Toyota Corolla 1984 News

The next Toyota Corolla sedan is a chalk-and-cheese move on from the dowdy designs we're used to seeing.It's been toned down from the Furia concept that previewed the new sedan's styling at January's Detroit Motor Show, but the wedge-shaped body with sharp lines and edgy accents have still moved the looks light years forward. The downside is that these photos are as close as we'll get to it for more than a year, with the car arriving in the first half of 2014 -- nearly two years after the arrival of the current Corolla hatch.Toyota is having a bet each way on the Corolla sedan, with two design families: the US gets one and European and other markets -- including Australia -- get the other.Both versions have been unveiled today, with the US version being unveiled on its native soil, and the European model at an event in Istanbul, Turkey.Toyota Australia has confirmed that our local Corolla sedan will be closest to the European version in appearance, with detail changes likely to tailor the important model to local tastes. The differences between US and European versions are largely in design cues at the nose and tail, but there's the same growth in length and width -- and a lower stance -- for both.Significantly, both versions feature a 100mm wheelbase stretch over the existing Corolla sedan, resulting in a claimed 75mm legroom increase for rear passengers.Other markets will get a range of engines, including diesel and hybrid choices, but in Australia the sedan will be powered by the slightly revised 103kW/173Nm 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine currently seen in the hatch.Prices haven't been confirmed yet, but -- depending on exchange rates -- shouldn't move too far beyond the current model's starting price of $20,990 (topping out six spec levels later at $31,990). 

The newcomer picks up from the Furia concept car and promises to finally bury the dowdy approach to boxy little Corollas. But - and it's a big one - the new Corolla won't hit Australia until sometime in 2014. That means close to a two-year delay between the arrival of the latest Corolla hatch and the sedan that was always intended to sit alongside it. Toyota is planning another two-pronged effort on the Corolla front with its sedan, which will be unveiled simultaneously in Europe and the USA. And there are likely to be significant differences between the cars. “The Furia is close to how the car will look. There are definitely clues in the concept,” the spokesman for Toyota Australia, Mike Breen, tells Carsguide. “Yes, there are two versions of the car. Because they are slightly different, Toyota has decided there will be European and American launches at the same time.” But, in another twist to the story, there is no confirmation yet on the car for Australia. “We don't know yet which one we will get. It's still being decided,” Breen admits. There is also uncertainty on everything from prices to engines and even the factory where the car will be built. The Corolla hatch is currently shipped from Japan to Australia but the sedan could come from Thailand, or Europe, or even America. “It could come from a number of places. It will ultimately depend on the supply chain and where it is best to source the car,” Breen says. The one definite is that the car will have a much edgier design than the current Corolla sedan, with a wedge shape and more personality in the nose and in the cabin. The current Corolla is around five years old and will be positively ancient when the newcomer arrives, although Toyota is doing its best to keep people interested and currently sells it for $21,490 driveaway in the lead-up to the end of the financial year. “Yes, the sedan has been on the market for quite a while,” admits Breen. “But the new car is coming in the first half of next year. It will be about two years beyond the start of the current hatchback's life.” “They have already moved the hatch to a more sporty flavour. The sedan is going the same way.” Toyota has only given one hint on the new car's design, with a back-end shot on the company's Facebook page highlighting a giant S badge on the back end. But the Furia that was displayed at the Detroit motor show earlier this year points to a sedan that's far more like a hatchback in its layout, as well as providing the packaging for the hybrid model that will be sold in Europe. This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover  

Toyota becomes the Corolla car company at Darling Harbour. And it’s not just about the all-new model that’s almost certain to become Australia’s favourite car in 2013. The full history of the Toyota baby will be laid out to highlight the introduction of the 11th-generation Corolla hatch, which has just made its world preview in Paris and is being rushed Down Under for the start of local sales next month. Toyota Australia has found cars that track the Corolla back to the start of its local run, in 1967, when there was little indication that it would go on to become the global bestseller and the car that led the downsizing movement around the world. “We have a special Corolla presentation area at the show,” says Peter Hampson, corporate manager of marketing at Toyota Australia. “It includes one of each of the previous generations of the Corolla, back to the 1960s, and two of the very latest cars. This is the first time anyone in Australia will be able to see the new Corolla hatch. ” Toyota is mounting its usual giant display at Darling Harbour, with close to 1400m of stand area, but is taking a new approach for 2012. And it’s not just about the Corolla and the focus on the newcomer. “We’ve built a new stand this year. It’s all on one level, which makes it more accessible for anyone visiting us. And it’s greener, too, with 12 LED light towers,” says Hampson. “We think it will allow people to have a good time when they visit Toyota at the show.” It takes up to 40 people more than a week to assemble the stand and load it with everything from Brand T, from the Corolla crew to the hot new Toyota 86 sports car. “There will be a complete range of Toyota models, including the new Prius V, Prius C and the locally made Aurion and Camry, which have been released this year,” says Hampson. “The theme of the show stand is Waku Doki Plus, which we’ve picked up from the 86 program. It means we’re going to be edgy, fresh, modern and a little bit surprising.” That means a very special 86, which won its class in the Nurburgring 24-Hour race earlier this year, with Gazoo Racing from Japan, providing the motorsport flavour. “We’ve also got a very rare Toyota 2000 GT sports car from the ‘60s. These are worth more than $250,000.” Toyota also has a safe driving simulator, which it wants everyone – especially young drivers – to try. “It’s about testing their driving skills, but also allows visitors to see how VSC (stability control) and traction control work in virtual reality. It’s a totally safe environment to sample these life-saving technologies,” Hampson adds.  New Toyota Corolla Prices: from $20,000 Engine: 1.8-litre petrol Release date: This month Thirst:TBA  

