I am talking about the 09 Corolla made before April 09. The dealer made a point to tell me that variable valve timing on the exhaust for the 1800cc engine was new for 09, so I guess that gave it away. I guess not many cars have that? Does the recall involve 09 Corollas or only older ones and should I be getting a notice from Toyota? I have not used any oil in about 6000 miles so far.
I am comparing the 09 Corolla with the 1800cc engine that has 138 HP compared to a 1967 MGB which had about 96 HP for the 40% increase in power.
I also have an 08 Mazda 3 which has a 2000cc engine with 145HP. The Toyota 1800cc engine is more impressive to me than the Mazda 3 engine because it produces a good amount of HP for it’s size, while still getting 30 MPG city and 36-41 highway depending on whether you drive 55 or a little over the speed limits. Those figures are what I am averaging. We have only had the Mazda since mid-August so I haven’t collected enough data yet to get really accurate estimates, but the Mazda 3 is rated 23 MPG city and 31 MPG highway depending on which source you get the numbers from. Also I vaguely remember a BMW 2002 with a 2000cc engine with fuel injection from the early 70’s that got about 140 HP, so the Mazda3’s 145HP for that engine size doesn’t impress me as much. I can however tell a slight acceleration difference between the Toyota and Mazda, probably due to the 7HP and more torque, but I would rather have the Corolla.
My wife wanted the Mazda 3 because she liked the sporty looks and didn’t want us to have two of the same kind of car. The Mazda 3 is a sports car with all the right stuff and a few more features for about $18,400. That’s pretty close to a Corolla LE with a couple of options like 6-CD changer and remote door locks/trunk release.
The reason I mention the Mazda 3 is because I think it uses about the same engine technology as the Toyota.
We ended up getting two cars this year because my Buick Park Avenue's engine self-destructed and we needed to add a car for my daughter. One reason we ended up with those two cars is because they accepted my offers and they were at 0% financing with no down payment. The Mazda dealer did lie to me and produced a phony invoice at a higher price and ripped me off for about $500 bucks from my original offer. Lessson learned: never believe any cost crap the dealer tries to give you and for small cars their is at least 9% profit you can make offers on. I usually make an offer $300 over the 9% discount which allows the dealer to make some profit. The Toyota dealer saw my price on a piece of paper I was carrying and asked me what it was. I told him it was the price I would buy a car at, so he said ok and threw in a car that had another $250 option on it.