Getting back, I will say it seems Toyota officials were surprised the current Civic Sedan looked so different than the very bland previous version. I don't like it but it is very different that other cars in the segment. So it seems Toyota wanted the Corolla to be spruced up from a design standpoint, as they were pretty much signed off on a design that was once again, bland.

 

I acutally wanted the Corolla XRS, but I found the car a bit too small for my taste. I wanted to give it a try before crossing out the Corolla as a whole. But the XRS doesn't work well if there is the Scion tC available. The Scion looks better, and probably performs better too.

 

http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroa...rolla-xrs.html

Toyota calls the XRS the first ever sub-eight-second 0-to-60-mph Corolla. In PR-speak, that usually means a 7.7-to-7.9-second sprint, but our car, with a fairly green, low-mileage engine, ran to 60 mph in 7.1 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 15.8, which is 1.1 and 0.6 ticks quicker, respectively, than a Corolla LE we tested in a November 2002 comparo. (The XRS costs about $2500 more than a 2005 Corolla LE.)

 

The XRS DOES work if you actually have to carry adults in the rear; something the tC, for the most part, can't, and something the Si can only do with difficulty.

 

It's also significant, Mike, that the Civic, while still quite popular, has a two-tier dash with a digital speedometer that turns a number of people off, while that is not the case with the present Corolla....I cannot speak for the new one because I have not seen the dash up closely. And the Civic's little brother, the Fit, has a more-or-less conventional dash, which is not the case with the Corolla's little brothers.....the Yaris and Scion xA.

 

VVTL-i

VTEC is Honda, VVTL is Toyota. Variable Valve Timing with Lift and Intelligence. LIFT!

 

Well a Corolla XRS would do fine because it's a four door and the tC is two door. It's why we always had a Celica. It's a two door Corolla with some sports bred into it.

I only checked this thread to see if there's any real news about the new Corolla. But nope. Nothing.

 

OK...fine. Technically you're right. I use the VTEC term to describe almost any variable-valve timing engine.

 

I think it'd be cool if Toyota developed a dual VVTL-i. The 2ZZ was the only engine that had the Lift designation. The whole "lift" thing I heard burns oil. Like VTEC burns oil when it hits the infamous "VTEC kicking in" rev range.

 

Yes, it does use some oil, but not for reasons that are not apparant at first. The very high RPM's (generally 6000 and up) needed for VTEC second-stage activation put a lot of wear on the valve stems as the valves open and close at dizzying rates....and the second-stage involves a greater valve opening and closing, inceasing even further the valve distance traveled, like the old rough-idling "race" cams used on engines of yesteryear. Added to this is the fact that the oil pump, no matter how fast the engine is spinnning, can only pump so much oil so fast.....it has a definite capacity. So the valve stems gradually wear from this as the engine ages...particularly at high RPM's. When they wear sufficiently, a small amount of oil will be sucked by cylinder compression through the worn stems into the cylinder and burnt with the gas....and you will start to get some blue smoke ut the tailpipe and possibly a fouled catalyst as well. When this happens, heavier, thicker oil will help stop it at first, but eventually the engine has to have a valve job and possibly an overhaul. and with what an overhaul costs for a complex VTEC engine, sometimes you are better off just trading for a new car.

 

The Civic dash IMO is love or hate. I'm mixed, I love the fact its very different to anything else, I hate the fact it looks odd and busy.

 

I hate the dash . But thankfully, its not my car and I rarely drive it.

 

Nothing personal, just an observation, and you're right, I don't know you, so again, just a mild observation.
Correct, vanilla is the term I should have used in the first place but I think at this point just about everyone gets the picture. Also, my neons alone give 10 seconds at 280MPH, I can only imagine throwing on some stickers!!!

All in all, the basis, I was trying to get to, as other people were, I guess that the car even in the 2008 model is boring, Civic and Mazda3 have a more attraction and sportier feel to it with people on a budget, and more money for fart cans and neons.
Yes!!!! Then I have succeeded! j/k j/k