Toyota Corolla 2007 News

Toyota Australia is recalling 48,000 Corolla and Rukus vehicles to check installation of the passenger side front airbag inflator.

Cars are either being built worse -- or companies are getting better at detecting faults.a range of models made over the last 10 years replacing potentially deadly Takata airbags in 1.3 million cars in Australia. a second, airbag-related recall for the Priusreplacing potentially deadly Takata airbags in 1.3 million cars in Australia

Toyota Australia has recalled more than 180,000 vehicles over fears that faulty airbags could spray shrapnel when deployed.

Toyota issues its seventh recall in six months, doubles up on one from last year.

The world's favourite car is better than it was, but still has a few flaws. The starting sticker, though, is a winner. "I'd rather spend five years in the i30 than three years in the Corolla,'' Paul Pottinger said at the COTY judging. And the cabin reflects a totally different design approach. It's still Toyota efficient, but it breaks away from the blandness with the potential for some personalisation. Visibility is great, despite a slightly pinched view through the rear window, but the real delight comes in the new driving position. Toyota has finally recognised that people don't like to sit with their hair brushing the roof or jammed up against the dash, which means you can sit back in comfort and also enjoy front seats that are nicely shaped and padding that's just right. The steering is light, the car is easy to park and even thought the boot is no bigger it is easier to load. It's also good to find. Full sized spare in the starting price car. So, how does it drive? It's very, very good for a Corolla, and good for a Japanese car. But I've just been spoiled by Golf 7. The Corolla gets along nicely enough, promises great fuel economy and is pretty quiet on all but the worst surfaces. But it doesn't have the limo-like cushiness or the library-quiet cabin of the Volkswagen. Now we come to the gearbox... And I have to say that CVTs are about as popular as brussel sprouts with the Carsguide crew. But Toyota's engineers have added bearnaise sauce with a system that almost -- but not quite --eliminates the horrible flaring and slipping clutch sound while also giving a seven-speed drivers mode that's not as bad as a fake manual. The overall impression is a car that's more complete, and returns the Corolla to the top of the small car heap. Toyota Corolla Ascent auto Price: from $21,990 Engine: 1.8-litre 16-valve four-cylinder Transmission: CVT (with seven-speed “manual” mode), front wheel drive Power: 103kW @ 6400rpm Torque: 173Nm @ 4000rpm Fuel use/emissions: 6.6 l/100km, tank 50 litres 91RON ULP; 152g/km Brakes/safety systems: Driver and front passenger airbags, front seat side, driver’s knee and curtain airbags, stability control (Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), Traction Control). Dimensions: Length 4275mm, width 1760mm, height 1460mm, wheelbase 2600mm, cargo volume 280 litres, weight 1270kg Wheels/tyres: 16in steel wheels Win $5,000 in our People's Choice competition.  

