05 Corolla XRS

**Jngrbrdman** · 08-20-2007, 06:26 PM

I sold my wife`s Accord earlier this spring because it was just me working and I drove the Pilot all the time. We just didn`t see the purpose of a car sitting in the garage losing value. Anyway, my wife went back to work a couple months ago and a second car is needed again. I will only be able to take the Reflex back and forth to work for so long before the weather is going to require a roof, so I figure I should be prepared and get the car now so that when the rainy and snowy season hits I won`t be in a hard place. Not having the scent of deperation on me really let me work a sweet deal on this car.

I bought a 2005 Corolla XRS. I actually like this body style of Corolla and my brother in law has had his `97 Corolla since it was new without a single problem. So I figured the combination of looks and durabilty paired together were a win for sure. The Corolla hasn`t sold more models than any other car made without having something good about it. The XRS took that one step further and put in the 2ZZ-GE motor from the Celica GT-S. The only thing that would differentiate this car from any other Corolla S from the outside is the 16" wheels, badging, color matched grille, and it`s about half an inch lower. Everything else is very normal looking. I love sleepers. The motor out-horses the standard Corolla by about 40 and the six speed transmission is definitely an XRS exclusive for the Corolla family. The interior is graced with a little different look too, but that isn`t anything someone seeing it in a parking lot is going to notice.

Fortunately it was well taken care of by the previous owner. He drove back and forth from Casper, WY to Phoenix all the time, so that is where almost all of the miles came from. It has the type of damage on the front that you would expect from a car that has been driven, but nothing serious. There are two rock chips on the hood and one chip on a door. There are only two door dings on the whole car too, so it passes as `excellent` in my book. The interior is in really good condition aside from this center console piece that the dealership is FedExing to me tomorrow and the normal wear on the driver carpet mat. There weren`t any stains anywhere else that I couldn`t take out. No scratches on the plastics or any other surface. No dog hair or smoke smell or anything funky anywhere. Always a bonus.

The engine still needs some work, so I`ll post pictures of that later. Whoever detailed it before used something really nasty on the rubber and plastic that left a nasty brown film all over the place. My guess on first glance was an el cheapo tire dressing. When I said that the salesman looked at me and said that they actually did use some kind of tire dressing on engines. I think he was suprised I would guess that, but anyone who details engines can see the signs a mile away.

The rest of the car got washed, clayed, polished with XMT2, and then I used the NST7 LSP. I wasn`t happy with that, so I used the Wolfgang pre-wax polish and took all that off. Then I put on a layer of WG and today I put another layer on. I`ve got some great trees that start to shade my driveway fairly early in the afternoon, but I got these pictures today.

**imported_bigfoot** · 08-20-2007, 06:36 PM

I love my S as well, nice handling and high mileage!Nice looking car there! Great job on the paint.

**BlueZero** · 08-20-2007, 06:38 PM

Sharp looking ride! I like that color too.

**BigAl3** · 08-20-2007, 06:43 PM

looks great, love that color! was curious... how many miles were on it when you purchased it?

**Jngrbrdman** · 08-20-2007, 06:49 PM

Just over 50K on the clock when I bought it. The car was manufactuered 04/04, so 41 months out on the streets, with the average being about a thousand miles a month on a normal car, puts this car at about 9000 miles over average milage. I nearly had to put another 300 miles on it when I bought it, but the dealership I purchased it from was kind enough to put it on a trailer and drive it out to me. This was the nearest XRS I could find on Autotrader in a 500 mile radius. There was one in town that I test drove, but it had a pinstripe on it and those are deal breakers for me. It didn`t have the 6 disc changer or sunroof in it either, so this one turned out to be a better deal anyway.

**1 Clean WS6** · 08-20-2007, 06:56 PM

Simply beautiful!! :2thumbs:

**BigAl3** · 08-20-2007, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by Jngrbrdman

Just over 50K on the clock when I bought it.

wow, that`s barely even broken in. you should easily get 200,000+ miles out of her (can`t beat toyota and honda reliability!), and not to mention with you taking care of it, it`ll look like it`s still new...

**RTexasF** · 08-20-2007, 07:14 PM

That looks mavehlous dahling. I bet that little dude is fun to drive, eh?

**imported_morarch** · 08-20-2007, 10:46 PM

Lookin` perfect!

**Scottwax** · 08-21-2007, 12:28 AM

That is some insanely wet paint!

I didn`t realize you could get the Corolla with the Celica GTS engine. One of my sons has a new Corolla LE and even with the base engine and automatic, it is pretty peppy. I can only imagine what fun yours is.

**Jngrbrdman** · 08-21-2007, 11:08 AM

Just wait till I get the third layer of WG on tonight.

Thee coats is about the top for WG IMO. After that it is just a matter of keeping it clean. This should keep it looking good till I strip it all off and start on the winter prep in October. This color is going to be great fun to work with. It has always been one of my favorites.

It has been a fun little car to drive around so far. It is perfectly capable of behaving like a normal corolla in town, but on the freeway it is a blast. It may only have 170 hp, but it has some pep under that hood when it comes to passing or merging, that`s for sure.

**Smithule** · 08-21-2007, 04:48 PM

I have a white 2004 corolla CE. I`ve never seen a paint go so dull so fast. I have an 04 4runner and the paint sill looks like new. I tried to hand polish the corolla but didn`t seem to help to much. I`m gonna have to take it to someone with a machine to bring back the shine I guess. Also the headlights on mine are already faded too.

Your`s looks great just wish mine looked half that good.

**ThEGuN1** · 08-21-2007, 05:02 PM

Very nice!! The XRS models are very good and fun to be daily drivers. I still have my 87 fx16 gts.

**Jngrbrdman** · 08-21-2007, 07:01 PM

Alrighty.... the third coat of Wolfgang is on and I can call it a day for the exterior.

I got these pictures in much better light so you can see the gloss that WG creates on this color. Sometimes we are too close to the forest to see the trees when it comes to polishing and telling the difference, but I can definitely tell the difference between one coat and three. Seeing it in the same light with each coat really helps.

Ok, I`m done whoring out pictures of my blah Corolla now.

Time to focus on the engine.