Low ground clearance

[Corollanutter]

When entering our local Suzuki dealership to drop my daughter off to collect her car, my Corolla TS caught its centre underbelly on a metal strip running across the entrance. I was only going between 5 and 10 mph, however it was enough to rip off the composite mid-body plastic undertray from the drivers side.  In doing so it ripped the tray into two pieces, however I managed to remove the loose back section and continue my journey - luckily no other damage was done. I always thought the Corolla ground clearance to be very low - and this has confirmed my thoughts. The price of a new plastic tray from Toyota is around £275 (!) - so I’m going to try a repair before splashing out that ridiculous amount of money. I’m also looking at scrappers for a more sensibly priced replacement. Be careful out there!

[AisinW]

That is relatively cheap compared to repairing rocker panels in other cars without plastic cover like Auris or Golf. My partner rub the rocker panels, it costs more than £1k and will have no original paint anymore. 

£275 is actually a good news for me, I thought it would be 2x than that since the clear selotape on the rear door alone cost ridiculous £40. Just for a 50 cm selotape. 

I always very cautious when driving over a hump or bumps, just drive slower, 2mph or less, so it less likely to hit hard and also the drop after the hump will not be deep. 

All newer cars are longer and lower to get better stability and aerodynamics. It is just how it is. Corolla is not as long as new Civic wheel base though. 

 

[Eddiefh]

Try local and national scrap yards , one near me is called motorhog (SYNETIQ) , you have to do an online chat box rather than phoning but that’s only down side . 

[Bper]

I doubt when the design and aerodynamics of the cars was being discussed that they considered that some idiot who thought it was a brilliant idea to put road humps in that it could cause damage to the underside.☹️

[fourbanks]

This was the reason, after just one week of owning the GR sport in that going into my local petrol station on a gradient, the base of the car would hit the ground. The overall workmanship was in my view also below par, and on that basis it had to go. 

Luckily, I purchased well below the retail, at £26'000 so I didn't lose out in the part exchange for my Lexus as they gave me £26'000 

[TonyHSD]

The new 2023 models seems to me slightly higher up,  like 2cm higher than before and the whole car silhouette looks different to me. 
Low ground clearance cars aren’t very good for poor roads in uk for sure. 
Once I scraped my car too parking over a kerb as anyone else did at that place, it was a nasty metal bang and scraped noise, later discovered I did hit some metal cross member or similarly called that it seems to be the lowest point on this car, it is a aluminium in yours and you have two of these. 

[beeblebrox]

Speed bumps, inclines and high kerbs are a real bane for modern corollas. Ground clearance is very low. I too suffered scraping  to front offside bumper when the bumper overhung the kerb whilst parallel parking.

[bigblock]

On 9/13/2023 at 11:53 AM, TonyHSD said:

The new 2023 models seems to me slightly higher up,  like 2cm higher than before and the whole car silhouette looks different to me. 
Low ground clearance cars aren’t very good for poor roads in uk for sure. 
Once I scraped my car too parking over a kerb as anyone else did at that place, it was a nasty metal bang and scraped noise, later discovered I did hit some metal cross member or similarly called that it seems to be the lowest point on this car, it is a aluminium in yours and you have two of these. 

Yes, the 2023 model ( my Design for sure) does have more ground clearance. Much more reassuring.

[TonyHSD]

12 minutes ago, bigblock said:

Yes, the 2023 model ( my Design for sure) does have more ground clearance. Much more reassuring.

Here my attention to details since day one I have seen the my23. Someone else said that he run a tech specs sheet comparison and the my23 is 2cm higher than previous versions in all trim levels. 

[Gray86]

Interesting. My MY21 (late 2020 car) has just had a new subframe (as Toyota thought was the cause of my noisy suspension) and within a day I’d scraped it on a high speed hump (admittedly a sizeable speed bump with 4 adults & a child in the car). Assuming mine has a MY23 subframe (latest part no) it does appear to sit quite low under the car. . 

[TonyHSD]

Here the design model too. 

[twintopp]

i admit i have never thought anything about ground clearance, but i always slow for speed bumps, and are always cautious when parking front to kerb.

[Red_Corolla]

Never bottomed mine yet, but it does have quite a low floor between the axles and I can see how this might be a problem for the estates in particular (like mine) when cresting sharp peaks with the longer wheelbase. I don't believe it sits any lower than the F30 3-Series I used to have, and I think the clearance under the front bumper is actually a bit better, notwithstanding that it needs to be due to having a bit more overhang. Original tyres are starting to wear down now, so I'll be on my guard having lost those few extra precious mm.

[Derek.w]

Upto now the only time I bottomed out was at a Thirsk farmers Auction Mart it must be a speed bump for tractors.

[Corollanutter]

It does look like the 23MY versions have been raised up a bit - I'm guessing due to to too many issues like mine. That's a really good improvement - obviously the car was orginally designed by drivers used to excellent Japanese roads 🙂