The milestone was reached in June after 76 years and 11 months. Placed end to end, the 200 million vehicles would stretch around the equator more than 22 times, using the 4.545-metre Corolla sedan as an average. The first official Toyota was a Model G1 truck produced in August 1935 by Toyota Automatic Loom Works Ltd's automotive department, which was spun off and later became TMC. It took TMC more than 50 years to produce its first 50-million vehicles a milestone passed when Bob Hawke was Prime Minister in 1985.  The pace of production has quickened rapidly with the second 50 million taking just over 11 years, while it took a further nine years to raise the total to 150 million. The most recent 50 million were produced in a mere six years and five months at a rate of one vehicle almost every four seconds. Toyota has produced 145 million vehicles in Japan and 55 million in other countries, including Australia. The company's most popular car in Australia and the world is the Corolla, which accounts for approximately one out of every five Toyotas ever sold. Toyota has been the best-selling new-car brand in Australia for the past nine years and is again the market leader so far in 2012.  

The traditional family favourite was only fourth in showrooms during October, beaten by no fewer than three compact cars and a work-and- play ute as Japanese brands continued their comeback surge in Australia and small-car sales continued to grow faster than overall demand. Top spot in October went again to the Toyota Corolla, which repeated its victory from September and also achieved its third monthy sales win of 2011 with 3593 deliveries, ahead of the Volkswagen Golf in third overall and the Mazda3 in fourth. The Toyota HiLux ute was second overall, and close to Corolla in the overall rankings with 3480 sales. Despite the October result, the Commodore continues to lead the year- to-date standings with Australian buyers. It is 371 ahead of the Mazda3 despite a cumulative total that is 8.9 per cent and more than 3000 cars behind the same time in 2010. Holden was forced on Thursday to counter speculation that the VF Commodore will be the last locally-developed and made model when it hits the road in 2013, and was also on the back foot yesterday over the sales result last month. "October was a pretty challenging month for us," admitted Phil Brook, director of sales at GM Holden. But he highlighted a recent value-pack Commodore, the Equipe, which boosts the car's value by around $9500 in a bid to win buyers back. ' Brook also said Holden is doing well with its Captiva SUV and with the compact Cruze - sixth in October - now into local production in Adelaide. "Customer demand for Cruze and Captiva was greater than availability, which can be a nice problem to have," he said. While Holden looks to the Cruze to take up some of the Commodore slack, Toyota is building momentum for a big finish to 2011. "October was the third month in a row where total industry sales were higher than the corresponding month of the previous year," said Dave Buttner, senior executive director of sales and marketing at Toyota Australia. "This trend augurs well for the final two months of the year and the likelihood of annual sales topping one million for only the fourth time."  

Industry sales figures released by VFACTS and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) yesterday show Corolla took top spot last month. Holden's two Adelaide-built cars filled the rest of the September passenger car sales podium and were only split by the Toyota HiLux in overall vehicle sales totals. The Commodore's tally of 3712 was just 54 sales behind the Corolla, which surged back to the top of the list after months of supply problems caused by the natural disasters in Japan. Toyota's sales and marketing senior executive director David Buttner said the June-August market was down about 30,000 - 27,000 of that was Toyota - and he expected the market to top one million units for only the fourth time. "We're back to normal availability levels, Japan has been supportive of our efforts to pull back some of the losses, we want to finish the last quarter strongly to put us in a stronger position for 2012," he said. "I'm sure it will be a good last quarter for consumers." The battle for top spot for year continues to be close, with the Commodore back in front of the Mazda3 by just 539 units - both cars have been refreshed in time for the closing stages of the 2011 sales battle but Holden's new LPG system won't arrive in time to make a difference. The Toyota HiLux range sold 3191 last month, just ahead of the Holden Cruze tally of 3117 for September - the fourth consecutive month above the 3000-unit mark. The VFACTS sales figures showed 86,819 new vehicles were sold in September, up 2.1 per cent (or 1765 vehicles) over the corresponding month last year. So far this year 752,128 new vehicles have been sold, narrowing the gap to just 3.7 per cent behind 2010 to the same point. New FCAI chief executive Ian Chalmers said two consecutive months of strong growth signalled a recovery in sales, particularly from some Japanese manufacturers. "Sales stimulus by means of competition in the marketplace saw the third quarter end strongly, and we are now looking toward continued growth through to the end of the year," he said.  

