Here's Why The Toyota Corolla XRS Is The Perfect Car For Enthusiasts on a Budget

what do you do when you want a car that's quick but not necessarily fast when you want a car that's sporty but not impractical or when you want a car that's high revving but not unreliable and what do you do when you want all this but all you can afford is a boring old Corolla I'll tell you you buy this boring old Corolla good I don't have an intro this is a 2005 Toyota Corolla XRS and today I'm going to tell you why it's the perfect all-in-one car for cash strapped car enthusiasts now you may be thinking it just looks like a boring old Corolla and at first glance you're right but you're dead wrong when you see those three letters right there XRS those three letters mean a lot more than they might seem those three letters add up to this this is the 2zz GE engine paired to a mandatory six-speed manual transmission the 2zz GE was a collaboration between Toyota and get this Yamaha yes that's right the same Yamaha that made your clarinet in high school the 2zz GE produces 170 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque and is the same engine found in the Lotus Elise you see that little L there that stands for Lift now vvtli is Toyota's version of Honda's Infamous IV Tech system at 6700 RPM the lift cam activates and you get a boost of power all the way to redline now you might be thinking 67 under RPM isn't that the red line no once you rev up to an ordinary corolla's Red Line you have an extra 1500 RPM of sweet sweet lift to play with that's right this engine revs to the moon and back all the way up to 8200 RPM speaking of the tachometer the XRS trim level comes standard with these cool red gauges as opposed to these white ones in a base Corolla differences between the base Corolla and the XRS also include four-wheel disc brakes lowered suspension a Corolla S body kit upgraded power steering special headlights a paint matched Grille leather shift knob and steering wheel bolstered seats chassis bracing in the front and rear largest 16-inch alloy wheels and a cable Throttle No dial-up connection between your foot and the throttle here just a pure simple cable like it should be so at this point you may be thinking okay sure it revs high but it only has 170 horsepower that's nothing and in a way you're right but you know what other cars also don't break 200 horsepower oh that's not so much so [Music] not only does the Corolla XRS have a similar amount of horsepower as those cars it also keeps up in its power to weight ratio as well here they are for all those cars you just saw the XRS is near the middle just as fast as a 500 a bars and not too far behind the Civic SI of the same era its main competitor the XRS is in that perfect genre of car not too fast but not too slow either one time I was allowed to drive a 600 horsepower Shelby GT500 for some reason I got on the on-ramp gave it some power in about four seconds in I was well over the speed limit this car however yeah this car wants you to enjoy the drive zero to 60 comes in 7.6 seconds which is a perfect medium between speed and it's enjoyment to me a truly fun car is one you can have fun in without worrying about getting a ticket or crashing into a telephone pole in this car and speaking of crashes that brings me to my next point safety the Corolla XRS has a 5 star rating for the driver and passenger in the front Collision test and it also has a four star rating in the rollover and side barrier crash test as well the Corolla xrs's safety doesn't stop with its crash test rating its size has a lot to do with it too think about it a Miata can slip right under someone's mirrors especially if that someone is driving anything bigger than a Chevy Malibu a Corolla not so much and its size and stature also makes you a bit more careful on the corners as well though the Corolla XRS is a great car and handles very well it's no Miata in terms of size and for those of us that need to be reminded that we're no Mario Andretti that's probably a good thing but if you do want it to handle better there's plenty of aftermarket parts you can add to it and there are plenty of cosmetic and performance parts as well this particular XRS has been modified with a short shifter kit different headlights a k n panel filter MagnaFlow Cat-Back exhaust and a reflashed ECU from r9k that changes the lift point to 6200 RPM and the red line to a whopping 8500 RPM and adding those parts should be a piece of cake as well the engine bay is big and spacious the parts are fairly cheap and many wear items such as the starter are the exact same as the regular Corolla not that you'll need to pop the hood often of course xrs's are almost as reliable as their base model cousins now of course an XRS will set you back a bit more than a base model Corolla for a nice XRS you should expect to pay anywhere from five to seven thousand dollars versus three to five thousand dollars for a base model but for those of us that are thrifty there's always the hatchback version the Toyota Matrix XRS or the rebadged Pontiac Vibe Duty these can usually be had for a grand or two less than the Corolla version not to mention too that the first two years of the Matrix XRS and Vibe GT 2003 and 2004 had a 10 horsepower bump up to 180 horsepower it is worth noting though that you do lose all of the chassis suspension cosmetic and interior upgrades with the hatchback versions though some were optional the Corolla XRS isn't as practical as a matrix survive and fun fact it's not as practical as a Corolla either that's because the seats don't fold down due to the rear chassis bracing but apart from that the XRS has that same Toyota quality as the base model everything just works it's a Toyota after all and that brings me to another wonderful point about the Corolla XRS it's just a Corolla to every non-enthusiast and even some enthusiasts who don't know about it this looks like every other Corolla on the roads today I bet you could paint this thing neon green Drive 150 miles an hour into oncoming traffic while texting and driving right by a state trooper and they wouldn't bat an eye that's the Corolla but to you and I the XRS is not just the Corolla well the second gen XRS is anyways these were exceptionally rare with only around 7 000 produced between 2005 and 2006 by comparison for every one of these made there were 104 of these made during those model years I suspect the xrs's original MSRP might have had something to do with that compared to a base manual Corolla of the same era the XRS cost a whopping 6 100 more when adjusted for inflation even a well optioned Le automatic like this one still costs 3 100 less than the XRS that price difference was harder to justify back then but thanks to the magic of depreciation yeah thanks to the magic of depreciation it's a lot more justifiable today so by now you may be thinking what's the catch I'll start with the most obvious one its size though the Corolla XRS is a great car and handles well it will never handle quite like a Fiesta ST or Miata because it's simply bigger if you're more of a fan of the twisty back roads you may want to look elsewhere but if you love your Highway on-ramps here's your answer another downside is one I've avoided up until now fuel economy there's good news and bad news here the good news is the Corolla XRS gets a combined 25 MPG 22 City 31 Highway the bad news is you can't press that button nope you have to press this one because that flaming hot Cheeto under the hood demands premium gas only and remember when I was talking about reliability and I said the Corolla XRS was almost as reliable as a base model Corolla well I wasn't lying the engine's oil pump has been known to disintegrate under certain conditions and will send metal fragments through the engine if that happens however most owners agree that as long as you don't accidentally money shift or over rev the engine the oil pump is a non-issue many even claim to have over 200 000 miles on their original oil pumps so take it with a grain of salt but if that possibility does scare you there are two easy and inexpensive DIY fixes for the oil pump and other than that these engines are Rock Solid reliable I have seen many of these with well over 300 000 miles so there you have it a Corolla for enthusiasts it's no Fiat 500 Abarth or Miata but the Corolla XRS is a wonderful performance car with unmatched reliability they're out there but they may not be forever so be sure to pick yourself up one thanks so much to Jeff of YouTube channel gray25xt for letting me film his XRS he also has a first gen Insight a JDM Honda CRX SI and many other cool cars so be sure to follow them and thank you so much for watching foreign

Channel: Third Hand Motors

Views: 113,618

Keywords: corolla, xrs, civic, si, rpm, 2zz, daily, driver, honda, toyota, gr corolla, hot hatch, ecu, magnaflow, subaru, cheap, reliable, fun car, manual, 6 speed, 2zz-fe, gray25xt, doug demuro, hoovies garage, tavarish, vinwiki, 100percentjake, watchjrgo, hi, car wizard, scotty kilmer, quirks and features, hooptie

Id: LlimT9fPh5E

Length: 9min 50sec (590 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 09 2023