Every day driving habits can make or break the budget when it comes to daily driving. A list of tips to improve your fuel economy is something the rally ace believes can benefit drivers young and old. Fuel economy has been an interest of the retired 55-year-old rally driver, even before it was used as a competitive advantage. "I've always been interested in fuel economy, even at university purely from the necessity of getting 50mpg out of my Mini, and in my rally career as well," he says. The multiple production-car champ recently got behind the wheel of Hyundai's new i20 in Sydney and aimed for Brisbane - a 936km trip - on one 45-litre tank of fuel, but the quest saw the bright lights of Bundaberg in the windscreen instead. The final trip distance was 1269km, using on average 4.2 litres per 100km, with the only real concession to hard-core economy driving being no air conditioning. But the Adelaide rally ace believes there are simple things that every driver can do to improve fuel economy, without freezing or frying, before they turn the key. "If you want to save fuel, the over-riding one is choosing when to use your car - the actual number of times people don't combine the journies is important. For example, make sure you don't drop the kids at school, go home and then come back to the shops, minimise the use of the car, thinking about what you do with your car every day." Mr Ordynski also believes car choice is important but drivers also need to learn the best way to drive their chosen vehicle. "No matter what vehicle you choose, learn how to drive it efficiently, take the time to learn a bit about your car. If you really want to drive efficiently, learn where its optimium performance bad is," he says. The motorsport veteran firmly believes a well-driven manual vehicle is far more efficient than either a conventional automatic or the increasingly-common double-clutch automated manual. "We're a country besotted with automatics, but there is no auto or DSG that's better for fuel economy if the driver knows how to use it (a manual gearbox) properly," he says. A small amount of research to find where the optimum operating range for your vehicle can be beneficial, says Mr Ordynski. "If you look at a graph of the torque you can work out the most efficient operating range. It doesn't effect the speed of driving at all, one of the most common things I see people doing incorrectly, the number one thing is operate the engine outside the most fuel-efficient band," he says. Australia's national vehicle fleet average is 11 litres per 100km, that's petrol-powered vehicles, if you could cut that in half by choice of vehicle and driving technique, that means big savings in cost, fuel and CO2 emissions." Drivers should also be focussed on the job of driving - for safety's sake as well as fuel economy. "One of the things about driving for efficiency is that it forces you to think about it and look ahead, I think it makes you concentrate on what you're doing, which is something I think the average motorist doesn't do. Every time you use the brakes it costs you fuel - rolling off throttle and conserving momentum coming up to traffic lights and things like that," he says. WHO IS ED ORDYNSKI? A stalwart of the Australian motorsport scene for more than three decades, rally driver Ed Ordynski, 55, has been successful in a wide array of motorsport-related activities, conducting product launches, writing for magazines and training competitors and actors both here and overseas. He has also served as Chairman of the Australian Rally Commission and Manager of Motorsports Training Australia. The Ordynski name is probably most closely linked to the Mitsubishi brand, having driven a Galant VR-4 to top spot in the 1990 Australian Rally Championship, which included the Group N production car title that year and continuing a long and successful relationship until his retirement in 2005. The Group N category title was on his mantle three more times - 1993, 1994, 1995 - all in Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions. Ordynski has also spent time in big, rear-wheel drive Holden Commodores, winning the 1995 Round Australia Trial. He has competed in China, Sweden, Finland, Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Ed's record-winning eight Group N 1st placings in Rally Australia, in the World Rally Championship, is unmatched. ED ORDYNSKI'S TOP 5 FRUGAL AND FUN CARS ED ORDYNSKI'S FUEL-SAVING TIPS Plan when you need to use your car to avoid unnecessary journies and peak-hour. Take a little time to learn about the way your car operates for best fuel efficiency. Choose an energy efficient vehicle. Concentrate on driving smoothly and anticipate traffic flow to conserve momentum. Keep tyre pressures at maximum recommended level and have your car serviced at correct intervals and keep wheel alignment at manufacturer specification. Avoid carrying excess weight and remove accessories which affect the aerodynamics (eg. roof racks). Choose a manual transmission and learn to drive it properly for optimum fuel efficiency. Avoid use of airconditioning and keep windows closed. Do not use cruise control but do focus on keeping a constant speed and conserving momentum (eg. gradually reduce speed up long hills). Switch off engine if going to be stopped for more than 10 seconds. Drive off as soon as the engine is started, especially from a cold start. With diesel engines, minimise throttle percentage, using the tallest gear with the least throttle opening. With petrol engines, minimise engine revs, regardless of throttle position, using the tallest gear the engine will allow without harshness. If you must drive an automatic, learn how to encourage it to stay in tall gears with the torque converter locked as much as possible. Steer smoothly on the correct line through corners to avoid using energy from unnecessary angle on the front wheels. GREEN VEHICLE GUIDE The Green Vehicle Guide provides an overall rating for all new cars sold in Australia based on their combined greenhouse rating and air pollution rating. The top ten overall performers and top ten sellers are based on the best performing variant for the listed model. Variants with different engines and transmissions may have lower scores. DRIVING TIPS Drive smoothly - aggressive driving can increase fuel use by up to 30 per cent, so avoid hard accelerating or braking and look ahead to read traffic flow to conserve momentum. Maintenance - a well-maintained engine can improve fuel economy by up to four per cent. Change the oil regularly, check the air filter and follow the car manufacturer's recommendation on servicing. Check the air pressure in your car's tyres - quite apart from being safer and improving longevity, a properly-inflated tyre can help with fuel use. A tyre under-inflated by one psi (pound per square inch) can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as three per cent. Get the weight out - some research suggests for every extra 45kg carried, there's a two per cent reduction in fuel efficiency. Remove roof racks or roof bars - the reduction in your car's aerodynamic efficiency can hinder fuel economy by as much as five per cent. Avoid high speeds - increased speed equals increasing wind resistance, with some research suggesting cruising at 110km/h uses up to 25 per cent more fuel than cruising at 90km/h. TOP PERFORMERS *  TOP SELLERS * * Source: Green Vehicle Guide - for more information, visit www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au.

