Toyota Corolla: Rotten smell

After reading the recent query in your column about a rotten-egg smell in a Corolla I thought I would tell you about my experience. When I booked my car in to have the converter replaced I was informed that the engine oil level was very low and that Toyota had identified oil consumption problems with the new Corolla engines caused by the low friction piston rings. They said this was most likely the cause of the rotten-egg odour from the exhaust and that it proves the catalytic converter was doing its job. They had me fill out a Toyota questionnaire and offered to "monitor" the oil level every 1000 km. I also informed them of the annoying transmission whine that got louder the faster you went and the excessive play in the front wheel bearings, which incidentally are non-adjustable, and they offered to "monitor" these issues as well. Rather than waste any more time and energy, I traded the Corolla in at another Toyota dealer for a very low key VXII Commodore, and I haven't had any problems in over 12 months.