Yaris T Sport, Corolla- T sport or ...?

[exelero]

Here I am again. I’m thinking about selling My Saab and getting something more fun yet economical and a bit of practicality wouldn’t hurt either. I had a Celica before albeit the 140 bhp version and I loved the reliability and the fact that I never had tho wonder if it’ll star or not, gearbox pretty good and just loved it because I could rev the nuts out of it and not needing to worry about my licence being lost or whatever. With the Saab however with it being mapped to stage one, it has a lot of power and torque and can’t rev it because it actually moves too.
Now I’ve been thinking about a Yaris T sport for some weeks and then I thought about a corolla T sport. They’ve both got 5 seats and what not, although I think the Yaris would not be suitable for longer journeys ( I don’t do them often but would need something that is more stable on the motorway). Any warm hatch would tho other than these two. What am I missing?
Thanks

[ZX10R NIN]

How much do you want to spend\?

[exelero]

Not a lot to be fair. Around a grand or two

[cheddar]

I think the standard PH answer to this is a Clio 172/182.

Bombproof engine, fragile knick knacks.

[exelero]

I’m scared of the french stuff to be fair

[cheddar]

exelero said:

I’m scared of the french stuff to be fair

So was I, bought one, daily drove and tracked it, not a single thing went wrong.

Citroen's, not so much...

I own a Japper hot hatch for just your reasons of reliability but this model isn't common in the UK.

[Roboticarm]

I had a Celica 140 a few years back and then a gen6 track car, still pretty active on Celica club even now.

I currently have a corolla t sport, mine is the facelift model on a 55 plate, paid just over shed money for it.
It's comfy, reliable, fairly interesting to drive, really fun after 6k rpm when lift kicks in.

Slight negatives: it's pretty thirsty fuel wise for what it is, it's not great at anything above 70mph as it's geared low, not hurting anything as it's good for 8.2k rpm, just a bit noisy.

For what I paid I couldn't find anything as much fun and as safe a buy for the money.

The Celica 140 was slower and much less practical than the corolla but was a better long distance cruiser as it's geared better for the motorway runs.

I didn't look at the t sport Yaris but was tempted by the later 1.8sr models.

[exelero]

What do you mean by thirsty? Also how much rom at 70 in 6th gear?

[vtecyo]

EP3 Civic.

[designforlife]

Yaris T-sport will be fine... I run a bB which is essentially a Yaris T-sport with a 4 speed auto box, and it'll quite happily sit at 80 on the motorway without being loud or uncomfortable... easy enough to get near 40mpg on long runs too.

The 1NZFE engine is very solidly built, and chain driven... The only real watch out that comes to mind is that they have a tendancy to eat front droplinks so it's worth upgrading to poly ones if they need doing.

[ZX10R NIN]

At this price point there are a few cars I'd look at:

Focus ST 170

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Celica T Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

GTI 180

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Or seeing as you were looking at a T Sport Corolla a leftfield option but a decent warm hatch is the 1.6T Astra

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[JBUK]

Yaris T-Sport will take everything you can throw at it. Decent fun and quick enough to keep you interested, used to borrow my partners a lot of the time because of the fun factor. Super cheap now, might know of one in Reading if it hasn't been moved on yet.

It will eat droplinks and probably burn a bit of oil but otherwise bombproof.

[FiringOnThree]

+1 for the Yaris. Had rear seats that slid back and forth so you could choose between boot space and rear legroom for that practicality element

[JBUK]

FiringOnThree said:

+1 for the Yaris. Had rear seats that slid back and forth so you could choose between boot space and rear legroom for that practicality element

Forgot about that, decent for tip runs as well and was handy as a workhorse when we moved or needed to collect gardening crap.

[Roboticarm]

exelero said:

What do you mean by thirsty? Also how much rom at 70 in 6th gear?

I've never measured the mpg but did fill up yesterday so could do it. It drinks alot more than the Celica did which for same cc engine and not that different performance feels like a negative.
I think it's about 4k rpm at 80 (leptons of course as I'd never speed) but will check on drive home and report back

[Roboticarm]

ZX10R NIN said:

At this price point there are a few cars I'd look at:

Focus ST 170

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Celica T Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

GTI 180

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Or seeing as you were looking at a T Sport Corolla a leftfield option but a decent warm hatch is the 1.6T Astra

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

If it helps I did consider the the focus and the Peugeot, Peugeot seemed to have more issues than the Toyota in terms of reliability although alot were electrical type items and a few people reported the focus liked to rust, all just from internet research but by comparison the only negatives I could find on the corolla were around people finding that it was as sporty to drive as they'd hoped.

[Roboticarm]

Didn't realise they did a 1.6t astra, that looks pretty sweet

[ZX10R NIN]

Roboticarm said:

If it helps I did consider the the focus and the Peugeot, Peugeot seemed to have more issues than the Toyota in terms of reliability although alot were electrical type items and a few people reported the focus liked to rust, all just from internet research but by comparison the only negatives I could find on the corolla were around people finding that it was as sporty to drive as they'd hoped.

Take a look at the Astra, the Focus's are pretty robust rust can be an issue but there are some well looked after ones out there.

[Ankh87]

Having owned both Yaris TS (actually using a Yaris TS now as well) and Corolla TS and a friend owns a Celica TS I can say that all are solid cars.
Depending on your budget and how much power you want, depends on what you can get.

I love Toyotas and pretty much know everything about the Yaris and Corolla TS. Brilliant cars and by far the best cars I've owned and I've had a fair few.


If you need 5 seats which turns out to be really 4 seats in the Yaris then you are best getting the Corolla but you need to get a facelift version. So much nicer inside and out. Comes with extras that the pre-facelift didn't.


Issues with the Yaris are:
as soon as you get 3 people in the car you can feel it struggle. Anyone 6 foot cannot sit in the back and will struggle in the front.
Speakers are only in the front and are trash.
Seating position is high. Not to everyone's taste
Exhaust parts are a pain to get hold of so you will more than likely need to go custom.
Not that comfy for any long distances. I use mine for a 75 mile round trip and you can feel it.


Positives of the Yaris:
Reliable as owt. Mine stood for 4 months (started up every weekend). Started using it again and never missed a beat.
Cheap parts. Cheap to insure and run.
Easy to drive. Fun for inner city driving and council estate bashing.
Rear bench moves in one piece giving extra boot space. Most people don't know about this but has been a life saver over my years with a yaris.


Issues with the Corolla:
Its fairly thirsty but what do you expect from a mid 2000s car that has to be reved
Seating position is a little high. If the rails break they are a pain to fix or get replacement for.
Noisy on the motorway as it sits fairly high.
16" alloys are rubbish. You will want to replace them first off.


Positives for the Corolla:
Cheap to insure as most companies don't see it like the Civic Type R
8200rpm redline. Lift is addictive and comes on much stronger than vtec
Sort of a sleeper car as most people don't know what they are.
5 seats with a decent size boot


Overall if you have enough money for a facelift Corolla T Sport go for it. You won't be disappointed. If someone offered me a Corolla T Sport I'd take it without thinking. They are solid cars and once you learn how to shift to keep it in the power band you'll love it.


Things to look for are to see when the lift bolts were changed. This is a fairly easy job and cheap if you do it yourself. Last time I bought bolts they were £10 and rocker cover gasket was £5. Takes 20 minutes to do. Only problem is they sometimes seize up and well you need to take it somewhere that will be able to get them out.

[avenger286]

Twingo 133 over the yaris ts if you can get away with 4 seats.
Equally as reliable but more fun in every way.