Blade Hunter

Well it sure is a while since I posted on here but I used to be quite active back in the day when I first bought the sportivo in 2003, then we had the meetup and group installed our door sill lights :). Anyway, I just dropped in to say goodbye, the car has been great but its time to upgrade, we pick up our new Liberty GT Premium on Wednesday :). Going to list the Sportivo at $12K I think, couple of small scratches (to be expected for a 7 year old car) and I just want a quick sale, do you guys think this is a fair price?

Hehehe I sold it twelve years ago mate :(. Hopefuly soon I will have another and I have two option: 1) restore it and end up with a cool mini or 2) (And this is the best idea) Remove the engine and chop from the bottom of the windscreen off, take all windows of so you end up with a shell with no top from the bonnet height. Remove the seats and put swivel seats in. Have the driver and passenger ones facing backwards and the two rear ones facing forwards. In between them, build a cocktail cabinet. Spray the car a nice colour and leave it in the corner next to the bar in my garage. Project MiniMame may well come to fruition one day ;)

Yeah my mechanic was a pro racer, his name was Warwick Augustin. That little 4-AGE powered mini was gorgeus, unfortunately I never actually got to see him run but I am told that he was pulling times equal to some of the V8 utes going around wakefield. Hehehe the pre resto was after I tried to park a commodore in the engine bay, it didn't fit ;)

Well I have gone on about it long enough, I finally found some old photos of my first car so I scanned them in and here it is, Bear in mind, This was my baby 12 years ago. I know its not a corolla but my mini mechanic had one with a 4-AGE in it ;)

Unless you were in a 50 zone, they can't book you for 5 over as speedometer units have a variance of up to 10%.

Ear plugs?? :P

Off topic but mate, they are just beautiful, good job on the resto.

The sky is clear, light refracting on the atmosphere gives the impression of colour. As the sun is on the in or out, it gives a red as that level of refraction is closest to the red end of the spectrum. Blue is more towards being almost straight on. Anyway, completely irrelevant to the topic but wanted to share as this is the only time in my life since leaving school (16 years ago) that Physics has been of any use to me whatso******ingever :P

Nice, looks like a peugot

Hehehe another one: There is a corolla there somewhere Better angle

If money was no issue, I would buy a maserati but if money were a factor, I would probably get the TRD Aurion :) or a nice Audi.

I currently have a 2003 Corolla Sportivo. I have been having issues with my left foot and it is starting to ache now after 30 mins of driving manual. I don't want to lose the leather seats or climate control so I am changing to a 2003 Camry Azura. Incidentally they go for around the same price :) Looking forward to driving that auto 6 and to be honest, I am really looking forward to not having some stupid potatoe head try to run me every set of lights :).

If it were a project that I was going to do, I would not reccomend the 2ZZGE for the AE86, I would sooner go a motor that was designed for a RWD car. Its an old engine but I was always a fan of the CA18 DET as can be seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_CA_engine#CA18DET . Even older but still a great motor is the FJ20ET http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_FJ_engine#FJ20ET , these can be wroked quite nicely and in an AE86 I would think would be a good choice.

I have to agree, I love the more angular look of the 123 pre. My sister in law has one of the new Rolla hatches and it just looks like Toyota have taken a Yaris and stretched it to try and make it look more like a peugot. Its a bold call but I think the ZZE123 pre facelift Sportivo is the hottest looking corolla since the AE86 (Seriously, who doesn't love this car) with the 87 Twin Cam coming in very closely behind. Sharp angles, thats what im talking about. None of this boring Euro styling.

I know the above was directed at a different person but thought I would post a few findings on fuel economy. For my most recent tank I have pushed the accelerator no further than 10% and have changed at 2K - 3K revs. I am not finding too much of an improvement over my usual driving style which is a little heavier on the pedal (about 20 - 25% depressed). HOWEVER, for the first 150 K's, I had two extra people in the back with a combined weight of around 260 Kilos I would say. Considering my missus and I have a combined weight of 140, this is a large difference and I noticed even though I was not pushing the car hard, I was still going through the fuel in that 150K's rather quickly as it takes more fuel to provide the power to get the car up to speed. I usually change around 2 - 4 K on the tacho anyway so no big change there. I found the biggest boost to my economy was fortnightly checks of tire pressure. Short version, Best fuel economy tips according to me: Tire pressure, Remove excess weight from the car, Push your accelerator no further than 10 - 15% of the way down, Shift at 2,500 to 3,500 revs Run a good premium unleaded fuel (I prefer Caltex Vortex 98) Make sure you have the oil in the car at or just below Maximum and change the oil and filter regularly, gooey gummy old oil will retard the motor and reduce performance against fuel used. Hope that helps someone. Edit: Hehehe, in saying all this, I am about to get rid of the fairly economical Sportivo and get an auto 6Cyl Camry Azura :P

I am about to sell the same thing but with no mods and higher K's. I was going to list at $17,000 and let them talk me down to $16,000 Up to you though. Just look on carsales.com.au and see what the other ones listed are going for. Oh and just an aside. Your stereo and mods will add zero bucks onto the price. If I were you and you still had the original deck, I would swap them back over and keep your good one cos you aint gonna get the money for it when selling the car.

I agree, totally. My car is so much more responsive on Vortex98 than any other fuel :).

Thanks but I am looking to spend under 20. I am also Sydney based (Although I have done the Syd QLD drive on Day one of owning a new car before :) ). I will get about 17 for the Sportivo. I would be looking to spend that and maybe just a couple more on the conversion. I am not looking to buy a new car, Just want to change from the sporty little car to the luxurious family sized car :).

I use Vortex 98. I check my tire pressure every 2 weeks. I check my oil every month. I can't remember the last time I hit lift. In fact, I can't remember the last time I depressed my accelerator further than about 10% of the way down. I pull about 7.5 L/100. Not bad for an 03 Sportivo :). This is all driving into Sydney (Via North Sydney to drop the wife off) every day.

I was kind of thinking that too. I have leather seats and power options now, I don't want to downgrade but rather get something with similar or greater comforts and a bit more relaxed :). I do however think that the Aurion is one of the better looking cars on the market. Might save that upgrade for after the Camry when I can afford the luxury Aurion :). Thanks guys for your posts, I will still look into the Aurion as an option.

I currently have a ZZE123 Corolla Sportivo and am thinking of getting rid of it and getting a 3 year old Camry Azura. I am getting older and want the comfort of an Auto 6 and a car that not everyone wants to run at the lights :(. We also want some seat comfort. My missus is incredibly uncomfortable in the Sportivo seats. Are the Camry ones the same or are they more comfortable seats? Is there anything I should look out for when checking out the Azuras? Thanks in advance for any advice.

The lotus runs a supercharged 2ZZ I think.

Mine has always done it, I assume you are talking about the sort of whooping sound. I just figured Sammy (My Sportivo) had found his own little way of telling me he loves me ;)

you could start the car and wiper, then turn the engine off when the wiper is at the right angle... The spoiler was directly over the wiper, even when pointing up the arm could not move because the hinge was below the spoiler.

I had this setup on my Daewoo Lanos Sport (Yeah yeah, go ahead and laugh) before I bought the Sportivo it looked good, don't bank on ever being able to lift your rear windscreen wiper or change the blade without lots of grunting and swearing :)