New At The Forums, With A New Corolla

[Pablo 23]

Hello, I am new to the whole forum and about 8 1/2 hours

ago my family bought me a new 2004 Toyota Corolla,

automatic, a/c, power windows, locks, mirrors, cd, and I chose a very attractive silver model.

The car had only 10 miles on its odometer and it seems to be working fine on every aspect. If any other owners have some advice for someone coming here with previous Nissan experience, I welcome your comments. I was looking for a better car, capable of lasting more than my 1993 Nissan Sentra, with better fuel efficiency and I think I made a wise choice.

Thanks and, I hope to post more soon with my experience

[ashan]

welcome

[atikali2000]

Welcome Pablo

My previous car was a Nissan Sunny, and I can easily say, that my move to a Toyota Corolla was a good move.

Enjoy the Corolla and have fun on these forums.

[Pablo 23]

:bookworm:

Hello again from me the thread starter, Pablo 23.

Well, I just want to add that when the dealer gave the car to me, it was so low on fuel, that when I filled the tank at a very close, steps distance apart CITGO gas station, the Corolla's tank made 55.256 lts or 14.599 gals !

It was running with just the odor of fuel, or with the fuel within the lines !

The 2004 Toyota Corolla fuel capacity is just 50 liters or 13.2 gals. Well, to made the story short, the fuel gauge remained at the above full level mark for close to 120 miles before starting to move down !

I was worried about it when the odometer reading was 88 miles or so and went to the dealer to ask if that required a little fix and they told me to wait until tomorrow....

No way...I started to put miles using the break-in period procedure....slow acceleration and trying not to keep a stable speed for too long, changing the speed.

Well, fortunately, the needle started to work fine. I think that was a rookie mistake on my part. After coming from more than 10 years of experience with a 1993 Nissan Sentra, I should know better than that.

Thanks

[Nick-Johnson]

Welcome Fella

[Pablo 23]

:bookworm:

Hello again from the topic starter, Pablo 23. I have a comment about calculating the average fuel economy

in the 2004 Toyota Corolla sedan that I have.

With my 1993 Nissan Sentra was very easy to calculate the average fuel economy manually. Its 50 lts fuel tank was very easy to fill up to the opening of the tank just pumping gasoline about six times after the gas station fuel hose shutted down automatically.

But with this 2004 Toyota Corolla is not that easy to reach that point. I know is not a good idea to overfill the fuel tanks of our vehicles, but the fact is in order to have a more accurate manual calculation of the fuel efficiency we need to fill the tank up to the same point it was filled the last time we filled it and erased the trip odometer or took the reading of the odometer.

I will experiment just stopping to fill the tank when the fuel pump at the gas station shuts down, but I think that happens too early. I would like to wait at least two or three times more when filling the tank.

Anyway, the approximate average miles per gallon I managed to obtain with the first fuel tank of my 2004 Corolla was 33 miles per gallon, having lots of highway driving, but also a few traffic jams. I prepaid the fuel with $20 US dollars, but there was room for more fuel on the tank in order to reach the point where fuel was visible in the tank's opening, just as I did right after leaving the dealer with the car last Monday and filling the tank for the first time.

Maybe, the real average miles per gallon was 32.5 miles per gallon or a little less this time. That is what I have to report for now. I checked the tire pressure and it was all right, a little above the minimum 30 psi (pound per square inch) for each tire.

If some of you want to share your experiences, I welcome your comments. My 2004 Corolla has a 1,794 cc (or 1.8 lts) DOHC Variable Valve Timing engine which is suppose to average 29 miles per gallon in the city and

38 miles per gallon on the highway, around a 33.5 mpg combined average. Is a 4 speed automatic with overdrive.

Thanks

[SMW]

Pablo

Welcome along my friend - your English is very good (or are you using a translater ?). My wife says that English will be your first language - is this right ? I would have thought Spanish ?

Anyway I'm sure you will enjoy the Corolla - the only thing that does get mentioned on here quite often is that they can suffer from 'rattles' inside the cabins. I don't have one myself so can't comment fully.

On another point - how much do you pay for fuel ?

[Pablo 23]

Pablo

Welcome along my friend - your English is very good (or are you using a translater ?). My wife says that English will be your first language - is this right ? I would have thought Spanish ?

