Toyota Corolla Hatchback (2002 - 2006) 1.8 VVTL-i T Sport 3d (02) Owner Review

I owned my thunder grey pre-facelift corolla t sport for 9 months and put 11,000 miles on it, selling it on 124,000. Bought it from a friend who had owned about 4 of them. Paid £1100 in 2015, it was on 112k with full service history and a few mods like lowered suspension, drilled and grooved discs etc. A very fair price i thought so didn't even barter him down. Engine - The VVTLi 'Lift' is addictive, as below 6200rpm it puts out around 140bhp and does lack in torque, although for day to day driving it's not too bad, after all it is only a NA 1.8! Using lift instantly bumps power output up to 189bhp, which is exciting, but it can hammer the fuel consumption. It is claimed they will average 34mpg - realistically I averaged 28-30 mpg (280-300 miles per tank) in mine, with regular use of lift, despite keeping it well serviced and maintained. It is a capable car for what it is, the quickest i had out of it was 138mph (speedo reading - so probably closer to 130 than 140 realistically) and that was down a bumpy country road, it had more to give! Also, the engine is chain driven so no cam belt changes needed. Not sure when's best to replace the chain, if at all - probably far north of 150k miles. Handling - is pretty poor from standard it has to be said. Steering feels vague and understeer is common. They look very high up, luckily mine was lowered 30/40mm and had toyo proxes tyres which did improve things, I'd recommend lowering as one of the first things you do on a prefacelift. The strut bracing that the facelifts come with improves things further, but if you want something that can go round corners quickly, there are far better alternatives. Ride - It's a pretty comfortable car - even on lowered springs it never felt stiff or crashy. Good arm rest positioning and seat movability/position. Cabin is a nice place to be even on long journeys. Cruise control would be nice and 6th gear is far too short, so at 70mph it's pretty revvy - that was the main thing I disliked about the car. Uprated celica TRD boxes can be fitted though which improves this. Not cheap though. interior is bland but a double din screened stereo can vastly improve it. Facelifts have steering wheel controls. Things to look out for: - Brake calipers can seize up and bind - buy new slider pins and clean it all up to sort. - Lift bolts can break, meaning lift won't engage. It never happened to mine and it's not hugely common, but worth checking/replacing for what they cost. - The TSC, VSC and ABS lights can sometimes come on the dash - this is commonly to do with the ABS/wheel speed sensor i believe. Again, not too bad a fix. Can't remember anything else - join the corolla club uk page on Facebook if you buy one - loads of guys on there to help and plenty of banter too. All in all - I'd rate them a 7/10. It's hard to go reliably faster for just over a grand! Cheap fun. EP3 type r's are silly money now for similar age to this, so the t sport is a great alternative. has it's flaws but they're cheap and reliable. Not going to lie, I drove mine hard, almost every day, and it never complained - these engines love to rev! Tips - Buy an induction kit - the noise difference is brilliant. Very grunty and loud on full throttle. I would and will buy another T-sport again - the facelift version though. - Buy a short-shifter kit - the gearstick is quite long and would look/feel much better shorter, and enable you to keep in lift easier between 1st and 2nd.