2005 Corolla XRS

[Jngrbrdman]

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.

[nikro000]

Yeah, I like the bodystyle too -it`s kinda ... adventurous ... like it was off any minute to the Paris-Dakkar ralley

[MoparAddict]

Thats deff a good looking car. Thats awsome it comes with a six speed, should do very well on gas. How much hp are you pushing total?

[YNOT]

Looks like you picked yourself up quite a nice ride there. Those Corollas are sharp.

Now all you need to do is lower it with some mild sport springs, add some nice 17 or 18" wheels and maybe a subtle bit of pinstriping. Well, of course that`s what I`d do with it if it were mine...

Anyway, looks great, hope you enjoy it.

[Jngrbrdman]

Nah... I like it bone stock. The stock suspension is already modified from the standard Corolla and it handles just fine for the driving I do with it. I wouldn`t mind throwing some 17s on there, but not its not likely going to happen. Pinstripes are actually deal breakers for me when it comes to cars, so that won`t happen either. In reality, if I wanted a car to modify then I would have bought something sportier to start with. Maybe a Supra... This is just the rain car and winter car. I`m happy with my scooter for everything else. The Corolla board I posted it on told me to modify it too. I figure why change what is already perfectly functional?

Stock the engine has 170 HP. If I come across five or six hundred bucks I might play with a unichip and tweak the ECU a bit for more power, but that is the only mod that I plan on doing with it. High fuel economy cars that still have performance are highly desirable. I don`t want to do anything to it that makes it stand out even more for theives. A little ECU remap won`t be obvious to the average joe.

[Jngrbrdman]

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.

[nikro000]

Ok, I`m done whoring out pictures of my blah Corolla now. Time to focus on the engine.

Oh, c`mon, you are not whoring her out! You are just proud of your new baby and everybody can see why! She`s a beaute!

[Stephan]

The car looks great...congrats.

[JaredPointer]

Pinstripes are a deal breaker?!?!? You know they add 5-10 HP, right? You also gotta get a coffee can muffler, some of those taillights designed by a three year old, and some fake HID`s to complete the transformation from stock Corolla to Street Racing Corolla. Oh, and don`t forget the NOS stickers on the back glass too.







I keed, I keed. Nice car.

[Jngrbrdman]

One interesting thing I learned about this car is that it rolled out of the factory on April 24, 2004. These cars didn`t arrive at dealerships until May 1, 2004, so that means this was one of the very first to hit the floor. I`m just curious what the first date was that they started leaving the factory. Maybe my car has older brothers, but it isn`t likely that it has many. This car is sort of like the Integra Type R of Corollas and nearly as rare. Type Rs sell for over book on a regular basis based on condition and rarity of the options, so I`m wondering if having one of the first to roll off the line will do anything for collector value someday...? Obviously not as valuable as a real classic, but it is still kind of interesting to do the research. How funny would that be if this turned out to be the first one? lol

[Jngrbrdman]

Engine is all finished.









Ahhh... a surface you could eat off of.