2 month old corrolla ST 2.0 design, noisy phone system, road noise and stone chips

[jukie]

is it normal when speaking on the phone while driving for the other person to think you are in a windtunnel. everyone I speak to while driving complains about the background noise, the noise is the same on the other end wether I am doing 10mph or 70mph. Initially I thought it was related to the road noise (loudest car I have ever driven) but it would seem not.

I also have a few stone chips on the front lower spoiler after a couple of thousand miles, as do others in the fleet, all new cars , no chips anywhere else , I may just be unlucky or there could be an issue with the paint etc.

Also I wish i had researched the size of the fuel tank before ordering ..its so small

[Catlover]

Fuel tank may be small, but you have a hybrid system where some of the miles you doing are electric driven, not burning petrol. Even with smaller petrol tank you probably doing the same,if not more, miles then with a bigger tank/standard petrol engine.

Of course a bigger fuel tank would mean you could drive around with a heavier load (weight of extra petrol) which would affect the mpg and general performance.

[Gray86]

I’ve got a 2.0 TS, which is 4 months old. No issues with phone sound (no one has complained). It’s picked up a few small stone chips, which I’d say is on par with my last couple of cars (VWs), and yeah there can be a lot of road noise - blame the tyres Toyota fit as standard. I think a better quality replacement set when the time comes will solve that 

[TonyHSD]

Fuel tank is not bad IMO, easily over 400 miles range now and summer time perhaps over 500, I don’t think you can drain it in one go without needing a break. , refuel for 5 min and off you go. When I work I usually fill up every second day,  three times a week. My college with insignia was doing it once a week but he was stopping same or more for getting coffees and breakfast. 👍

[Mikw]

3 hours ago, Catlover said:

Fuel tank may be small, but you have a hybrid system where some of the miles you doing are electric driven, not burning petrol. Even with smaller petrol tank you probably doing the same,if not more, miles then with a bigger tank/standard petrol engine.

Of course a bigger fuel tank would mean you could drive around with a heavier load (weight of extra petrol) which would affect the mpg and general performance.

Indeed. Which raises a question : Is it better to fill up completely, and not fill up again until it's empty? Or drive around with half a tank to save weight but have to stop more often to get fuel?

[nielshm]

Fuel tank is not small, but warning light turns on with 7 liters remaining. 

Calculated range can drop to zero, and the car can still run another 80-100 km before empty. 

I liked my old Octavia better. 0 km remaining was very close to running out of fuel. 

[jukie]

Thanks for comments.

having to fill up every other day is a pain IMO, but guess its only 1 extra fill up a week over my last car that did  over 500 miles on a tank . will get the dealer to check out the bluetooth/phone system and toyota GB are involved with the stone chips as its not just my car that has the issue.

I am hoping the tyrres wear down fast so I can hopefully get some quieter ones fitted

[Timh21]

Bigger wheels and fatter tyres look cool but often mean more noise and a bumpier ride. A couple of road tests I read before buying hinted at the 16" wheel cars riding nicer. Ive only got 1.8 but range is still a fair bit down on previous TD Astra which would easily do 600 to a tank ( and it was only 6 litres bigger). Summer is coming and MPG should improve, but It is looking as though pence per mile is gonna be up with the Toyota compared to the Astra. Add in twice as many services per year and unfortunately it is definately gonna be a dearer car to run, but for me I still prefer it, company accountants may think otherwise.

[AndrueC]

9 hours ago, Mikw said:

Indeed. Which raises a question : Is it better to fill up completely, and not fill up again until it's empty? Or drive around with half a tank to save weight but have to stop more often to get fuel?

Petrol doesn't way all that much. Half a tank of fuel is going to be neither here nor there compared to the weight of the car and its occupants.

I don't think the road noise is all that bad myself. Certainly wouldn't stop two adults having a reasonable conversation although perhaps the Excel has better soundproofing. Also worth checking your tyre pressures because several of us found that our dealers hadn't adjusted them correctly. Mine were way over pressure.

