What Country is the Corolla Made?

[CORZZA]

Well said Graeme!

To me lexus it a much better build than BMW. Against Merc not too sure.

Lexus/Merc

Honda

BMW

[BLKRLA]

I assure you that Mercedes is not what it is cracked up to be. My boss has had his brand new 320 convertible replaced twice now because Mercedes have been unable to rectify problems with the vehicles they delivered to him after many attempts to fix them. At around 150k for the vehicle this is unacceptable.

Also, BMW Amercia has been in a lot of trouble lately as the majority of BMW models sold in Amercia are manufactured there & the vehicles they've been turning out have been pretty bad. Bad enough for people to get together to bring a class action against them.

It seems to me that manufactures aren't as concerned with quality as they used to be as people don't hang on to their vehicles as long as they used to. Manufactures bring out new models & facelifts much faster than they used to which only makes people want to keep buying the latest & greatest.

We really do live a a throw away society.

[Saiya]

Just so you guys know I have just pickup up my car from the dealership! :D

Looked at the plate and it is indeed made in Japan w00t! :D

[Buddha]

South African build quality is only bad when comparing to Japanese build quality.

No one can build anything as good as the Japanese, even EURO manufactures. Lexus build quality S&%T's all over Mercedes & BMW which are supposed to be generally the best cars in the world according to Motoring Journo's.

According to JD Power which is massive surveying house in USA Lexus has less warranty claims per owner than any other manufacturer. Some interesting things to note is that Porsche comes in last & Hyundai come in around 5th.

One thing to note is that all Sportivo's came from South Africa right up to & including the very last shipment that arrived in this country on December 2005. There are no Japanese built Sportivo's in this country even one's manufactured after June 2005. This only applies to Sportivo's.

I have owned my Sportivo now for almost 2 years & have had no problem's except for the seat rail coming a little loose, my wife has also owned a Sportivo for 3 years, no problems at all. Before this she had a Japanese Levin, The Sportivo fit & finish is not quite as goods as the Levin but only marginally & this relates to what I said before - NO ONE BUILD GOODS LIKE THE JAPANESE.

I assure you if they were built in Australia they would be worse again, just look at Commodore & Falcon. These car have always been & will always be cars that just fall apart if you look at them to long.

Just two points I'd like to make about your comments.

Firstly, the quality of locally built Toyotas from the Altona plant is regarded as good as any other Toyota plant, including Japan ... the Avalon may have had its faults, and the Camry might not be everyone's cup of tea, but there's never been an issue with the build quality of either vehicle, and the older Camrys and Corollas from the same plant are proving this in how well they are lasting as they get older.

Secondly, I can't speak for the Commodore, but the BA/BF Falcon is light years ahead of previous Falcons, even if its not quite up to Toyota standards.

Edited March 8, 2006 by Buddha

[neK]

I thought all the Corolla Sedans were made in Japan and Japan only (that was one of the reasons i got the sedan as well) and it was the hatches that got a South Africa or Japan build.

Anyways i checked mine and its built in JAPAN. YAY!!! :D

Edited March 8, 2006 by neK

[BLKRLA]

South African build quality is only bad when comparing to Japanese build quality.

No one can build anything as good as the Japanese, even EURO manufactures. Lexus build quality S&%T's all over Mercedes & BMW which are supposed to be generally the best cars in the world according to Motoring Journo's.

According to JD Power which is massive surveying house in USA Lexus has less warranty claims per owner than any other manufacturer. Some interesting things to note is that Porsche comes in last & Hyundai come in around 5th.

One thing to note is that all Sportivo's came from South Africa right up to & including the very last shipment that arrived in this country on December 2005. There are no Japanese built Sportivo's in this country even one's manufactured after June 2005. This only applies to Sportivo's.

I have owned my Sportivo now for almost 2 years & have had no problem's except for the seat rail coming a little loose, my wife has also owned a Sportivo for 3 years, no problems at all. Before this she had a Japanese Levin, The Sportivo fit & finish is not quite as goods as the Levin but only marginally & this relates to what I said before - NO ONE BUILD GOODS LIKE THE JAPANESE.

I assure you if they were built in Australia they would be worse again, just look at Commodore & Falcon. These car have always been & will always be cars that just fall apart if you look at them to long.

Just two points I'd like to make about your comments.