Looking for a safe used car? Think German. The 2007 Used Car Safety Ratings suggest that German-designed cars are among the best choices.Volkswagen's Golf and Bora, Holden's German-sourced Astra TS and Mercedes-Benz's C-Class all rated well for occupant protection and safety for other road-users.With improvements to occupant safety, coupled with reduced risk to other road-users, smaller cars have replaced large family cars as the pick of the litter.In previous years the BMW 3 Series and the family-friendly Holden Commodores and Ford Falcon have been the star performers.This year the researchers highlighted the Golf, Bora, Astra TS, C-Class, Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord.The ratings show that if you make the wrong choice of used car, you could be up to 26 times more likely to be killed or seriously hurt in an accident.The research, by Monash University with the RACV, TAC and VicRoads, shows a staggering difference between used cars.As new-car safety has improved, it has widened the gap between the safest cars on the road and the most dangerous.The latest data shows that a Daihatsu Hi-Jet made from 1982-1990 is 26 times more likely to leave occupants dead or seriously injured than a Volkswagen Passat built from 1998-2005.Two criteria were used: crashworthiness, which is the car's ability to keep its occupants safe; and aggressiveness, which is the likelihood of injury or death to unprotected road-users.TAC senior manager of road safety David Healy says the ratings will play a crucial role in reducing the road toll.“It's going to make a huge difference” Healy says. “We know that by producing safer vehicles we can reduce the road toll by up to a third."“It is another piece of the jigsaw puzzle fitting into place. We now have reliable information on 279 second-hand models on the Australian market."“That means we have real-world data to tell the consumer the car to buy that's safer in a crash as well as safer for other road-users involved in the crash.”Of the 279 models covered by the study, 48 were rated “significantly worse than average” for crashworthiness. Another 29 were rated “worse than average”.On the flip side, 38 models performed “significantly better than average”. Another 48 recorded “better than average”.It means plenty of safe models are available. You just have to pick the right one.Australian New Car Assessment Program chairman Ross McArthur: says: “That, for me, is an important bit of information.“People need to know that picking a car that meets the minimum standard is not enough. You have to be more careful.”Buying a used car often means there are budget considerations, but that shouldn't rule out safety.McArthur says the study highlights affordable models and consumer should arm themselves with that knowledge.“You can get safe cars that are cheaper, and more expensive cars that don't perform as well,” McArthur says. “The key is to be selective. Look around. Don't make the decision on the first vehicle you see.”And don't always trust used-car salesmen.“You need to be properly informed. If you are informed, you are in a much better position to make a decision.”Small cars such as the well-performing 1994-2001 model Peugeot 306 start at $7000.Family cars such as the Holden Commodore VT-VX and Ford Falcon AU also score well and start at reasonable prices.The study clearly shows advances in car safety, with newer models being progressively better.For example, the Holden Commodore VN-VP series received a “worse than average” crashworthiness rating; the later VT-VZ range scored “significantly better than average”.With stricter safety standards and improved crash-test ratings, McArthur is looking forward to a time when all cars are as safe as they can be.Until then the Used Car Safety Ratings is a crucial tool to protect drivers.“I hope we get to the point where every car is a five-star rated car,” McArthur says.“But as a general rule, the newer the car, the better it performs."“But that's not always the case, so you need to look at the Used Car Safety Ratings.” The hit listHow the cars performed in both criteria - crashworthiness (occupant protection) and aggressiveness (risk to pedestrians). Best performersVolkswagen Golf (1999-2004, below)Volkswagen Passat (1999-05)Holden Astra TS (1998-05)Toyota Corolla (1998-01)Honda Accord (1991-93)Mercedes C-Class (1995-00)Peugeot 405 (1989-97) Worst performersMitsubishi Cordia (1983-87)Ford Falcon XE/XF (1982-88)Mitsubishi Starwagon/Delica (1983-93/1987-93)Toyota Tarago (1983-89)Toyota Hiace/Liteace (1982-95) Crash course in car safetySmall carsBest performersVolkswagen Golf (1994-2004)Volkswagen Bora (1999-04)Peugeot 306 (1994-01)Toyota Corolla (1998-01)Holden Astra TS (1998-05, below) Worst performersVolkswagen Golf (1982-94)Toyota MR2 (1987-90)Mitsubishi Cordia (1983-87)Nissan Gazelle/Silvia (1984-86)Nissan Exa (1983-86) Medium carsBest performersBMW 3 Series E46 (1999-04)BMW 5 Series E39 (1996-03)Ford Mondeo (1995-01)Holden Vectra (1997-03)Peugeot 406 (1996-04) Worst performers Nissan Bluebird (1982-86)Mitsubishi Starion (1982-87)Holden Camira (1982-89)Daewoo Espero (1995-97)Toyota Corona (1982-88) Large carsBest performersFord Falcon AU (1998-02)Ford Falcon BA/BF (2002-05)Holden Commodore VT/VX (1997-02)Holden Commodore VY/VZ (2002-05)Toyota Camry (2002-05) Worst performersMazda 929/Luce (1982-90)Holden Commodore VN/VP (1989-93)Toyota Lexcen (1989-93)Holden Commodore VB-VL (1982-88)Mitsubishi Magna TM/TN/TP/ Sigma/V3000 (1985-90, below) People moversBest performersKia Carnival (1999-05)Mazda MPV (1994-99) Worst performersToyota Tarago (1983-89)Mitsubishi Starwagon/L300 (1983-86) Light carsBest performers Daewoo Cielo (1995-97)Daihatsu Sirion (1998-04)Holden Barina XC (2001-05) Worst performers Daewoo Kalos (2003-04)Hyundai Getz (2002-05)Suzuki Alto (1985-00) Compact 4-wheel drives Best performers Honda CR-V (1997-01)Subaru Forester (2002-05) Worst performers Holden Drover/Suzuki Sierra (1982-99)Daihatsu Rocky/Rugger (1985-98) Large 4-wheel drives Best performers Ford Explorer (2001-05)Nissan Patrol/Safari (1998/04) Worst performers Nissan Patrol (1982-87)Toyota Landcruiser (1982-89) 

