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Going From Pre Face Lift To Face Lift T Sport....


morgie
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Hi all,

I was thinking about taking a look at a few face lift CTS. As a current pre face lift owner I'm wondering if it would really be worth "upgrading". I'm fairly aware of the differences between the cars (good thread on that here), am more interested in how many owners have gone from PFL to FL and if they'd actually recommend it? Anything missed from the PFL (no 4x4 gags please B))?

Thanks.

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If you really like the CTS then i'd say it was definatly worth it, i know coil overs or lowering helps on the pre-facelift handling but I noticed the lack of roll and improved steering response straight away on the test drive.

I had other reasons for upgrading though, for one my heater was on its way out and you of all people know how much it would costs for a new matrix. Then naturally the looks and all the other features as standard, including the pretty interior and darker carbon look console. I really love the fact they have changed the green LED dash to red, looks pretty awesome with the red optronic dials at night - especially as my FL is red as well.

This is not to say that with some time and effort you can improve the PFL, i've seen some brilliant examples on here.

Looks like the FL models are still hovering around the 6k mark, they offered me £2900 on my 52 plate 59k for a 38k 55 plate FL at £5800 by the way. Warning about Red though, nightmare for hiding scratches!

All in all, there's nothing to miss from the pre-facelift as far as I can see.

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Cheers FoxX - sounds like it was a good move for you. Thanks for the cost information too, I figured it's roughly a £3k touch, my 02 plate has done 52k so similar to your old one. Quite hard for me to justify that much cash for such a similar car, I think it might be possible if the right one comes along. No harm looking for now. :donatello:

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A related question - are the FL's more prone to losing the cap from their locking wheel nut? So many of them that I see advertised show a shot of the wheel with it missing, just a small detail but doesn't look great. Hopefully easy to get hold of to replace(?)

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I had a Pre facelift for about 6 months and I loved it.

Unfortunatly It when bang!!

So I looked around at cars that were aroung 05-07 plate with a dealership warrenty... I could not find anything that appealed to me (for the money available) than a facelift T sport

What a upgrade!!

not just the new upgrade that have been discussed previous but a years toyota warrenty, it was immactulate inside and outside there were no niggles or marks from the previous owner.

Well worth it

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Thanks Luke, sounds good. Do you like the steel silver that yours is in, hard to keep clean? Seen a nice looking one in that colour, but part of me is keen to stick to black if I did buy.

Out of interest, what's the light/button to the left of the mirror controls, don't believe that's in the PFL? (Another) security one? (Photo here).

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I made the move mate, as the engine was poorly on mine and im glad i did! The facelift is a much better drive! you dont get the annoying vsc bleeping anywhere near as much in the facelift as it corners so much better. I think the interior is a big improvement too! The one thing i do miss is the surprised looks on other peoples faces as they just dont expect the pre to be a quick car, you dont seem to get that as much with the facelift as obviously it looks that bit meaner :thumbsup:

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A related question - are the FL's more prone to losing the cap from their locking wheel nut? So many of them that I see advertised show a shot of the wheel with it missing, just a small detail but doesn't look great. Hopefully easy to get hold of to replace(?)

Yea mine was missing the silver caps for the locking nuts, didnt even have the little black cap remover in the spare nut set. I've been looking around for some spares as it dont look right.

Thunder grey was awesome for hiding dry mud as it was almost the same colour :)

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I love the colour but you probably already know the Corolla paint is thin and easily chips - the silver steel colour does not show them up as much tho.

I've not given it a super all singing clay bar clean yet, but it does look impressive when clean, also It doesn't show up dirt as much(compaired to cars i've owned in the past i.e black and red)

On the downside the silver steel does sometimes look like every panel is a different colour in certain lighting, when I got my TTE rear lip strayed I was gutted on first impressions of the colour match, but from the right angle it looks class!!

Get a Facelift!! what else could you get for that price?? including low insurance for its power and cheap servicing.

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Thanks guys. I went to look at one today, quite impressed. To pick fault, sure enough all 4 locking wheel caps were missing, are they the same as the PFL ones? It didn't have the T Sport mats - both of those points should be easy to sort (can you still buy mats new? Edit - looks like a partial answer here, not sure if they are definitely the right ones?). There was a bit of a squeaking when turning in one direction - dealer said he'd get that sorted (probably the calliper?) and one very small dent, but I think I could have it sorted. Anyone got a part number for the caps for the locking wheel nuts?

The drive was really good, but also reassured me of how good my 02 plate feels still when hitting lift and pulling through the gears. Inside definitely felt like a step up, really liking the seats.

