Emmanuel

NWICEEEEEEEEEEEEE shots Pete!!!!!!!!

Ya can see my Levin ZR in one of the photos!:P

schweeet.....count me in. Tis will be my first meet up if i do end up going. Hope we get a good turn up!

WOWWWW......looks like a hard hit to the front!. The rear and sides dont look too bad. Tis a Work in progress. Where did ya get the new front?

Pinpointing and actually fixing rattles are very difficult. It is hard to find a dealer that has the time to troubleshoot these kind of problems. Castle Hill Toyota and Sydney City Toyota Waterloo are the two 'must go' dealers.

We had a very foggy and cold morning today and the rattle(s) was/were more noisier than ever!. But, just this evening the rattles were not that loud, hardly noticable at times.... <_<

Im bringing mine in for the 10,000k service, although I am losing my sanity due to that bloody dash rattle, I should survive it. Just have to pump Nickelback songs to cancel out the rattles :P

One other thing I forgot to mention is that my brakes squeel (like a an old rusty push bike) sometimes during the first 5 minutes of driving off. Seems to go away when you depress the brakes and once it gets warmed up. Any possible explainations to why?

Keep em coming boys/girls!. It is okay to admit your rattles!!!!!!! B)

Hi All,

My Corolla Levin ZR has a rattle on the front left passenger door. It sounds like the 'tweeter' speaker is somehow vibrating and making a very very very annoying click click click noise! <_< . I drive my car nearly 90 minutes a day and it annoyes the s@#$ out of meh!!!!!!

Which Toyota Dealers around Sydney offer the best rattle/squeek service:P?

Don't forget to post your rattles!

One other thing, if you do end up getting the ZR or Ultima, make sure you get excess free windscreen coverage because it costs about $700 to get your w/screen replaced because of the rain sensor.

What do you mean by excess free windscreen coverage? is this part of the warranty or roadside assist or car insurance?

You get cheap price for manual levin zr, will hunting mid next month or 3rd week.

Thanks.

Edit: oh yeah...if your smart entry battery died, how do you open (I guess use the key), how about start the engine?

Do we know if the battery almost flat? or toyota will replace the battery every service?

Also how many smart key do we get? two? and how many manual key?

Vehicle Insurance Companies offer 'nil excess' windscreen coverage for a fixed payment per year let's say $45 for the whole year on top of your premium. For example, suppose that a rock chipped your w/screen and the next morning you have a massive crack. You cannot just use a normal conventional w/screen as a replacement. You will need a genuine Toyota W/screen specifically for your Model i.e. Levin ZR or Ultima due to your rain sensor which will set you back at about $600 for the w/screen and $150 for installation. If you pick the w/screen excess free coverage (1 w/screen excess free claim per year) on your insurance policy, you won't have to pay a cent because they will waiver off your standard excess! So it is well worth it because the cost of replacing the damn w/screen cost so much

Normal windscreen replacement costs about $250 max..........without rain sensors....

I think the smart entry batterys last for about two years. It is pretty easy to replace. There is a actually a key (believe or not) that is within the smart entry remote that can be used to open the driver door just in case the battery goes flat.

To start the car with a flat remote battery, as mentioned in the car manual; I think you put the remote right against the start button and press it or something.

You get 2 identical smart keys. No conventional keys unfortunately.

Purchase price......hmmmmmm.... B)

LEVIN ZR Manual rrp is $29500 + dealer charges. I would suggest you to go to about 3 to 4 toyota dealers and get a written quote; after that get each dealer to match or perhaps provide a better price......make sure you do not tell them though... :P

Go do your shopping around 12 days before the month ends because these sales people are more motivated to sell since they set goals on a monthly basis usually.

Now is more of a question of picking a sedan or hatch. For me, a hatch probably looks sportier. The ultima has all ZR features PLUS full leather seats. Is it really worth that extra $1000 for the leather........????

Or - if ya really want discounts....then go for the hail damaged ones or something. I bought my Manual ZR for $24,000 drive away , had 60ks on the odo and was slightly hail damaged. Got the damage fixed for $1500.00 at Australasia Hail repairers castle hill sydney (btw they did an awesome job on my CAR...KUDOS TO THEM!). So technically I am still better off.

One other thing, if you do end up getting the ZR or Ultima, make sure you get excess free windscreen coverage because it costs about $700 to get your w/screen replaced because of the rain sensor.

Hope this helps in someway.