The type of used car you buy could mean the difference between life and death, an Australian study says.The study found, for example, that drivers and passengers are 26 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a Daihatsu Hi-Jet microvan (made between 1982-1990), than a VW Golf hatch (1999-2004), the 2007 Used Car Safety Ratings report says.And the Transport Accident Commission believes the report's release could potentially slash the road toll by a third.Released in Melbourne yesterday, the study examined more than 2.8 million cars of 279 different types involved in crashes from 1987-2005 in Australia and New Zealand.Researchers rated vehicles on how much protection was offered to drivers and how much the vehicle was likely to harm other road users in an accident.Small cars and other vehicles built before 1990 performed worst for safety, with the Daihatsu Hi-Jet, Daewoo Kalos (2003-2004) and Ford Falcon XE/XF (1982-1988) poor examples.About two-thirds of cars in the worst performing category were light cars, including the Daewoo Kalos (now badged as Holden Barina) and the Hyundai Getz.Cars rated the highest for protection were the VW Golf and Bora models (built between 1999 and 2004) and the Holden Astra TS (1998-2005).Most four-wheel drives scored average or better results for occupant protection, but were more likely to harm or kill other road users.The report was conducted by the Monash University Accident Research Centre with support from Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, TAC, VicRoads and state and federal road authorities.VicRoads vehicle safety chief Ross McArthur said selecting a vehicle that met minimum safety standards was not enough.“You can get good performing cars that are cheaper and you can get cars that are more expensive that don't perform as well,” Mr McArthur said.“As a rule, the newer the car is, the better performance it has, but that's not always the case so you need to be informed.”The cost of a vehicle also did not necessarily mean it was safer, said RACV chief vehicle engineer Michael Case.Consumers needed to consider the safety ratings when buying a car to ensure its safety.Mr Case said structural design and safety equipment such as airbags played an important role.“Among small cars, the Toyota Corolla, the Holden Astra and the VW Golf have performed well and these vehicles are very affordable for used-car buyers,” he said.  Safety scoreVehicles scoring better than average in crashes:VW Golf/Bora (1999-2004)Holden Astra TS (1998-2005)Toyota Corolla (1998-2001)Honda Accord (1991-1993)Mercedes C Class (1995-2000)Peugeot 405 (1989-1997)Subaru Liberty/Legacy (1989-1993)Toyota Cressida/Mark II (1989-1993)Subaru Forester (1997-2002) Models that scored worse than average:Mitsubishi Cordia (1983-1987)Ford Falcon XE/XF (1982-1988)Mitsubishi Starwagon/Delica/L300 (1983-1986 and 1987-1993)Toyota Tarago (1983-1989)Toyota Hiace/Liteace (1982-1986 and 1987-1989 and 1990-1995).Source: 2007 Used Car Safety Ratings report