Firstly, the quality of locally built Toyotas from the Altona plant is regarded as good as any other Toyota plant, including Japan ... the Avalon may have had its faults, and the Camry might not be everyone's cup of tea, but there's never been an issue with the build quality of either vehicle, and the older Camrys and Corollas from the same plant are proving this in how well they are lasting as they get older.

Secondly, I can't speak for the Commodore, but the BA/BF Falcon is light years ahead of previous Falcons, even if its not quite up to Toyota standards.

I agree with everything you have said except for Australian cars being on par with Japanese cars. There is generally nothing wrong with Aussie built cars but I assure Japanese fit & finish is second to no one.

I feel I have had extensive experience on this matter as I have add the opportunity to own or drive many vehicles over last 15 years.

My Father has been employee of Toyota for 25 years & in that time he has had many different company cars, including Australian built Avalon's & Camry's.

My Father in law also has an Avalon & my mother in law has had a version of the last 2 models of Camry's.

My wife was a sales rep for 3 years & for that time she drove an Australian built Camry.

All of these vehicles have had minor build related issues with them unlike the fully imported versions Japanese versions form the earlier 90's of which I have also done many km's in.

I have owned a version of every Corolla available since 1992 including 3 Sportivo's & I found the best out of the lot for build quality was the 1992 GTI (Japanese Built). This car was a tough as nails.

Also the company I work for has a fleet of Commodores & Falcons, in excess of 50 vehicles of various ages dating back over the last few years, & covering various different models. The vast majority of these vehciles are falling apart & the most km's any of them have done is 50k. Just the other day I was in brand new Falcon with just a few thousand kays on it & the back end was squeaking so badly it sounded like the boot was bouncing up & down.

I'm sure the same principals are applied at all Toyota factories around the world but it comes down to the workers. In Australia we live by the "She'll be Right" attitude where in Japan the worker has a totally different psycology. Their culture is all about honour & saving face. A bad quality car would be considered an embarrassment.

As I also stated earlier It seems to me that quality is not on the top of the list for manufacturers anymore due to the fact that peolpe don't hang on to their cars as much as they used to.

I would also like to clarify that I'm not trying put down any of the cars that I have mentioned or the factories where they are manufactured. My intention is to defend the Sportivo & the South African factory where they are built. I get a little annoyed at people passing comment at the build quality of the Sportivo especially when the comments come form some P plater who drives another variant of Corolla & has never actually been in a Sportivo.

[redvvtli]

South African build quality is only bad when comparing to Japanese build quality.

No one can build anything as good as the Japanese, even EURO manufactures. Lexus build quality S&%T's all over Mercedes & BMW which are supposed to be generally the best cars in the world according to Motoring Journo's.

According to JD Power which is massive surveying house in USA Lexus has less warranty claims per owner than any other manufacturer. Some interesting things to note is that Porsche comes in last & Hyundai come in around 5th.

One thing to note is that all Sportivo's came from South Africa right up to & including the very last shipment that arrived in this country on December 2005. There are no Japanese built Sportivo's in this country even one's manufactured after June 2005. This only applies to Sportivo's.

I have owned my Sportivo now for almost 2 years & have had no problem's except for the seat rail coming a little loose, my wife has also owned a Sportivo for 3 years, no problems at all. Before this she had a Japanese Levin, The Sportivo fit & finish is not quite as goods as the Levin but only marginally & this relates to what I said before - NO ONE BUILD GOODS LIKE THE JAPANESE.

I assure you if they were built in Australia they would be worse again, just look at Commodore & Falcon. These car have always been & will always be cars that just fall apart if you look at them to long.

Just two points I'd like to make about your comments.

Firstly, the quality of locally built Toyotas from the Altona plant is regarded as good as any other Toyota plant, including Japan ... the Avalon may have had its faults, and the Camry might not be everyone's cup of tea, but there's never been an issue with the build quality of either vehicle, and the older Camrys and Corollas from the same plant are proving this in how well they are lasting as they get older.

Secondly, I can't speak for the Commodore, but the BA/BF Falcon is light years ahead of previous Falcons, even if its not quite up to Toyota standards.

I agree with everything you have said except for Australian cars being on par with Japanese cars. There is generally nothing wrong with Aussie built cars but I assure Japanese fit & finish is second to no one.