It was my belief that the SP23 had little to no road noise? Oops lol.

My friend owns Mazda 3 and it has more road noise relative to the new Rollas by far. This is subjective though:P

Test drive both...... B)

Mazda 3 SP23

pros: looks more sporty, probably quicker, more behaved road handling

Cons: Too many cars on the road, horrible road noise, I tad more expensive, New Mazda 3 due in 2009

Levin ZR

pros: interior is bloody awesome (most of my friends say it feels and looks like a space ship..hehehe), better fuel economy, relatively minimal road noise, Optitron Dashboard, better gearbox, HID headlamps, automatic wiper and headlight switch, bluetooth headunit, 7 or 8 airbags standard or something, Service plus advantage, Resale Value, not many people buy the Levin ZRs and Ultimas

Cons: not that sporty

Ultima

pros: All the pros of levin zr plus full leather seats

cons: not that sporty

There ya go....hope that helps in some way

Update:

Got my car back today. Looks good as new......well almost. Had to get the boys in Toyota Penrith to re-align the right wiper arm because it was slightly off. Apart from all the dramas of the re-sealing and the loose driver side window, everythings shweet! Just have to give the ol dash board a bit of a wipe with my trusty wet cloth........

On a side note, Toyota Penrith was very good in handling my problems. Despite all the problems, they were very prompt and polite, which is of crouse what we would expect from our dealers. But as we all know, tis very hard to find really good dealers these days.

REMEMBER, ALL YOU LEVIN ZR OWNERS......WINDSCREEN COVERAGE, WINDSCREEN COVERAGE........

Ok for more detailed thoughts on the new Corolla. I have travelled just over 3,000kms now and I am quite impressed with the car. I have a manual Levin SX and at first I thought the gear lever would take a lot of getting used to but it hasn't it feels a natural position. The handling of the car has surprised me I am quite impressed with it I was expecting to have to do a full sports suspension kit for it but now it looks like it will just be lowering springs. Styling wise I love the exterior the only criticism is the black strip where a front lip would go (it needs a front spoiler at least on the Levins - I will probably go either TRD or TTE) and that it needs lowering. I am amazed with the amount of space in the car and the layout.

My only gripe when purchasing the car was that no dealership was prepared to bundle in TRD goodies even if I paid full price for them but had them included with the car (so the finance company could look after the cost and I wouldn't notice I was paying $100 per month extra instead of having to save up and then part with some serious money.

Before I got the Corolla I had been driving an Aurion ATX while I waited for delivery and personally I prefer the Corolla

i also drive a sx they could have at least put climate control on it but nevertheless i like it to I've got a euro, camry grande current one and driven a few other cars i still prefer the corolla for some reason it feels like your driving a big car yet its small and luxurious the materials they've used and the craftsmanship throughout the car proves that corolla really means quality comparing to epica, lancer those cars are not made with the quality you see in a corolla every cent is worth it for it and i've had it for about 8 months now and driven almost 18,000km still runs smoothly no problems

WHOOOOOOOOOOO!

Go the Rolla CLUB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely positively definitely agree!

Wow that sucks.

Was that Lander out at blacktown???

Because on the two times weve bought from them the insurance offered was pretty explicit about what is and isnt covered.

I remember you from another thread I was reading. Congrats with your new ride by the way!

Lander was quite okay in going through the policy. As I said, they did not mention the fact that IF the windscreens on the Levin ZRs need replacing, the genuine windscreen for that particular model will be needed because of the rain sensor, which in effect really jacks up the price of replacing a windscreen from about $250 to about $750!

Apart from the that, the Dealer was quite good. But not as good as Sydney City Toyota which was the dealer that we used to get our cars before we moved here in the West.

Going off topic, their dealer service dept. is not as good either. Prices are higher than usual and it takes them ages to do your car when your booked in after 10am. I have found a service ctr which is nearly as good as Sydney City Toyota; Penrith Toyota..........

Sunroofs will set you back at about $2100 for the Hollandia 700 and $1650 for the 300 series. http://www.webasto.com.au/am/en/am_auto_sunroofs_485.html

It is probably much better to get the 700 series because it is a completely in-built sunroof where as the 300 has a spoiler-like design.

