Brand new Corolla

[Novashine]

So, i grabbed myself a new 06' Corolla, a base Ascent Model. Auto transmission.

To make myself clear at the start, this car is going to be just a family car. Not gonna be thrown on any dyno, any racetrack. Just used to get from point A to B as cheaply as possible.

Anyway, prior to buying this car, we drove another Corolla, a 05' Ascent with 15,000ks on the clock hired from No Birds, also an auto and comparing the performance we percieved from both cars, the hired car was very noticeably more powerful. I know the engine in the Hired car has a couple more kW, but i didnt think the difference would be that big.

Oh, and the manufacture date on my new car would be June 06, so it would be a new 1ZZFE engine with 93kW at 6krpm.

It's also doing 9.5l/100k for mixed motorway/city driving, which kind of sucks given that everyone who drives this car dosnt have a heavy foot and that the spec is 7.5l/100k. Is this normal for a new engine too?

Also, the car is at 1,400km so the 1,500km service is comming up too, do i need to buy anything for that? Maybe engine oil, oil filters, coolant, etc?

Also, is there anything else i need to know about a new 'Rolla? Do i drive it hard or baby it for it's first few steps?

Any advice would be appreciated

[Northy]

its a new car so its not going to make as much power as a run in one its also going to use more fuel/oil etc till everything settels down, nothing needed for the service either.

[kelvinsw]

enjoy it mate.

[Novashine]

enjoy it mate.

hehe, thanks, but the question that's been bouncing around in my head is that ive heard conflicting reports.

they say if i drive it hard, the engine will get thrashed very easily permanently

whilst ive heard again that if i baby the engine, it will drive like a granny car for the rest of it's life.

So which one's true?

Also, is it worth changing the oil at the 1500k service? and if so, do i go for the nice synthetic stuff, or just some plain mineral oil?

[Saiya]

Ive got an 06 Auto and I get about 7-8L max per 100Km. Mix of start stop and hwy driving. Thats using normal regular unleaded.

With your first service checkup get them to change the oil and oil filter. It cost around $60 as you wont have to pay for any labour costs and it gives the engine a clean out of any metal filings that have worn from the new engine. You could even do another service at the 5K mark like I did just to be on the safe side.

[kelvinsw]

enjoy it mate.

hehe, thanks, but the question that's been bouncing around in my head is that ive heard conflicting reports.

they say if i drive it hard, the engine will get thrashed very easily permanently

whilst ive heard again that if i baby the engine, it will drive like a granny car for the rest of it's life.

So which one's true?

Also, is it worth changing the oil at the 1500k service? and if so, do i go for the nice synthetic stuff, or just some plain mineral oil?

I think no big deal...Manual said take it easy, don't push...Hey, but is Toyota Engine, so I pushed close to redline sometime when break in...Of course after warm up.

I did my first oil change at 1000K at Toyota...I just want to change that is it.

[CAP]

When running in a car - don't baby it, and don't thrash it. Just drive it normally.

For the first 1000km adjustment/checkup, it's a good idea to have the oil and filter changed. It's not necessary but it's just a good preventative measure.

Fuel economy will improve as it runs in.