What To Buy

[jordanm]

I am about to take a leap from my first car (A Mk1 Saxo ) to get something with a bit of power and have been looking at 2003 reg 3-door Corolla T Sport 1.8 vvtl-i.

The reason I am looking at the 2003 is that I read some reviews about the 2002 model not handling as well as the 2003 model and it put me off a 2002 a bit.

I would love to know what people think and what experiences people have had with the 2002 and 2003 vvtl-i T sport in terms of power, performance, handling, build quality etc.

[chaycore]

correct me if im wrong, but didnt the change from prefacelift to facelift address some handling issues? this change came about in 2004 where the t sport was fitted with 15mm lower springs. pretty sure 2002-2003 are still prefacelift and one and the same. :)

chay

[BRIDGES]

You are correct chaycore. The facelift didnt come into production until 2004. From what i know the 02 & 03 models are exactly the same. Also on the facelift models you get a strut bar

[Norfolk n Chance]

^^ As above.

The Facelift's came out on 54 reg (there is the odd 04 reg one).

[Jock Fran]

You can easily change the suspension on a pre facelift to match (or better) that of a facelift if your budget won't stretch to the later car.

[corollakidda]

unless you think your sebastian loeb the pre facelift still handles ok,like the other dude says you could make a few little mods yourself ;)

[BRIDGES]

Oh aye be ready for the power diference, because i came from a 1.1 c2 and the cts i testdrove i nilly cacked my panse!! Thank god the sales man didnt come with me lol!!!!

[Norfolk n Chance]

My previous car was a 1.0 Yaris!

On test drive..... Lift.... Sold B)

[-T- Sport]

I had a 1.4 8v Peugeot 206... 75BHP! Woooo

As Gaz said..

Tes Drive, Lift. SOLD!

[jordanm]

Wow thanks for all the comments... I think I will go for the older one as money won't stretch to an 04 yet :(

The Sebastian Loeb comment made me laugh! :D I imagine handling won't make much of a difference but I do run my crappy saxo ragged and I have broke the anti-roll brackets a few times - apparently for taking corners too harshly!

Now I just have to play the waiting game to find one relatively close with fairly low mileage!

[-T- Sport]

Mileage isn't particularly a worry, as long as it's been well looked after these cars will keep on going.

We had a 2003 97k Miles one at Santa pod with us a few months back and it was whooping everyone! Very strong engines.. look after it, it looks after you.

[cabcurtains]

Wow thanks for all the comments... I think I will go for the older one as money won't stretch to an 04 yet :(

The Sebastian Loeb comment made me laugh! :D I imagine handling won't make much of a difference but I do run my crappy saxo ragged and I have broke the anti-roll brackets a few times - apparently for taking corners too harshly!

Now I just have to play the waiting game to find one relatively close with fairly low mileage!

All the Pre Facelift CTS's should be lowered the difference to the handling is very noticable as well as the car looking much much better The ride isnt affected either.

[EchoRange]

I had the springs done on mine, which is an 02 so pre-facelift.

I have recently found another T-Sport owner (not on here yet, but I'm keeping onto him to join up) and we agreed to swap cars for a quick blast around the B-Roads by me. I can not stress how much difference the springs make. I got into his and it just felt alot softer. He made the comment that mine was a better ride because it felt less "wallowy" and even thou it's only a small drop (30mm) he even noted that it felt lower. I would like to add that I didn't tell him I'd dropped it until after.

He did have an induction kit on his, and mines the standard airbox. No prizes for guessing what's next on the shopping list! :)

[-T- Sport]

... alloys?

[EchoRange]

... Alloys?

No because I'm cheap

[jordanm]

Well I should have the money at the end of the month. I saw a couple of 2004's on autotrader for around £4800-5600 but they've all gone :(

I could probably stretch to £5500 but realistically am looking at around £5000.

Does it seem plausible to get one for around that with less than 50-60k on the clock and in good nick?

[saltyhair81]

Stretch to 7,500 and you can have my compressor :D

[emsii]

You should get a facelift because it's much better looking.

[farhanali89]

Stretch to 7,500 and you can have my compressor :D

if you were selling the car and i was after a ts i would have bought your compressor a real shame sometimes because last year when i was looking at compressors the price was around 9-11k for a compressor and only 3 available between that price!

for 7500 i would have snapped that one up! damn dude where were u last year!

[Mr_T_Sport]

Stretch to 7,500 and you can have my compressor :D

Are you trying to pull a fast one? Didnt you pay 6500 for it from Bradford Toyota, and are you still having problems with the noise from the supercharger.