I feel I have had extensive experience on this matter as I have add the opportunity to own or drive many vehicles over last 15 years.

My Father has been employee of Toyota for 25 years & in that time he has had many different company cars, including Australian built Avalon's & Camry's.

My Father in law also has an Avalon & my mother in law has had a version of the last 2 models of Camry's.

My wife was a sales rep for 3 years & for that time she drove an Australian built Camry.

All of these vehicles have had minor build related issues with them unlike the fully imported versions Japanese versions form the earlier 90's of which I have also done many km's in.

I have owned a version of every Corolla available since 1992 including 3 Sportivo's & I found the best out of the lot for build quality was the 1992 GTI (Japanese Built). This car was a tough as nails.

Also the company I work for has a fleet of Commodores & Falcons, in excess of 50 vehicles of various ages dating back over the last few years, & covering various different models. The vast majority of these vehciles are falling apart & the most km's any of them have done is 50k. Just the other day I was in brand new Falcon with just a few thousand kays on it & the back end was squeaking so badly it sounded like the boot was bouncing up & down.

I'm sure the same principals are applied at all Toyota factories around the world but it comes down to the workers. In Australia we live by the "She'll be Right" attitude where in Japan the worker has a totally different psycology. Their culture is all about honour & saving face. A bad quality car would be considered an embarrassment.

As I also stated earlier It seems to me that quality is not on the top of the list for manufacturers anymore due to the fact that peolpe don't hang on to their cars as much as they used to.

I would also like to clarify that I'm not trying put down any of the cars that I have mentioned or the factories where they are manufactured. My intention is to defend the Sportivo & the South African factory where they are built. I get a little annoyed at people passing comment at the build quality of the Sportivo especially when the comments come form some P plater who drives another variant of Corolla & has never actually been in a Sportivo.

Well written. Let me add that there is nothing wrong with getting a car that has a few faults . What matters is that the dealership network that has been set up to distribute the product is capable of diagnosis and rectification of any faults. The tone of an organisation is critical in this regard. My sportivo has two key faults - one that requires a lot of effort to diagnose. The dealer - which I will 'out' in due course has had my vehicle 3 times and has failed to even diagnose. The point is, it is the attitude of the local network that needs to be considered here.

Regards

[Grey-Rolla]

i cant find the code where abouts is it???? HELP

where are conquests made???

[Buddha]

South African build quality is only bad when comparing to Japanese build quality.

No one can build anything as good as the Japanese, even EURO manufactures. Lexus build quality S&%T's all over Mercedes & BMW which are supposed to be generally the best cars in the world according to Motoring Journo's.

According to JD Power which is massive surveying house in USA Lexus has less warranty claims per owner than any other manufacturer. Some interesting things to note is that Porsche comes in last & Hyundai come in around 5th.

One thing to note is that all Sportivo's came from South Africa right up to & including the very last shipment that arrived in this country on December 2005. There are no Japanese built Sportivo's in this country even one's manufactured after June 2005. This only applies to Sportivo's.

I have owned my Sportivo now for almost 2 years & have had no problem's except for the seat rail coming a little loose, my wife has also owned a Sportivo for 3 years, no problems at all. Before this she had a Japanese Levin, The Sportivo fit & finish is not quite as goods as the Levin but only marginally & this relates to what I said before - NO ONE BUILD GOODS LIKE THE JAPANESE.

I assure you if they were built in Australia they would be worse again, just look at Commodore & Falcon. These car have always been & will always be cars that just fall apart if you look at them to long.

Just two points I'd like to make about your comments.

Firstly, the quality of locally built Toyotas from the Altona plant is regarded as good as any other Toyota plant, including Japan ... the Avalon may have had its faults, and the Camry might not be everyone's cup of tea, but there's never been an issue with the build quality of either vehicle, and the older Camrys and Corollas from the same plant are proving this in how well they are lasting as they get older.

Secondly, I can't speak for the Commodore, but the BA/BF Falcon is light years ahead of previous Falcons, even if its not quite up to Toyota standards.

I agree with everything you have said except for Australian cars being on par with Japanese cars. There is generally nothing wrong with Aussie built cars but I assure Japanese fit & finish is second to no one.

I feel I have had extensive experience on this matter as I have add the opportunity to own or drive many vehicles over last 15 years.