 Apart from European hot-hatches such as the Renault Cleo Sport and Peugeot 206 GTi seldom have we seen any manufactures brave enough to bring 3 door hatch variants into our market.  Sure you can get an entry level 3 door Yaris but what about a nice 3 door Corolla Sportivo, um… sorry they don’t come in 3 door in Australia.This pattern seems to have started in the late 80s with the introduction in droves of mass produced front wheel drive hatch backs.  Remember the Pulsar SSS?  Yep that came in 3 door hatch in Japan.  How about the Corolla GTi, or Mazda 323?  Yep 3 door again overseas.At one stage in the early 90s even the iconic Golf GTi was only available in 5 door in this country.  For years Australia has been denied many of the accessories and engine options that are prevalent in Europe, the US, and even the rest of Asia, but they are happy to throw in an extra 2 doors for nothing.  There are some companies that have bucked the trend like Honda, but even they gave in to with the “5 door hatch only” Civic model a few years back.  And now it looks like the Europeans have caught on to this trend.  We are missing out on the 2 door BMW 1 series hatch it seems…Though through the gloom comes the news that Australia will shortly see the new 2 door VW Polo.  A brief hint of fun in a sea of practicality it seams.I really can’t see any reason why the Australian market seems to be so against the 3 door hatch… especially when it comes to the performance market. 

One million things on four wheels were sold for the first time in a calendar year during 2007, proving that, despite the worst efforts of the RTA

Evans navigates for husband Simon Evans who drives the Toyota Racing Development team Corolla in the national dirt rally series, the couple having won the 2006 and 2007 ARC titles

Did we also mention sideways, scary and sensational? Probably not but, then again, the Corolla we are talking about is nothing like the $20,990 showroom success you will find at your local Toyota dealer.This one has true supercar performance, speed on any surface and the ability to tame the toughest roads and rivals in the Australian Rally Championship. It also costs about $150,000.The hand-built Corolla has carried Simon and Sue Evans to an unbeaten string of wins this year on their way to back-to-back successes in the championship. It has also delivered a second straight manufacturers' title to Toyota and its rally boss, Neal Bates.Officially, the car is called a Group N(P) Corolla. Unofficially, it is a Celica GT-4 stuffed inside a Corolla body.To turn the Corolla from a sensible small car into an outrageous rally champion, Bates and his Canberra-based engineering team returned to the days when Toyota ruled rallying and snitched the go-fast stuff from the Celica, its turbocharged 2.0-litre engine and the basics of its all-wheel-drive system and five-speed manual gearbox.It took a lot more tweaking, with local developments in the electronics, driveline, brakes and suspension.But the Bates team came up with a car to go head to head with the Subaru Impreza WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer in rallying.There is only one way to really see how it goes, and that is to strap yourself into the TRD Toyota team's spare car; identical to the Evans Corolla; for an inside look at the recent NGK Rally of Melbourne.This is the final round of the 2007 title series and is run on high-speed gravel roads in the Yarra Valley.There are two days of competition, with 48 crack crews. There are the two serious TRD Corollas driven by Evans and Bates, two Ford Fiesta entries for Michael Guest and Darren Windus, and a raft of privateers led by Spencer Lowndes in a Lancer.The Corolla experience begins two days before the Friday start at Docklands with a quick sprint at a TRD test day. The Corolla fits perfectly, as you'd expect from a custom-made carbon fibre bucket seat, fully adjustable steering wheel and five-point safety belts.The turbo engine lights up from very low revs, the all-wheel-drive system fires the car between corners, and it rides over rough roads as if they are freeway-smooth bitumen.Evans is wickedly quick. Bates is fast in an all-new Corolla; with new body, non-turbo engine and special gearbox. He is developing it for a full-on attack next year. When the rally begins on the special stage near Yarra Glen, the fast guys are gone and we; myself and co-driver Anne Gigney; are back in the pack.It feels as if the Corolla is courting disaster, sliding sideways at more than 130km/h and dancing through all sorts of corners and firing up-and-down on narrow forest tracks.But the TRD terror is never threatened. Evans is going at least two seconds quicker for every kilometre, so the guest car is barely working. Just like driving the Corolla ARC.It is clearly a Corolla but, just like a V8 Supercar, the mechanical changes mean it is only the body that stays the same. Everything else is upgraded and more responsive and far, far more enjoyable.The Corolla is supercar-quick in a straight line, has mighty brakes and grippy Michelin tyres, and turns as if it is driving on bitumen. Until you tickle the throttle and set it sideways. Shortcomings? It is obviously noisy beyond anything acceptable in a regular road car. It is hot and dusty, with no airconditioning, no luggage space and seats that grip great but are not very comfortable.It is also thirsty. It sucks $3-a-litre Elf racing fuel like a hungry V8.But the Corolla ARC proves what can be done with smart minds, focused thinking and a TRD Toyota parts bin that makes a mundane car into something very special.