Anyway I'm sure you will enjoy the Corolla - the only thing that does get mentioned on here quite often is that they can suffer from 'rattles' inside the cabins. I don't have one myself so can't comment fully.

On another point - how much do you pay for fuel ?

:bookworm:

Thanks for your answer. You are correct. My first language is Spanish, but I learned English at school and at the universities here in Puerto Rico. We use English as a second language and use many words in English, but we speak Spanish all the time. Fortunately, I don't need a translator but I do have a Webster's dictionary very close to me when I write because sometimes I find words in English that are new for me.

To answer your other question, we are paying an all time high locally for gasoline, the equivalent to $1.70 US Dollars per US gallon of premium 93 fuel. In British currency, according to a web site called oanda.com, it will be:

1.70 US Dollars = 0.91060 British Pounds

We use premium fuel because temperatures here are high and our cars benefit from it. My Corolla's outside temperature indicator was reading 92° Fahrenheit a few minutes ago.

How much do you pay for fuel in the U.K.? I heard and read stories about the equivalent of more than $4.00 US dollars per gallon. Because of fuel prices my family considered the 2004 Toyota Prius Hybrid, but unfortunately the price is still too high.

The price for the 2004 Toyota Prius here in Puerto Rico, probably not with all the options, is $23,642 US dollars (12,663.8 British Pounds) and our 2004 Toyota Corolla sedan, with power windows, locks, mirrors, steering, factory alarm and inmovilizer,radio with cd, 4 speed automatic and air conditioner was $17,100 US Dollars , or 9,159.57 British Pounds.

In this forum I know that if I use Spanish, 99.9% of the people will not understand what I write. Also, this forum provides me with an excellent opportunity to practice my English, something most of us here in Puerto Rico don't do unless we have to speak to someone from another part of the world, or to a tourist we may find in our way.

We also watch all the movies at the theaters in English,and on cable or satelite, but for the benefit of the many people who don't understand English very well, all movies are shown with Spanish subtitles at the theaters.

Thanks

[zornhead]

good luck with the car. by the way your english is excellent.

John

[SMW]

Pablo

Thanks for the data.

Basic fuel in the UK is about £0.77 (GBP) per litre.. Advanced higher RON fuels are around £0.81.

I don't know how to convert this into gallons or $ - sorry !

[SMW]

Going to try and compare the Corolla price . . .

[SMW]

Your Corolla price seems similar to the UK - Toyota Recommended Price T2 model : £11150

I have found one for: £9895 which is $18295 USD - we pay more for auto in the UK so once you add that premuim on the prices will be about the same.

[Pablo 23]

Pablo

Thanks for the data.

Basic fuel in the UK is about £0.77 (GBP) per litre.. Advanced higher RON fuels are around £0.81.

I don't know how to convert this into gallons or $ - sorry !

:bookworm:

A web site with a currency converter is:

http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic

and according to that web site, the conversion is:

0.77 British Pound = 1.43890 US Dollar per litre of gasoline

and for the advanced RON fuels, probably what we call here in Puerto Rico premium fuel is:

0.81 British Pound = 1.51365 US Dollar

In comparison I am paying, per liter of premium 93 octane fuel: .449 US Dollar = 0.24035 British Pound

That means you are paying the equivalent of $5.45 US Dollars per US gallon ! That is too high ! One gallon is equal to 3.785 liters or litres in the United States and Puerto Rico, so if I multiply the price per litre you are paying by 3.785 liters, I obtain the price.

And, if you are taliking about the British gallons instead of US measures, according to other web site for capacity and volume conversion,

http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/volume,

your British gallon equals not 3.785 liters, but 4.546 liters and that means you pay not $5.45 US dollars per gallon but, but the equivalent to $6.55 US Dollars per British gallon of gasoline or 3.50624 GBP per British gallon !

In order to fill the tank of a 13.2 gallons or 50 liters Toyota like my Corolla you will need around $57.60 US Dollars or

30.83347 British Pounds to buy around 40 US liters of fuel !

The only reasonable explanation I can think of, could be that the minimum salary per hour in the United Kingdom for workers is considerably higher than in the United States and Puerto Rico, or otherwise not even the 2004 Toyota Prius will be enough to compensate the huge expense in fuel that you have.