[TonyHSD]

Filling up the tank and carry certain amount of fuel will depend on the use of the car, same as airplanes does. Travelling long journeys full, short town drive will only require a minimum amount, Although in our cars the weight of fuel is insignificant and won’t make a huge difference if any at all in average fuel consumption, just fill up the most convenient way. The tyres pressure is the important thing here , they should not be overinflated as this is as bad as under inflated tyres. Over inflated tyres are hard, noisy, bumpy, can cause premature wear on suspension components and wheel bearings., just not worth it. Keep them at correct cold pressures and after air temperature rises to 15C° and above you will notice the car becomes a bit quieter , since these are summer tyres that become hard as plastic in temps below 10C°, that additionally make the things worse in terms of noise and comfort. ,another reason why car owners feels like they had changed their cars when they replaced their standard tyres with new Michelin Crossclimate 👍

[Rambler56]

5 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Filling up the tank and carry certain amount of fuel will depend on the use of the car, same as airplanes does. Travelling long journeys full, short town drive will only require a minimum amount, Although in our cars the weight of fuel is insignificant and won’t make a huge difference if any at all in average fuel consumption, just fill up the most convenient way. The tyres pressure is the important thing here , they should not be overinflated as this is as bad as under inflated tyres. Over inflated tyres are hard, noisy, bumpy, can cause premature wear on suspension components and wheel bearings., just not worth it. Keep them at correct cold pressures and after air temperature rises to 15C° and above you will notice the car becomes a bit quieter , since these are summer tyres that become hard as plastic in temps below 10C°, that additionally make the things worse in terms of noise and comfort. ,another reason why car owners feels like they had changed their cars when they replaced their standard tyres with new Michelin Crossclimate 👍

I think 'insignificant' just about covers worries over how much the weight of a couple of gallons makes to overall economy in the grand scheme of things.  Tyre pressures and driving style are the main determining factors.  As for how much fuel just make sure you don't run dry, can be very inconvenient!  Tongue in cheek bit now - how far will you drive to get another penny or two off the cost of a litre of fuel (my brother in law does not see the irony in wasting £5 to save £2)?  Have you considered dieting as an effective way to improve MPG and is lockdown frustrating your best efforts?  Is it true that the best fuel to crud ratio is highest in the bottom of the tank?😆

[TonyHSD]

35 minutes ago, Rambler56 said:

I think 'insignificant' just about covers worries over how much the weight of a couple of gallons makes to overall economy in the grand scheme of things.  Tyre pressures and driving style are the main determining factors.  As for how much fuel just make sure you don't run dry, can be very inconvenient!  Tongue in cheek bit now - how far will you drive to get another penny or two off the cost of a litre of fuel (my brother in law does not see the irony in wasting £5 to save £2)?  Have you considered dieting as an effective way to improve MPG and is lockdown frustrating your best efforts?  Is it true that the best fuel to crud ratio is highest in the bottom of the tank?😆

I always keep full tank and very often refuel when just under half mark as I am a serious driver and sometimes can almost finish the tank in one shift 12hrs. Some people use their cars for only short trips, obviously they can fill 20 quit in and then after 2-3 weeks again. 👍 

[MyOpinionIsWorthless]

On 3/18/2021 at 5:13 PM, jukie said:

is it normal when speaking on the phone while driving for the other person to think you are in a windtunnel. everyone I speak to while driving complains about the background noise, the noise is the same on the other end wether I am doing 10mph or 70mph. Initially I thought it was related to the road noise (loudest car I have ever driven) but it would seem not.

I also have a few stone chips on the front lower spoiler after a couple of thousand miles, as do others in the fleet, all new cars , no chips anywhere else , I may just be unlucky or there could be an issue with the paint etc.

Also I wish i had researched the size of the fuel tank before ordering ..its so small

Noisy phone is easy to fix. Check whether the central air vents are slanted upwards. Therefore blowing air across the central microphone near the sunglasses holder in the roof lining

[Rolando1]

On 3/18/2021 at 7:41 PM, Gray86 said:

I’ve got a 2.0 TS, which is 4 months old. No issues with phone sound (no one has complained). It’s picked up a few small stone chips, which I’d say is on par with my last couple of cars (VWs), and yeah there can be a lot of road noise - blame the cr@p tyres Toyota fit as standard. I think a better quality replacement set when the time comes will solve that 

Do you have Fallken tyres on yours too?