My Father has been employee of Toyota for 25 years & in that time he has had many different company cars, including Australian built Avalon's & Camry's.

My Father in law also has an Avalon & my mother in law has had a version of the last 2 models of Camry's.

My wife was a sales rep for 3 years & for that time she drove an Australian built Camry.

All of these vehicles have had minor build related issues with them unlike the fully imported versions Japanese versions form the earlier 90's of which I have also done many km's in.

I have owned a version of every Corolla available since 1992 including 3 Sportivo's & I found the best out of the lot for build quality was the 1992 GTI (Japanese Built). This car was a tough as nails.

Also the company I work for has a fleet of Commodores & Falcons, in excess of 50 vehicles of various ages dating back over the last few years, & covering various different models. The vast majority of these vehciles are falling apart & the most km's any of them have done is 50k. Just the other day I was in brand new Falcon with just a few thousand kays on it & the back end was squeaking so badly it sounded like the boot was bouncing up & down.

I'm sure the same principals are applied at all Toyota factories around the world but it comes down to the workers. In Australia we live by the "She'll be Right" attitude where in Japan the worker has a totally different psycology. Their culture is all about honour & saving face. A bad quality car would be considered an embarrassment.

As I also stated earlier It seems to me that quality is not on the top of the list for manufacturers anymore due to the fact that peolpe don't hang on to their cars as much as they used to.

I would also like to clarify that I'm not trying put down any of the cars that I have mentioned or the factories where they are manufactured. My intention is to defend the Sportivo & the South African factory where they are built. I get a little annoyed at people passing comment at the build quality of the Sportivo especially when the comments come form some P plater who drives another variant of Corolla & has never actually been in a Sportivo.

I take your point, but its a slightly different kettle of fish with fleet vehicles that have multiple drivers ... they tend to be either thrashed, not maintained or a combination of both ... the best built cars in the world will start to look ragged in that environment!

Most of my friends are Ford fans, so I see a lot of Falcons and Territorys of various ages but none of them have had any issues worth mentioning, apart from some disc machining done under warranty on an 02 XR6.

And its fair to say that even Toyotas built in Japan can have their faults, and occasionally major ones ... my last car, a 98 Starlet, was about 10K old when the manual gearbox packed it in ... I changed down from 5th to 4th, not driving hard at all, and that's where the lever stopped. I could shift back up to 5th, but not back down lower than 4th. I was pretty narky about it, as you'd assume, but it didn't stop me buying another Toyota, because its clearly a one-off, and Toyota were quick to have the box rebuilt, not another issue to be had in the 150K after that.

I'm not going to bag SA-built cars, because I've never owned one day-in day-out to tell, but its clear on this forum that the Sportivo's have had more than their fair share of little issues, annoying, but not enough to stop people from enjoying their cars as they do.

But having said that, people here are more likely to notice a lot of issues, because we're enthusiasts and we're picky when it comes to our pride-and-joy's. As much as we hate to think it, most Corollas are bought as shopping trolley's and A-B cars, and those buyers are just going to drive the car without noticing the stuff we do.

Anyway, why are we spending precious time bagging out other Toyota's? Holden have a car yard of Daewoo's to pick on! :P

[Conquest]

i cant find the code where abouts is it???? HELP

where are conquests made???

Should be in a number of places - stamped on the firewall, on the compliance plate & also on your rego papers. If you bought it new then the bill of sale should also show when it was built & how it was shipped to Australia.

My Conquest VIN starts with JT which I believe is Japan build B)

[neK]

And its fair to say that even Toyotas built in Japan can have their faults, and occasionally major ones ... my last car, a 98 Starlet, was about 10K old when the manual gearbox packed it in ... I changed down from 5th to 4th, not driving hard at all, and that's where the lever stopped. I could shift back up to 5th, but not back down lower than 4th. I was pretty narky about it, as you'd assume, but it didn't stop me buying another Toyota, because its clearly a one-off, and Toyota were quick to have the box rebuilt, not another issue to be had in the 150K after that.

Definately.

My mate bought his Corolla Ascent ZZE122 in Nov 2002 (brand new).

The fault started with left hand turns, when going into left turns the car would shake (the same shake when you are in the wrong gear and your engine is lagging - when we turned a left corner @ 30~40km). I found the only way around this was to force a down shift in a turn (the car was an AUTO).