The minimum salary per hour in Puerto Rico and the US States is less than $6.00 or 3.21182 British Pounds per hour, if it hasn't changed recently. That is the legal minimum a worker could earn for any job anywhere.

I don't know if there is a minimum salary per hour in the U.K. Maybe you can tell about that if you wish so I learn a little more for comparison before I search over the Internet to find out.

Thanks for your answer

[SMW]

The minimum wage in the UK is £4.50 GBP which is $8.32 USD. I have to say that I don't know anyone who actually earns that little though.

Your calculations on fuel seem right to me - I know we pay a lot in the UK but more than 3 times what you pay - wow ! :ffs: It costs me about £35 GBP to fill my car although I never let it run really low so I guess it probably holds about £40 GBP.

[Pablo 23]

After 800.5 miles, my 2004 Toyota Corolla sedan has a

34.19 miles per gallon average. It used 23.415 gals.

In kilometers, that would be:

1,288 km / 88.627 lts = 14.53 km/lt,

or 14.53 kms per liter average,

Or, 800.5 miles/ 88.627 lts = 9.03 miles per liter average

Thanks :bookworm:

[Pablo 23]

Hello again from the topic starter, Pablo 23. :bookworm:

In less than one month, I drove more than 1,912 miles !!!

What a first month. At that pace of driving, I may use my Toyota close to 24,000 miles within a year !! I think that in real life, I will drive my Toyota around 17,000 miles, more or less.

One more thing: I waxed my 2004 Toyota Corolla for the first time today a few hours ago, because today is a holiday in Puerto Rico, but I found a little dirt spot at the front bumper that I was unable to remove, even after using a tar an bug remover. A neighbor suggested the use of rubbing compund, but I think that is so strong it would probably damage the color key bumper's paint.

I know Toyota sells products for cleaning, but if you know something else, I thank you in advance.

My 2004 Toyota Corolla is delivering more than 34 miles per gallon up to this point, and tomorrow my car will have one month. (Here in Puerto Rico, is 9:44 pm at this moment and its is Sunday, March 22)

Thanks

Edited March 23, 2004 by Pablo 23

[Pablo 23]

Hello again,

My car is approaching 2,500 miles on its odometer and I am thinking about which synthetic oil I should use. I will not wait until 5,000 miles for the first oil change using conventional oil, even using Toyota's genuine oil like the one the car has.

Here in Puerto Rico the heavy heat started today. I saw 94 degrees Fahrenheit at the outside temperature indicator on my Toyota Corolla.

(Fortunately, it has a/c..)

In the past I used Amsoil 10w-30 on my 1993 Nissan Sentra. It was the best 10w-30 oil that car used, resisting the heavy summer heat we have most of the year and the heavy heat started already.

But, I visited another local Toyota dealer here in Puerto Rico and saw they were selling Motul synthetic oil. I don't know a lot about that oil, other that it comes from France I think, and I don't know if it is equal or better to Amsoil.

I know my Toyota's owner manual says the car should use 5w-30 oil, so that is the one I would probably buy. I know it can safely use 10w-30, but a good synthetic should compensate better the tendency of oil consumption that other conventional and synthetic oils have.

The other synthetics available here are Mobil 1, Castrol, Valvoline, Quaker State, Pennzoil, Havoline and a few others, but I think probably Amsoil and Motul are better than any of those. I used Mobil 1 on my Sentra and it had a tendency to evaporate much faster than Amsoil and the same happens with Castrol and the others.

If you want to add something I welcome your comments.

Thanks

[jerry phipps]

Hi Pablo 23

Welcome to the club mate :group-cuddles: Great choice in car you have there. Would love to see some pictures of your pride and joy. Hope you enjoy the site too

jerry!!

[Pablo 23]

Hello jerry phipps,

I want to add photos of my 2004 Toyota Corolla, but the problem is I don't have a digital camera available. I am thinking of buying one, but I want maybe too much technology on the camera.

I think here in Puerto Rico the prices for the digital cameras are too high, even for those with less megapixels and that is one of the reasons I am not decided to buy one yet.

I have a brother who has a couple of digital cameras, but usually he is not available due to his work. Let's see if I can have one of those before I decide to enter this new age of digital photography, a little late in my case...

My Corolla is exactly the way it came from the factory, in this case

it came from the factory in Canada, where all Corollas sold in the USA and Puerto Rico are built.