I'm thinking about it.....trying to resist, as expected it's about a £3k delta.

Does anyone have a photo of one of the front lights up close, face on? It looked to me like there was a bit of a gap underneath before the bumper, but all seemed solid - probably normal.

Out of interest, what's the light/button to the left of the mirror controls, don't believe that's in the PFL? (Another) security one? (Photo here).

I can answer this myself now - it is the security light. Where it used to be on the PFL is now the warning light for the passenger seat belt on the FL.

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A related question - are the FL's more prone to losing the cap from their locking wheel nut? So many of them that I see advertised show a shot of the wheel with it missing, just a small detail but doesn't look great. Hopefully easy to get hold of to replace(?)

The Facelift's never came with the silver cap for the locking wheel nuts... pretty sure the ones from the Pre-FL should fit though.... could always keep your caps if you do upgrade ;)

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Cheers Gaz, very strange that cover was never supplied! If I do take things further I was thinking of adding that to my negotiations with the dealer....I'll see if it wipes a few hundred off the value of my PFL :D

Out of interest were FL T Sports originally sold with Michelin tyres?

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I believe they were initially sold with Bridgestone Turanza's..... my spare wheel still has the original tyre! lol

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That's always a nice sign when looking at a car, the spare in the one that I looked at also looked new, I thought it was a Michelin though - might be wrong.

One other question - it had parking sensors fitted, there was a switch inside the small holder to the right of the steering wheel and an LED popping out of the top corner of the dash - is this related to the parking sensors?

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That's always a nice sign when looking at a car, the spare in the one that I looked at also looked new, I thought it was a Michelin though - might be wrong.

One other question - it had parking sensors fitted, there was a switch inside the small holder to the right of the steering wheel and an LED popping out of the top corner of the dash - is this related to the parking sensors?

I've attached a pic of the front headlight for ya, gapping isnt that noticable unless your on the level. Could probably fill some of in in with some black rubber I guess.

I have parking sensors on mine (and toyota 6cd changer woo), dont think there is a LED for it though as they just beep like mad, i think they moved the security light to the right hand of the dash with the traction control. There is also an airbag switch the inside of the left door which wasnt there on the PFL.

Hey i also noticed that there are airbags in the rear pillors now as well, are they new for facelift.. that makes 8? 2 side, 2 front, 2 front pillor and 2 back pillor. Safe as can be eh?

post-41177-005956100 1290351545_thumb.jp

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Thanks for the photo - looks right then from what I remember. No wanting to fill it or anything, just checking it's normal.

Glad to hear of the safety improvements....good justification for moving to a FL B)

Where does your CD changer live, in the boot?

I liked the rear view mirror on the FL too...even though it was day light so I didn't really get to use its functionality, it just looked better. When I pressed the power button in the middle of it the LED to the left changed if I remember correctly. Is the area to the right hand side of the power button a sensor rather than another LED? (As it didn't do anything).

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Yea thats the auto dimming mirror, you can switch it on and off with that button. It doesnt dim until you have car lights in your rear so you wouldnt notice it.

The CD changer is in the tray below the climate control, looks quite good. Saves me fiddling around in the boot at least, i just lost that little compartment in the dash.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all of the info and advice guys. I've been impressed with the PFL and decided to stick with the CTS, so am now a proud owner of a FL (well in fact right now a proud owner of a FL & PFL(!) - need to sell the latter!). Picked up my steel silver 2005 FL today, photo in the Corolla Member's Cars thread here. Really happy with it so far!

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Wow nice one Morgie, car looks immaculate and great colour choice :)

Hope you enjoy it!, by the way did you get the parking sensors one? I sprayed mine red as they were black when I bought it, made it look much better.

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Cheers guys! (Luke - I feel you might be a bit biased on the colour ;))

Yes, this does have the rear parking sensors (x4). They're colour coded to the bumper already, fitted by the Toyota dealership. I'm the 2nd owner and the car has covered under 12,500 miles - I hadn't really seen one available this low before so that got me interested and I think the condition of it is reflected by that. Unfortunately there was a small "dink" on the front wing, but that has been removed and I can't notice it now, also a couple of marks on the front alloys but hard to find one that hasn't got some evidence of curbing. I can't really pick at those issues anyway!

Compared to my PFL the only thing I'm not loving as much are the audio controls on the steering wheel - probably a case of getting used to them. The wheel on the FL in my opinion looks better and neater, but the PFL controls were easier to use. Anyway, I'll give it some time!

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