obtain MPG. And I am one of those people who log it every fill-up.
I was refering to yur post of #571 when you told britton to read her manual and it will tell her not to top off the tank. I found no such info. like that in my 2001 Corolla manual. I was wondering where in your manual you saw that?

denniswade

-- maybe in an older owner's manual (my wife had a '93 Ceilca, so maybe I read it there). I'll check to make sure.

In any case, whether the manual mentions it or not, topping off is not a good idea, and any service tech should tell you so.

pat

Pardon the interruption - I want to explain the name change of this discussion.

Since we have moved to our new platform, we no longer have the requirement to stop and restart discussions after the numbers of posts exceed a certain limit. Since this discussion can continue as long as anyone has anything to say about Corollas, there is no longer a need for the "2" that has been included in the discussion name. Down the road, that could confuse our newer members so I have removed it.

I've altered the name slightly of the original Corolla discussion in the Archives to differentiate it from this active one.

Please continue...

Pat
Host
Sedans and Women's Auto Center Message Boards

britton2

Could you answer a question for me regarding the break-in period for my new Corolla - the manual says not to drive it for long periods of time at any single speed (either fast or slow) for the first 1,000 miles - do you think it would be harmful to take in on a 6-hour trip (6 hours each way) when it has under 250 miles on it - or would it be better to wait until it has 1,000 miles? You seem to know alot about Toyotas and I appreciate your opinion (and everyone else's too!) Thanks

terceltom1

I was told when I purchased mine that long trips were o.k. But to vary the speed just as the manual suggests. Do not drive a steady 55 or 60 mph. vary it.

denniswade

The purpose of varying your speed is to make the rings wear in evenly.

There's a strongly held body of opinion that says you should break in your car the way you intend to drive it -- i.e., if you want it to be fast, break it in fast. This is true, in the sense that if you're an enthusiastic driver you should drive it as such AFTER the first 1000 miles. We did this with my wife's new Celica, and it made a real difference in the throttle response. This is especially true of cars with variable valve timing (Toyota's version being called VVTi); the engine computer ("engine control unit" or ECU will adjust itself over time to your driving style.

vlady

denniswade what you are saying doesn't make any sense. So if I break in my car and do not drive more that 40 mph I wouldn't be able to drive faster that limit in the future???? I thought that the goal of breaking in is to get rid of an extensive friction between moving parts of the engine and tranny and provide proper lubing them.

And the throttle response depends on other factors, not how you break in your car

cpzhang

From Carsdirect, I found there was a $500 customer rebate for Corolla and $700 for camery in NY before Apr. 30. But I can not find any information about this on edmunds or anywhere. Can someone veryfy this?

denniswade

'K...one point at a time....

"if I break in my car and do not drive more that 40 mph I wouldn't be able to drive faster that limit in the future????"

No -- what did I say that made you think that? I said that SOME people think that you should break a car in the way you intend to drive it. This opinion is shared by the team manager for Corvette, by the way.

"I thought that the goal of breaking in is to get rid of an extensive friction between moving parts of the engine and tranny and provide proper lubing them."

Not exactly English -- but yes.

"And the throttle response depends on other factors, not how you break in your car."

It depends. In the case of cars with VVTi (Variable Valve Timing with Intelligence), how you drive the car determines in part how the ECU (Engine Control Unit) programs shifting patterns and throttle response. It has fuzzy logic, meaning it adapts to the driving style of the owner over time. So, in one sense you're right -- driving my wife's car at 90-100 mph and hitting the throttle hard up mountain grades may not have improved throttle response because of the way I was breaking it in (though some would say it did); but it definitely programmed the ECU to open the throttle wider under accleration from rest and to make the transmission shift down more quickly than it would have otherwise.

Isn't technology great?!!

ultrarunner

Does anyone know why the owners manual for a 2001 Corolla says to contact your dealer prior to disconnecting the battery?

ultrarunner

Two weeks ago we took delivery of our Corolla I purchased through Cars Direct. I was told that we just qualified for the $500 rebate before it expires the first week of April.

Also I noticed that the Cars Direct price for our car has increased almost $700 over what we paid Cars Direct in California. (No rebate and less of a discount)

Maybe Corolla's are selling better with the higher California gasoline prices. Also I was told that NUMMI production of the 2001 will end soon.

ultrarunner

Is it normal for a new Corolla with less than 200 miles to wander slightly at highway speed? It is just enough to be noticeable.

My old WV Golf never wandered and I got 60,000 miles from my set of Michelin Tires. Just curious.

britton2

I also have a '01 Corolla - what model did you get? Overall, were you satisfied with carsdirect? I got the LE - I too monitored the price from time to time from carsdirect.com - with the options I wanted - the price started out at 13,865 - since then it has increased to 14,265 since I last checked - I ended up getting mine from a local dealer for a couple of reasons: I wanted to have a contact person (locally) in case there was a problem, the dealer has a car care roadside assistance program which is free, I got a free oil change, plus they met my price - anyway, I have not noticed my car pulling any, although I have really not driven it that much on the interstate - just a couple of times so far - my car has about 210 miles on it right now -

terceltom1

I also have a 2001 Corolla LE and I do experience the fading on the highway. I noticed mine when I bought the car but since then I guess I got used to it. It is very slight and not a problem to me. Mine fades left. I was told this is normal due to the crowning on the highways. And since mine fades left in the left lane that makes sense.
You might want to check out the postings in the conference "Toyota Corolla trouble" #238 to #250

denniswade

both affect drift. Since your car is new, it's not the alignment, it's probably the POS tires Toyota puts on em. Try rotating the tires and see what happens; if the car still drifts, you may want to invest in a better set of tires now, or you can try compensating for the drift by having an alignment shop dial in some extra toe-in.

wenyue

If one of the front tires is more or less inflated, it could also cause a drift. Of course, the curvature of the road will also cause a little. But if you have lots of drift, it's almost always the tires or the alignment.

britton2

by all means check the air pressure in your tires - I checked mine and all of my tires were over-inflated - a couple had 40 psi - they should have about 30/32 -

ultrarunner

We purchased through Cars Direct a 2001 Corolla "S" with 4spd Automatic, Cruise Control, Tilt Wheel, Extra Value Package #1, Sunroof, Rear Spoiler, Side Air bags, Heavy Duty Defogger, and 5pc Floor Mats. With rebate it cost $15,120. (not including tax and license)

Overall I would give very good marks to Cars Direct. They beat my best Dealer price by nearly $100. My only complaint was when Cars Direct initially contacted me they told me we have your car except that it does not have side air bags or the sunroof! I said then you don't have my car.

We ended up ordering from the Factory. The people at the Factory were the greatest!!! If you get a chance you should contact them and sign up for a tour.

skipper8

Just bought a 98 Corolla..and it was wandering a little to the left. The wheel was also slightly cocked to the right. I am taking it back to the dealer to check the steering wheel. I did check the tire pressure and the left front was 20 psi..a little low....so I inflated to 30..the right was about 28..a little low. After properly inflating the tires..the wandering or drift is gone although the wheel is still slightly cocked to the right.

I have only drived the car a few miles..just picked it up friday night...did put gas in it..and I too noticed that the gas guage took a while to move up to the full postion. It does move up and down a little with car movement.

I have a 4 speed automatic and did notice a slight hesitation (jerk) in shifting from gears to gears. It is not real smooth. Is this normal?? Again..I just bought the car and have driven it less than 50 miles. It whas 36,000 miles on it...and is a LE.