Is it the Michelin cross climates the best type for Corolla - does anyone have experience of these?

 

[delbois]

2 hours ago, Rolando1 said:

Do you have Fallken tyres on yours too?

Is it the Michelin cross climates the best type for Corolla - does anyone have experience of these?

 

I can't justify fitting Cross Climates as I've only got 2k miles on the current ones. That said I don't find the Falkens particularly noisy. If anything road noise is more subdued than on the Auris on its factory fits and cold weather Michelin Alpins. Hard to explain the variation in experience of individuals with near identical cars. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, delbois said:

Hard to explain the variation in experience of individuals with near identical cars. 

Differences in road surfacing will be a factor in road noise experienced. For example our local authority uses asphalt for the top surface, whereas when we go to the Isle of Skye, the local authority used chippings as the top surface for years before converting to asphalt approx five years ago. The chippings were noticeably noisier, as well as causing more stone chips, windscreen damage, etc on cars.

[TonyHSD]

Cross climates will definitely be quieter as they are made with different compound (softer) than standard summer tyres and they also has V shape profile of the thread, this type profile in general has more cushion properties than straight line profile. , however suffer from slightly longer braking distance in dry, but this really is only in extreme situations which should not be happening on daily basis. There are new players on the field from Vredestein though, new model Quatrac that looks very similar to Michelin’s . https://press.apollovredestein.com/new-vredestein-quatrac-makes-debut-on-all-season-winners-podium/?cate=pV&_ga=2.162216060.1751414853.1616255386-2039449309.1616151771
 

There are some tests made by Autobild  and showed these As one of the best all season currently. https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2020-Auto-Bild-All-Season-Tyre-Test.htm

[Gray86]

8 hours ago, Rolando1 said:

Do you have Fallken tyres on yours too?

Is it the Michelin cross climates the best type for Corolla - does anyone have experience of these?

 

Yes, the typical Falkens 

[Timmon]

The sales guy for Corolla told me that "You won't visit the petrol station so often". When I went back to have minor faults rectified ( the ad on's nothing serious ), I said he should have said "You won't put so much in the tank", as I visited the petrol station just as many times as before. The reason, is the Corolla has a 43ltr tank, whilst the SAAB had a 65ltr tank. I get roughly the same mileage per tank as before, but use 22 ltrs less. Same size engine 2ltr, but the SAAB had a turbo.

At the moment a tank full is lasting 6 or 7 weeks, but I always fill right up, and don't usually refill until the reserve light comes on.

[W1P30UT]

I would expect more tyre noise with the 17" compared to the 16" due to the lower profile and wider tread. Or are both wheel sizes noisy, due to a lack of sound proofing?

[jukie]

On 3/21/2021 at 7:28 PM, Timmon said:

The sales guy for Corolla told me that "You won't visit the petrol station so often". When I went back to have minor faults rectified ( the ad on's nothing serious ), I said he should have said "You won't put so much in the tank", as I visited the petrol station just as many times as before. The reason, is the Corolla has a 43ltr tank, whilst the SAAB had a 65ltr tank. I get roughly the same mileage per tank as before, but use 22 ltrs less. Same size engine 2ltr, but the SAAB had a turbo.

At the moment a tank full is lasting 6 or 7 weeks, but I always fill right up, and don't usually refill until the reserve light comes on.

😂 Lucky if a full tank lasts me 2 days

[jukie]

My Design does have the 17inch rims. its way noisier than a ford focus on 17 inch rims

 

 

[jukie]

Toyota GB are going to replace my front bumper so they can determine the cause of the stone chips

poor paint

bad batch

external influences ie flying stones

[Rolando1]

That's pretty good by Toyota. So will there be any comebacks on you if it's not down to poor paint, poor batch?

I.e. if it was just external influences?

[jukie]

11 hours ago, Rolando1 said:

That's pretty good by Toyota. So will there be any comebacks on you if it's not down to poor paint, poor batch?

I.e. if it was just external influences?

Shouldnt be.