Even having the money to modify the car, I will not do it becuase I want its fuel efficiency to be at its best. But, many car enthusiasts here in Puerto Rico have their Corollas with 17 inch alloy wheels, and other modifications.

The problems seems to be that those same people are not necesarily

Internet fans yet. In my case, the same day I had the car new, I easily found this web site searching on the Google search engine.

I think this web site is based on the United Kingdom and that is why it takes several hours before I receive the e-mail response from the web site here in Puerto Rico. Your response is dated from April 2 '04 at 10:05 pm and I haven't receive the e-mail about your response yet. I found your response quickly because I entered the web site...

Thanks

[Pablo 23]

Hello again fron the thread starter Pablo 23:

A few days ago I personally changed the oil and filter of my 2004 Toyota Corolla. A little early according to the manual, which says we can wait until 5,000 miles to change the oil and filter. I changed it at just 3,000 miles, and added Amsoil 5w-30 synthetic with a new Toyota oil filter.

With that Amsoil 5w-30, which is by the way very expensive at $7.50 USD per quart, which is: 7.50 US Dollar = 4.14823 British Pound, I think that the car engine is better protected for 5,000 miles oil changes because synthetic oils like this one are cleaner than conventional oils, like the one from Toyota.

One of the local dealers here in Puerto Rico only performs the first oil change at 5,000 miles, and after that at 3,000 miles intervals using Toyota's conventional oil. I think the other dealers might do the same.

If your Toyota use other oil and want to comment, feel free to post. This is a forum precisely for that.

Thanks

[APS]

Hello Pablo!

Thank you parents for an excellent choice of car! ...and welcome.

I'm glad to hear there is someone else out there interested in fuel economy. I can see in your posts you mention that the capacity of your fuel tank is 50litres. According to all literture and my corolla manual the capacity is 55litres (14.5US or 12.1Imp). Which would match pretty much what you got the first time you filled up your car. Or are the tanks different sizes in different parts of the world??

You asked about topping up to the same level each time. I have a Diesel Corolla from 2002 which I top up so I can see the level in the filler tube every time. It takes a little fiddling to reach that level but then I know I always fill the same amount every time. My car has averaged during the 30 000miles I have had it 55mpg(imp gallon (4.55litres) or 12.1miles/litre or 19.5km/litre. I mainly do motorway driving with a fair bit of traffic jam. Since I do a minimum of 25000 miles per year I keep a log of every fill in an Excel spread sheet. This way I can also keep track of the costs.

Hope your Corolla is serving you well.

All the best...

[Pablo 23]

Hello Pablo!

Thank you parents for an excellent choice of car! ...and welcome.

I'm glad to hear there is someone else out there interested in fuel economy. I can see in your posts you mention that the capacity of your fuel tank is 50litres. According to all literture and my corolla manual the capacity is 55litres (14.5US or 12.1Imp). Which would match pretty much what you got the first time you filled up your car. Or are the tanks different sizes in different parts of the world??

You asked about topping up to the same level each time. I have a Diesel Corolla from 2002 which I top up so I can see the level in the filler tube every time. It takes a little fiddling to reach that level but then I know I always fill the same amount every time. My car has averaged during the 30 000miles I have had it 55mpg(imp gallon (4.55litres) or 12.1miles/litre or 19.5km/litre. I mainly do motorway driving with a fair bit of traffic jam. Since I do a minimum of 25000 miles per year I keep a log of every fill in an Excel spread sheet. This way I can also keep track of the costs.

Hope your Corolla is serving you well.

All the best...

:bookworm:

Hello,

I just checked my 2004 Toyota Corolla owner's manual and it says

that the fuel tank capacity is 50 liters or 13.2 gal.

The first time I filled the fuel tank on a gas station a few steps away from the Toyota dealer, the fuel pump from the gas station shutted down several times before I reached more than 55 liters to fill the tank. I also thought that the capacity of the tank was bigger, but then the manual says 13.2 gallons or 50 liters.

I allowed the fuel pump to shut down at gas station more than 12 times on a few ocassions before I stopped refueling.

The last time I went to a Texaco gas station and I stopped refueling when the fuel pump shutted down after 5 times only. Someone here suggested to be careful with overfilling because something might be damaged, but the manual doesn't talk about that. I found very difficult the last time I filled the tank to continue refueling after the pump shutted down for the fifth time.