Mine also had the same problem, but it wasnt as pronounced as his, but mines gone away since then.

The 2nd fault with his car was the cold start, the car would shake like no tomorrow, it turned out that one of the cables connection the spark plugs was kinda loose or something (thank *** we go Toyota to fix it under warranty, car was about 2 years 10 months old :P ).

Overall the car has been good, but not without its faults.

[CORZZA]

ir you guys are looking for cars with no faults then you gotta buy a lambo,ferrari,masarati,aston martin,rolls royce. Get my drift!

and even these cars being hand built still have a fault somewhere!

[RME1]

My conquest is a 2003 SA model....i had to change the brake pads ( ONLY DONE 30,000 -and i only did 10000 of them!!!!) today, whilst getting the suspension done.... GRRRR I'm going to get owned by the service ppl come march 20 ... :( ... <_< i envision frowns when they see suspension and exhaust or maybe cheers :D ? ...hehe and that Intial D treuno on the dash :P

[BLKRLA]

My conquest is a 2003 SA model....i had to change the brake pads ( ONLY DONE 30,000 -and i only did 10000 of them!!!!) today, whilst getting the suspension done.... GRRRR I'm going to get owned by the service ppl come march 20 ... :( ... <_< i envision frowns when they see suspension and exhaust or maybe cheers :D ? ...hehe and that Intial D treuno on the dash :P

Did you actually see the worn brake pads for yourself or did they just tell you they need replacing?

Do you drive an Auto or Manual? 30k is not to bad for Auto.

I'm will be hitting 40k soon & my front pads will be due for replacement, this is normal for a manual.

[RME1]

My conquest is a 2003 SA model....i had to change the brake pads ( ONLY DONE 30,000 -and i only did 10000 of them!!!!) today, whilst getting the suspension done.... GRRRR I'm going to get owned by the service ppl come march 20 ... :( ... <_< i envision frowns when they see suspension and exhaust or maybe cheers :D ? ...hehe and that Intial D treuno on the dash :P

Did you actually see the worn brake pads for yourself or did they just tell you they need replacing?

Do you drive an Auto or Manual? 30k is not to bad for Auto.

I'm will be hitting 40k soon & my front pads will be due for replacement, this is normal for a manual.

lol, nar mate, i saw the brake pad, it was almost metal on metal, and mine is manual B) ...maybe the previous owner went a little skizo every now and then? ....or maybe that's just me - yeah probably just me.... :( damn

Has anyone else experienced a 'lipped' rotor? how much does it cost to replace a stock rotor? fronts?

[kelvinsw]

it was hard to choose between Mazda 3 & Corolla. But think about the reseller value, and build quality, Toyota won't go wrong.

[Saiya]

it was hard to choose between Mazda 3 & Corolla. But think about the reseller value, and build quality, Toyota won't go wrong.

I dont trust Mazda. Thats why I got a Corolla. :D

[BLKRLA]

My conquest is a 2003 SA model....i had to change the brake pads ( ONLY DONE 30,000 -and i only did 10000 of them!!!!) today, whilst getting the suspension done.... GRRRR I'm going to get owned by the service ppl come march 20 ... :( ... <_< i envision frowns when they see suspension and exhaust or maybe cheers :D ? ...hehe and that Intial D treuno on the dash :P

Did you actually see the worn brake pads for yourself or did they just tell you they need replacing?

Do you drive an Auto or Manual? 30k is not to bad for Auto.

I'm will be hitting 40k soon & my front pads will be due for replacement, this is normal for a manual.

lol, nar mate, i saw the brake pad, it was almost metal on metal, and mine is manual B) ...maybe the previous owner went a little skizo every now and then? ....or maybe that's just me - yeah probably just me.... :( damn

Has anyone else experienced a 'lipped' rotor? how much does it cost to replace a stock rotor? fronts?

Someone likes to barke hard.

I had lipped rotors on my old car after 20k. Got them machined, problem fixed. Suppose it depends on how bad the lip is.

Not sure how much genuine rotors are, probably expensive. Maybe you should look at getting a set of DBA slotted rotors. they will give you much better braking for less money.

[CORZZA]

it was hard to choose between Mazda 3 & Corolla. But think about the reseller value, and build quality, Toyota won't go wrong.

I dont trust Mazda. Thats why I got a Corolla. :D

My reason for a toyota too!