Sydney Hollandia approved fitters:

City Sunroof Centre

Update your details

34 Cosgrove Rd, ENFIELD, NSW

p: (02) 9742 5359

Prestige Sunroofs

Update your details

11 Harker St, Burwood, VIC 3125

p: (03) 9808 8999

http://www.prestigesunroofs.com.au

Email Prestige Sunroofs

G'day everyone,

I have finally got my new car!! :D I picked my car up on friday (2nd May) after a 1 week wait... longest week i've ever had! ...hehe. I bought a 2007 Toyota Corolla Levin SX (demo) from the Toyota dealer at Guildford (I come from the country, out near Dubbo).

I decided to buy a Corolla as I had a Corolla Ascent as a hire car for 3 weeks... I went down to Sydney to visit some friends and my car (2003 Mitsubishi Magna AWD) was stolen and burnt out, I had the car hire option in my insurance policy (thank gawd) and they gave me the Corolla Ascent for 3 weeks. I pretty much fell in love with it ...hehe. So, when the time came to buy a new car I decided to head to Sydney as the car dealers out here aren't worth .5c, rocked up to Guildford Toyota and had a look around, went to a few other dealers and went back to the guys at Guildford as they were the people that were giving me the best deal :D sucked big time having to wait 1 week to pick the car up but I had to wait until my claim was finalised etc... but yeah... Corolla's kick @rse!! ...hehe.

I have taken some pics of my car, they arn't that good but they'll do for now... I am looking at getting a sunroof installed in the near-ish future :) don't know what else I would like to do with it... so, if anyone has any hints/tips/ideas feel free to let me know

The pictures of the car are at this web addy ---> http://luke6891.spaces.live.com/photos/cns...4F6F5B!279/

Cheers

Very Nice!!!!

Congratulations on your new buy. These SXs provide good value. Enjoy your new ride!

Update:

Went to Penrith Toyota to pick the car. Drove out and went on Great Western HWY Eastbound direction. Wind Gushing noise was evident on the middle-top of the windscreen. Had to bring it back to check for leaks or whatsoever after 5 mins. of driving away.

Also my front passenger window has got more movement now and it rattles once you open it a tiny bit but goes away as soon as you open it half-way. Was never there before I got the w/screen replaced. They said they never touched any of the door windows nor the airbags. WHAT DA>>>?

I left it again today for evaluation. I gave them till Wednesday which should be plenty of time.

Sigh........

But what if you're in the position where you want to save money and don't give a sh!t about the rain sensors? You could just fit a regular one right?

Ya know.......I never really thought about that. The rain sensor is somehow stuck on to the windscreen pretty tight. I do not know if it can be removed and disabled. The refitter will have to remove and refit the sensor, dunno how he/she will do it.

Basically when the wiper is in intermittent mode, that is where the sensor kicks in. It will not enable the wiper until there are enough droplets to obscure your vision. Perhaps it is possible for the rainsensor to be disabled and removed just have the intermeittent mode as it is.

Curse you rain sensor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why can't you just put a regular windscreen in if expense is a problem? Or is it a case where if it's fitted from factory it MUST have the sensors forever after? I weep for the future used car market.

Only the windscreen specifically designed for the Levin ZRs can be used. Otherwise the rain sensor will not work properly as advised by O'brien and Penrith Toyota.

Holy Krwap, $700!?!? I totally dismissed the windscreen cover when asked by AAMI at the time, the front glass on my falcon only cost $140 to replace so I figured stuff it, I'll just chance it and cover it myself. I'll be calling insurance company tomorrow to add it on, Cheers Emmanuel for bringing it to my attention.

No probs. dude.

i suppose its a matter of u pay for what you get and when u pay more for something i suppose u'd have to pay more to replace it but i didnt think it'd be double the normal windscreen.. thats just CRAZY!

Yeah. Friggin rain sensors! If I didnt have it I would have had to only pay about $250 in total. Oh well, that's life for ya; you gain some you lose some.

i had the same thing happen a month or so ago.

smallish rocks from a truck bounced off and up onto the windscreen of my ZR and the next day, turned out to be 80% across the windscreen!

$795 to replace and refit a ZR rain sensor screen.

insurance paid it out luckily :P

LUCKY YOU!

<_< Too bad I was not thorough enough to take into account this risk with my insurance. Sigh.

By the way, should I worry about my rain sensor?. Cuz its on the windscreen pretty tight. DO you have any post rain sensor problems?

Nice Ride by the way!

Did you read the product disclosure statement?

It's not Toyota's job at all to tell you about the insurance cover, it's up to you to decide if the pol,icy it right for you.

Compare different insurers and see what the right options for your needs are.

