Groove
Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2007
- Messages
- 46
- Location
- Netherlands
- Car(s)
- None, just dreaming of a diesel Veyron...
I got my driver's license last year... in a 2 liter Toyota Corolla diesel 
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Interesting story BTW, my first lessons were in an Opel Astra 1.7 diesel and what I didn't know then is it's a MUCH better car than the Toyota.
I switched driving schools because I got tired of my driving instructor and the annoying city I was practising in, and I thought a 2 liter car would be better.
Boy was I wrong; the Corolla is a tractor. And I'm not joking either. I knew when I first got into that car I'd made a HUGE mistake. The interior is a massive shock compared to the lovely Astra. The car feels incredibly heavy, which is something I just couldn't understand since it's a hatchback. The engine, although it has more displacement, doesn't even perform half as decent as the Atra's. And worse it it was coupled with the tallest gearbox ever; accelerating on the on-ramp of the motorway was actually scary because the car just wouldn't get up to speed. The brakes were even scarier; I remember what started as normal braking to a standstill at a traffic light nearly resulted in me rear-ending the stationary car in front. (LOL @ the instructor who was pushing as hard on his brake pedal as me on mine and nothing happened). Usually you can brake hard in a car and it still has a reserve for when things get tricky. This car couldn't even brake hard.
The weird thing is my father has a Toyota Avensis Estate with the SAME 2 liter diesel as the Corolla, and that car is much better
. The interior is classy (OK it's a top-spec Bussiness model), the car is reasonably quick (be it from 2000 rpm upwards, strange for a diesel), is confident to drive, has almost* none of the dodgy issues of the Corolla and it looks cool in black with Xenon headlights.
*Pulling away from standstill in 1st is notoriously difficult, because the clutch needs at least 3000 rpm otherwise it's pointless no matter how smooth you are with it. On the day I got my license I drove it for the 1st time and stalled the car like 6 times at the first traffic light. It was very embarassing and my father got quite pissed. The car gives no warning it's going to stall if you forget the revs, until it suddenly does in a typical diesel way (violent mechanical *clonk* and shudder). Oh and it's impossible to find reverse. One time I was in a hurry and it literally took me 5 minutes to engage reverse. SO infuriating!
Toyota is a weird company. They have no passion or sense of direction for cars anymore, hence the dog Corolla and the potentially good Avensis with a stupid clutch/gearbox. Kinda like their F1 project (Corolla = Ralf, Avensis = Trulli)
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.
Interesting story BTW, my first lessons were in an Opel Astra 1.7 diesel and what I didn't know then is it's a MUCH better car than the Toyota.
I switched driving schools because I got tired of my driving instructor and the annoying city I was practising in, and I thought a 2 liter car would be better.
Boy was I wrong; the Corolla is a tractor. And I'm not joking either. I knew when I first got into that car I'd made a HUGE mistake. The interior is a massive shock compared to the lovely Astra. The car feels incredibly heavy, which is something I just couldn't understand since it's a hatchback. The engine, although it has more displacement, doesn't even perform half as decent as the Atra's. And worse it it was coupled with the tallest gearbox ever; accelerating on the on-ramp of the motorway was actually scary because the car just wouldn't get up to speed. The brakes were even scarier; I remember what started as normal braking to a standstill at a traffic light nearly resulted in me rear-ending the stationary car in front. (LOL @ the instructor who was pushing as hard on his brake pedal as me on mine and nothing happened). Usually you can brake hard in a car and it still has a reserve for when things get tricky. This car couldn't even brake hard.
The weird thing is my father has a Toyota Avensis Estate with the SAME 2 liter diesel as the Corolla, and that car is much better
. The interior is classy (OK it's a top-spec Bussiness model), the car is reasonably quick (be it from 2000 rpm upwards, strange for a diesel), is confident to drive, has almost* none of the dodgy issues of the Corolla and it looks cool in black with Xenon headlights.*Pulling away from standstill in 1st is notoriously difficult, because the clutch needs at least 3000 rpm otherwise it's pointless no matter how smooth you are with it. On the day I got my license I drove it for the 1st time and stalled the car like 6 times at the first traffic light. It was very embarassing and my father got quite pissed. The car gives no warning it's going to stall if you forget the revs, until it suddenly does in a typical diesel way (violent mechanical *clonk* and shudder). Oh and it's impossible to find reverse. One time I was in a hurry and it literally took me 5 minutes to engage reverse. SO infuriating!
Toyota is a weird company. They have no passion or sense of direction for cars anymore, hence the dog Corolla and the potentially good Avensis with a stupid clutch/gearbox. Kinda like their F1 project (Corolla = Ralf, Avensis = Trulli)
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