Looking at buying a corolla sportivo

[sakas]

Hi All

I am with in days of becoming the owner of a 2003 corolla sportivo and just wanted to know if there was anything to look out for. ie known problems mechanically that can come back and bite you. The car has low Km's with full service history. Any advice from you guy's who live with them would be great. I am struggling to fault this pocket rocket. How serious is this clutch/gearbox gear change problem I keep seeing pop up in the forums.

Cheers

Edited November 19, 2008 by sakas

[chicaboo]

Hi Sakas,

The clutch issue is bad enough on my car that only after 1 month of owning it I've gone and lashed out on a brand new Exedy HD clutch which I will be getting installed soon. You will need to bank on this costing you atleast $1000 all up, so consider that in the price negotiations. I could perhaps live with the clutch until it dies totally (which is not long considering it chatters and slips), but I can't imagine it's doing my syncros any good while not clearing the cogs the best it can. Mind you, I'm a very fussy (and pushy I'm told) so and so...

Other than that you get groaning from your front brakes when you are almost stopped with slightly firm braking pressure. Toyota checked my brakes out when they adjusted my clutch earlier in the week, and couldn't fault them. So I guess it's just a trait of the car.

Beyond that, I cannot fault the Sportivo. If you move up to the facelifted model you will get the joys of an MP3 headunit (not sure if it 6 stack in dash though?). It's awesome car with better stock handling (and more enjoyable) than an SP20.

Cheers, Gav.

[SuperDave]

Beyond that, I cannot fault the Sportivo. If you move up to the facelifted model you will get the joys of an MP3 headunit (not sure if it 6 stack in dash though?). It's awesome car with better stock handling (and more enjoyable) than an SP20.

Yep, it is a 6 stack on the facelift also.

The clutch/gearbox issues as well as the brake issue only affects some cars, not all. Friday afternoon specials To check the clutch issue is fairly easy, just try and change into second gear at 8000rpm, if you can't then it hasn't been adjusted/fixed yet.

[chicaboo]

Infact, I think my VIN/chassis number is AHT-FR1D4Y! :P

Joking, Gav.

[sakas]

Thanks Guy's

The car is off to my mechanic tomorrow for the once over.He deals with alot of tuned cars and said he has owned a sportivo. I will take your advice Superdave with the gear change. Hope it works out I had a RS2000 years age and have dearly missed having a enjoyable car to drive since the wife made me sell it. By the way she loves the rolla and gave it hell when she first got in it. Again thanks for the help.

Cheers

Sakas