Windscreen cover is something I always ask about, some insurers have it standard, like Shannons, and others like AAMI and NRMA you need to pay about $60 extra a year for it.

Lander Toyota were the ones who offered the insurance too. I believe that they should have at least told us the higher than usual cost of repairing the windscreens of the Levin ZRs with rain sensors, and at least recommended us to get windscreen coverage. These are the type of things that differentiates the really really good dealers from the others.

AAMI will not have windscreen coverage till end of this month (May 28) as advised by one of AAMIs CSRs yesterday.

Its good that you ALWAYS ask about windscreen coverage. Obviously I did not foresee the extra costs of repair on my Levin ZR. That is why I am sharing my experience in the hopes of preventing other people from going through it.

OH! Before you editted your post it only said ZR so I thought you meant Aurion ZR6.

No Corolla in my driveway has rain sensors

[/quote

so you noticed. Hehehe. My aplogies B)

Sounds like typical Toyota and typical insurance companies.

Luckilly no Corolla has rain sensors as far as I know

Mine is a Corolla. Its the Levin ZR with all the extras, including rain sensing wipers.

G'day All,

I just want to share my recent experience in regards of my Levin ZR 6sp. On my way home Thursday night (westbound), A rock (not sure what size) hit my windscreen and made a deep chip and created a small 10c wide crack, a star shaped crack if you wish. It must have been lifted by oncoming traffic (eastbound) because the rock must have been travelling mighty fast to make that deep chip.

I got up the following morning and found out that the crack spread horizontally to about a 1 litre coke bottle length thanks to the chilli conditions here in the west. I was so devastated. Only had the car for about 2 months and a half!

Obviously I had to get a new windscreen. So I rang up Toyota Penrith and asked for a quote. It was about $300 for a normal windscreen. They then realised that I had a Levin ZR with rain sensors, so the price was then amended to $550. Installation costs will take me all the way to $700 in total.

I then rang my insurance issuer to ask if I was covered. Unfortunately I was not, so I will not be covered in a sense that they cannot waiver the excess. (since my excess is > than windscreen repair cost, it makes more sense to just pay for the repair costs).

To all of you who have rain sensors and are heavy motorway users: Make sure that you have windscreen damage coverage on your policy. By doing this, the insurance issuer will usually waiver the excess on the windscreen damage claim and you will not have to pay a dime. Yes your premium will be a fraction more, but it is worth insuring your windscreen especially if you have a special sensor attached to it.

On another note, my Dealer Lander should have mentioned this to us. They were the ones who issued the insurance policy as well. They should have mentioned at least the cons and pros of windscreen coverage, especially with my car.

I hope you find this post useful peeps. This experience is far too unpleasant to go through.

Manny

I heard O'brien will repair something like that for about $50

The crack is beyond repairable. The crack spread all the way to the right side seals.

G'day All,

I just want to share my recent experience in regards of my Corolla Levin ZR 6sp. On my way home Thursday night (westbound), A rock (not sure what size) hit my windscreen and made a deep chip and created a small 10c wide crack, a star shaped crack if you wish. It must have been lifted by oncoming traffic (eastbound) because the rock must have been travelling mighty fast to make that deep chip.

I got up the following morning and found out that the crack spread horizontally to about a 1 litre coke bottle length thanks to the chilli conditions here in the west. I was so devastated. Only had the car for about 2 months and a half!

Obviously I had to get a new windscreen. So I rang up Toyota Penrith and asked for a quote. It was about $300 for a normal windscreen. They then realised that I had a Levin ZR with rain sensors, so the price was then amended to $550. Installation costs will take me all the way to $700 in total.

I then rang my insurance issuer to ask if I was covered. Unfortunately I was not, so I will not be covered in a sense that they cannot waiver the excess. (since my excess is > than windscreen repair cost, it makes more sense to just pay for the repair costs).

To all of you who have rain sensors and are heavy motorway users: Make sure that you have windscreen damage coverage on your policy. By doing this, the insurance issuer will usually waiver the excess on the windscreen damage claim and you will not have to pay a dime. Yes your premium will be a fraction more, but it is worth insuring your windscreen especially if you have a special sensor attached to it.

On another note, my Dealer Lander should have mentioned this to us. They were the ones who issued the insurance policy as well. They should have mentioned at least the cons and pros of windscreen coverage, especially with my car.

I hope you find this post useful peeps. This experience is far too unpleasant to go through.

Manny