Finally got some significant snow here in the Toronto area last week which means Winter Wednesdays are back once more.
The first WW post of the 2012/2013 winter season comes by way of Joni in Finland who drives a 2005 European Toyota Corolla hatch back.
His car is currently sitting on TA-Technix coils (modified to sit a little lower than they come out of the box) and recently came out of the paint shop sporting a Runx body kit so it’s looking extra clean.
During the colder winter days Joni finds shelter in his garage, and to pass the time he’s been test fitting a few different sets of wheels, I am quite partial to the Rezax wheels myself but Joni is currently undecided on what to run next summer.
Based on a few other plans Joni has shared I’ve got faith that no matter what wheels he ends up running this car should look pretty nice all said and done.
Shame North America didn’t get the Corolla hatch, it looks like a decent little runabout.
We never get the cool cars over here.
We have the had the Toyota Corolla in Australia since the early 1970’s. While Toyota did rally some Corollas briefly and have some nice Twin Cam 16 valve versions occasionally, the model shown above is predominantly famous for its distinct lack of personality, blandness and being akin to whitegoods on wheels. The owner of this example is spending money on paint and wheels because that is all a Corolla has to offer.
From a worldwide perspective, in 2012 the Ford Focus outsold the Corolla to become the number one car in the world. All North Americans should personally write to Bill Ford Jr and thank him for releasing the new Focus, particularly the tasty “ST” variant, in the US and this car soundly whips any Corolla ever produced and gives you a taste of the hot hatch heaven the rest of the world has been enjoying for some time.
For example, I currently drive a 2010 Ford Focus ST (or XR5 Turbo as it is known here) which is powered by a sweeeeeet Volvo derived 5 cylinder powerplant. Wonderful.
Cheers, Matthew
Sydney, Australia
@MattP we’ve had Crolloas for awhile too.. just a different variety. We had the AE86s and the like but then things got really bland and pretty well continue to be.
The Focus ST is nice but I would also like to see the RS here but it is sadly Euro only far as I can tell. 🙁
@MattP; I didn’t fully understand your point, because I think when it comes to building cars only sky is the limit. Ofcourse you can’t really compare current Corolla’s to old school Corolla’s which are becoming already a cult as awesome they are, but I think every car has something to offer. It just depends what kind of potential builder sees. 😉
When it comes to performance, we have also supercharged Compressor model which is based to Corolla’s 1.8TS VVTL-i engine. It pushes around 160kw as stock, so it has been given new ideas for builders and encouraged them to do engine swaps. As excited I am, I’m gonna yet so far keep low profile with my 1.6 VVTL-i engine because this is my daily driven car and I have another car just for fun/track. 😀 As giving one more example about potential, Fensport has build same kind of Corolla with 3S-GTE engine, 4×4 and ~650bhp. How cool is that?
What I’m just saying is that you can’t really say that some car is better (or worse) than another based on sales or even how they may appear. You really can’t argue about that, because there are so many opinions as owners (and none at all really are wrong). As said before every car has something to offer in all areas, but it’s challenge for builders how to find and use it (even if it is bland new Corolla). ;D
Regards,
Owner
.. And sorry for my bad english though! 😀
Joni your English is fine 🙂
Thanks Dave! I think I’m just too precise for myself. 😀
.. Keep up good work with site. Finland is online! 😉