Is impressive to obtain 55 miles per gallon with a diesel Corolla. I am assuming also that your diesel Corolla has a 5 speed manual transmission. My 2004 Corolla has a 4 speed automatic transmission, and right now it is delivering

around 33.73 miles per gallon in mixed driving conditions.

My 2004 Corolla may deliver 38 mpg on the highway, 40 mpg highway with the manual 5 speed transmission. Maybe I can also obtain 40 mpg on the highway driving carefully. I also read you use the Import or Imported Gallon Measure. The US measure is 1 gallon = 3.785 liters and that is the one I use. Your import gallon is 4.55 liters and that means you can obtain more miles per gallon because your import measure is more than 1/2 liter bigger. If I use that measure, the results of my last fuel tank will be:

407.3 miles/42.683 liters = 9.54244 miles per liter (4.55 liters) = 43.42 mpg (imp)

I think is worth to mention that my 2004 Corolla has a 1.8 liters DOHC engine with Variable Valve Timing and 130 horsepower. Probably, your Diesel Corolla has a different engine, but no matter is wonderful to obtain 55 miles per gallon.

Here in Puerto Rico, diesel vehicles are not popular with the exemption of trucks and commercial use pick-up trucks like the ones from Ford (the F-150, 250, 350, 450,550 and other brands like Volvo, Isuzu, Mack, Dodge, GM). A few people have the Ford Excursion SUV with Ford's Power Stroke diesel engine, but it is too noisy for the taste of most people. I read Mercedes Benz has a new diesel car that is so quiet it may pass as a gasoline engine vehicle.

I think diesels will be more popular because it is an alternative to high gasoline prices, but the engines have to be quieter and probably the diesel fuels better. Some people say diesels require more maintenance too. Here in Puerto Rico we don't have diesels versions of the Corolla or any other car like the ones available in Europe since many years ago, and I think this is because people usually don't like them.

Of course, that may easily change soon because gasoline prices are starting to climb. The 2004 Toyota Prius is now nearly a common sight. I wanted one, but neither my family or myself were able to pay monthly payments for a car costing more than $6,500 more than my 2004 Toyota Corolla CE, priced after some negotiation at $17,100 US dollars, which is:

17,100 US Dollar = 9,644.67 British Pound, for those living in the UK.

My car came with power everything, with the exemption of alloy wheels, spoilers, and fold down rear seat.

I will post again soon.

[Zed_M]

Hi all,

This is my first time posting here although I came across this site while researching my choice of vehicles to buy. Finally, round about December, I opted for a 2003 2.0 D4D Corolla (European Version).

So far I have done about 8000 Km and I estimate I am getting about 40 miles to the gallon (European Gallon). Otherwise put, that comes to 50 Km for every 1 Malta Lira (approx equal to STG 2.50 or USD 2.80). I don't know if that is good or bad compared to other vehicles, but I suppose one has to take into consideration that it is a 2 litre engine after all ! My previous car was a Hyundai Accent 1.3 Petrol and I used to put in about Lm 10 a week petrol, now I put in Lm 10 diesel every approximately 10-12 days.

Of course, the performance is far far better in every respect. As is the safety (all round disk brakes, ABS, EBD, airbags). My only gripe regarding the saloon version which I have is that big objects fail to get through the relatively small opening for the boot.

Other than that, service prices are relatively cheap and I am also allowed to stand by my car as it is serviced. I don't know if it is normal or not to be able to do that in other countries, however at least I am always aware of what is happening to my car and I don't get parts nicked or swapped with other people's cars..

When I bought my Toyota, the main drivers were safety and reliability, and obviously some power. I actually test drove both the diesel and the 1.4 VVTI, but it was probably the turbo whine and kick at around 2000 revs that really hooked me !

Anyway, I guess thats enough for a first post.

I will post again from time to time.. if there is anyone else from Malta who has a Corolla similar to mine, I would be glad to share experiences !

By the way, could anyone explain how I can post a small picture of the car here ??

[Pablo 23]

Zed_M,

Check the link at the top of the page called My Controls.

There is a size limitation for the pictures.

Good Luck

[mircea]

Hi Guys,

Finally ,yesterday I got "my love TS" from the dealer!

Superb sound,superb powerplant!

I will update you with more infos asap.

Mircea