[borodaz]

Stretch to 7,500 and you can have my compressor :D

Are you trying to pull a fast one? Didnt you pay 6500 for it from Bradford Toyota, and are you still having problems with the noise from the supercharger.

defo sounds lyk trying to pull a fast one.

[saltyhair81]

Stretch to 7,500 and you can have my compressor :D

Are you trying to pull a fast one? Didnt you pay 6500 for it from Bradford Toyota, and are you still having problems with the noise from the supercharger.

Cheeky b@stard!

The noise is sorted, was the exhaust down pipe which needed re-fitting, which was done under warranty last week for the last time. The car has also been re-taxed for 6 months, fully serviced by Toyota which it needed, professionally detailed by my company, 2 new front tyres, I had it MOT'd and has 6 months extended warranty still. Plus other parts like new wipers, etc. There was a reason it was 6,500 grand dude, it was on clearance. I have spent well over a grand on it and it's still going to be one of the cheapest compressors by far for sale when it goes up in August.

Keep your opinions to yourself, if a car gets bought cheap there is generally a reason, and if someone gets a bargain they can damn well advertise for what they want.

If you bought a fiesta for £50 and sold it for £400, I wouldn’t argue the toss with you about what you want to sell it for, and I would also expect you to have spent some money on it.

[Mr_T_Sport]

Stretch to 7,500 and you can have my compressor :D

Are you trying to pull a fast one? Didnt you pay 6500 for it from Bradford Toyota, and are you still having problems with the noise from the supercharger.

Cheeky b@stard!

The noise is sorted, was the exhaust down pipe which needed re-fitting, which was done under warranty last week for the last time. The car has also been re-taxed for 6 months, fully serviced by Toyota which it needed, professionally detailed by my company, 2 new front tyres, I had it MOT'd and has 6 months extended warranty still. Plus other parts like new wipers, etc. There was a reason it was 6,500 grand dude, it was on clearance. I have spent well over a grand on it and it's still going to be one of the cheapest compressors by far for sale when it goes up in August.

Keep your opinions to yourself, if a car gets bought cheap there is generally a reason, and if someone gets a bargain they can damn well advertise for what they want.

If you bought a fiesta for £50 and sold it for £400, I wouldn’t argue the toss with you about what you want to sell it for, and I would also expect you to have spent some money on it.

You are right there is nothing wrong with making profit on a car and yes a compressor is worth at least £7500 it just seemed odd to me that you paid £6500 for it a few months back, you were having problems with which you thought was the supercharger which were not fixed after a few attempts then you are wanting to sell. Yes alarm bells started to ring. I would rather you think i was a cheeky b@stard than watch someone on here buy a compressor with a faulty charger! But as you have mentioned it wasnt the supercharger, the problem as been sorted you have done amongst other things to it so yes it sounds like a good buy for £7500! Are you bored of it after only a few months, i only ask as after getting it sorted and spending a grand on it, why are you wanting to sell!

[saltyhair81]

Sorry mate I was a bit out of order with that message this morning, I had a massive argument with my girlfriend so wasn't in a good frame of mind to be replying to messages.

It was the exhaust and it's only been done this week, although I thought it was the bearing in the charger I was proved wrong! Two downpipes later and costing Mr T £2,600 it's all-good. The car would come with 6 months extended Toyota warranty anyway, so for the next owner there is peace of mind.

I'm only selling as I am actually thinking about getting an Aygo as all my driving is around town now and it is so cheap to drive. My average of 22mpg around town is not worth it, 50mpg sounds much better!

It will be a !Removed! good buy for someone and I will miss it, just doesn’t get used for the right job.

Once again, sorry for the sh!tty reply this morning.

I better stop spamming this guys thread!!

[Mr_T_Sport]

Sorry mate I was a bit out of order with that message this morning, I had a massive argument with my girlfriend so wasn't in a good frame of mind to be replying to messages.

It was the exhaust and it's only been done this week, although I thought it was the bearing in the charger I was proved wrong! Two downpipes later and costing Mr T £2,600 it's all-good. The car would come with 6 months extended Toyota warranty anyway, so for the next owner there is peace of mind.

I'm only selling as I am actually thinking about getting an Aygo as all my driving is around town now and it is so cheap to drive. My average of 22mpg around town is not worth it, 50mpg sounds much better!

It will be a !Removed! good buy for someone and I will miss it, just doesn’t get used for the right job.

Once again, sorry for the sh!tty reply this morning.

I better stop spamming this guys thread!!

No probs mate, i expected a bit of abuse anyway, you have to protect your name if someone questions it. Sounds a real good buy to me, shame i cant afford it.