Toyota Corolla 1.8 VVT-Li

[alex b]

Hi

I'm in the process of choosing a new(used) car at the moment, and pretty close to the top of my list is the Toyota Corolla 1.8 VVT-Li.

I understand these are roughly 190 bhp & have the same sort of engine principles as the Type-r V-tec engines.

Could anyone give me an insight into what these cars are like please?

Thanks

Al

[tali1]

wasn't really rated by the media, who prefered rivals such a type -r.It is rare and discreet though , even rarer is the compressor model which replaced the vvt-i.
Friend raced his vvt-i against type-r and vvt-i was winner

[bosscerbera]

Corolla VVTLi/T-Sport is transformed with SP supercharger conversion and chassis/handling tweaks. Transformed enough to easily get the better of CTRs.

Makes a nice fast car - great build quality, speed with stealth.

SP has a demonstrator if you're interested.

[alex b]

How much is the SP charger conversion out of interest?

[MrFlibbles]

tali1 said:

wasn't really rated by the media, who prefered rivals such a type -r.It is rare and discreet though , even rarer is the compressor model which replaced the vvt-i.
Friend raced his vvt-i against type-r and vvt-i was winner

I "compared" the 190 T Sport against the S2k, and absolutly annihilated it. (50 bhp more though I guess helps)

[bosscerbera]

alex b said:

How much is the SP charger conversion out of interest?

£4299 based on a T-Sport/VVTLi (+60bhp)
£2199 based on a Toyota Compressor (+35bhp)

The final output depends on the base engine's output - quite a few don't make the claimed 190bhp. The Toyota Compressor (about 190 exist in the UK) makes a claimed 215bhp to start with.

The details are on the SP web site. The SP demonstrator is fitted with everything - chassis and brake tweaks are strongly recommended with the SP motor, and budget for a sports clutch if the car's got a few miles on its present clutch. A worn clutch can hang on to the standard engine's output but not the almost double torque in the midrange when supercharged and intercooled.

[tali1]

iirc there are 250 compressors in uk - including rarer 5 dr and quite a few colours for such a limited run car

[emicen]

Funnily enough I was looking at the back of a Corolla driving to work today in traffic and just after concluding it had the shoddiest fitting twin box exhaust ever, I noticed the Compressor badge along with the T-Sport one.

Hope to god that wasnt oem, the boxes were massively different sizes and hung completely squint.

[tali1]

MrFlibbles said:

tali1 said:

wasn't really rated by the media, who prefered rivals such a type -r.It is rare and discreet though , even rarer is the compressor model which replaced the vvt-i.
Friend raced his vvt-i against type-r and vvt-i was winner

I "compared" the 190 T Sport against the S2k, and absolutly annihilated it. (50 bhp more though I guess helps)

S2k ?

[pbirkett]

Is the Corolla "blessed" with the same crappy gearbox as the Celica T-Sport?

I felt the 2ZZ engine was a good engine, with a nice note, but it was ruined by a horrendously notchy, pointlessly tall geared box, which made it extremely hard work to keep on cam...

Not all that fast either, really, which could again be blamed on the gearing. I know for example, it was slower than my old clio 182, which in turn, was not as quick as a CTR, so i am struggling to believe a Corolla T-Sport would be faster than a CTR.

[RobCrezz]

tali1 said:

wasn't really rated by the media, who prefered rivals such a type -r.It is rare and discreet though , even rarer is the compressor model which replaced the vvt-i.
Friend raced his vvt-i against type-r and vvt-i was winner

:lol:

I dont think the Type R was racing.

[MrFlibbles]

tali1 said:

MrFlibbles said:

tali1 said:

wasn't really rated by the media, who prefered rivals such a type -r.It is rare and discreet though , even rarer is the compressor model which replaced the vvt-i.
Friend raced his vvt-i against type-r and vvt-i was winner

I "compared" the 190 T Sport against the S2k, and absolutly annihilated it. (50 bhp more though I guess helps)

S2k ?

The S2000 in my profile

[bosscerbera]

pbirkett said:

Is the Corolla "blessed" with the same crappy gearbox as the Celica T-Sport?

I felt the 2ZZ engine was a good engine, with a nice note, but it was ruined by a horrendously notchy, pointlessly tall geared box, which made it extremely hard work to keep on cam...

Not all that fast either, really, which could again be blamed on the gearing. I know for example, it was slower than my old clio 182, which in turn, was not as quick as a CTR, so i am struggling to believe a Corolla T-Sport would be faster than a CTR.

Gearbox can be transformed easily with a quickshift kit.

SP Compressor conversion doesn't need to be 'kept on the boil' - it has sufficient torque to drive 1-2-4-6 through the gears. The torque/power curves are much more conventional than the odd drop-off before the cam change at 6200rpm. Proper torque plateau from around 3,000rpm and a power curve that rises all the way up to 8400rpm.

T-Sport is slower than its peers for sure. T-Sport Compressor improves the midrange torque of the T-Sport but the SP version adds an intercooler amongst other things so add about 60bhp to a T-Sport, or 35bhp to a standard Compressor. That's sufficient grunt to keep up with the latest hot hatches like the Astra VXR and Focus ST.