Serious competition for Corolla XRS

Cobalt = GM's version of the RSX.

Corolla XRS is still going to be an out-of-the-box hit since it still has a lot of power and sporty handling, practicality of a family sedan, great gas mileage and the reliability and quality to back it up. Yes, Toyota did not go out of the way to make it a leader in the power department, but if you look at it, it still stands up really well against the competition for the most part.

the xrs looks much better, as far as the exterior goes, to me than the saturn. i have nothing against saturns or anything, but i think the xrs just seems like the better car

Are you siding with GM because you own a GM???? I agree with a lot of your post there that Toyota in a nutshell did not go the extra mile to make it a bombshell and make it compete against the leaders like the redline etc. Do you honestly believe that the redline will actually even be close to Toyota in terms of quality and reliability?? I seriously doubt it. Look at the extremely high revving engine 2ZZ GE from a 4 year old Celica GT-S and see how great they still run. No problems at all. Making an extremely reliable high revving engine is one of the hardest things to do since high revving engines require a lot more precision and care to build. As for the lack of torque on the Corolla XRS, torque is much more relevant when you have the power to weight ratio in question. Look at the 2540 lbs Celica GT-S with only 130 foot pounds of torque against the over 200 lbs heavier Sentra SE-R with 170 foot pounds of torque. Which one wins a race?? GT-S is actually almost a second faster than the SE-R. The reason is because the GT-S has a very favorable power to weight ratio. Corolla XRS will be a tad heavier than the GT-S - A little over 2600 lbs. Now, Toyota has actually improved the torque curve on the 2ZZ GE engine for the Corolla XRS focusing more on a stronger mid range torque. The 2ZZ GE engine revs so quickly that within a split second after you go pedal to the metal, you will see the car lofting at 5000 rpms. If you consider all the variables, Corolla XRS looks quite bright in front of the competitors. As for the redline compared to XRS, if I were to get a car today I would still settle for less power, but more quality and reliability. Plus, TRD might come out with a supercharger for 2ZZ and that will give a great boost to it.

uh...his Prizm is the same as a 97 corolla from the same year, dude. keep that in mind.

If I could afford the car payment right now.... Believe me when I would say there would have been a blue Redline ordered months ago.

I thought a lot of the gt-s drivers that push their cars hard have been experiance the lift bolts breaking or whatever. Making the gain not that high.

At work (Car and Driver) we have an Ion Redline, and It feels really cheap. The interior is not nearly as nice as a Corolla. It rides too high (so does the XRS, though), and the ride isn't that great. It's reasonably quick, but the engine sounds buzzy when you get to the top end.. I really don't think it's that great of a car. On the pre-producttion car we have, the rear wing bounces up and down over any bumps, and even from airflow sometimes, which is an annoying distraction in the rear-view mirror. Saturn says they'll fix this in the production models, but I think that says something for the purpose of that huge wing.. It's so flimsy and flexible.

Anyway, I think those looking for "cheap fast" will go for it, because it's both, but I don't think that crowd was after the Corolla XRS anyway. That sais, I really wish Toyota would bring the T-Sport or some kind of RWD sports car here, but the tC is pretty nice for FWD.

It was mostly the GT-S' from the 00 model and some from the 01 model. First year production glitches.

3sgte competition for sti and evo. Toyota should make an awd with that engine and put it in those 2 levels and compete, make it around that price or a lil more would be ok since it is 3sgte and Toyota.

Ugh! Spec V's are ugly, the new ones though. The old ones before looked pimp.

I feel that all the cars mention above are all good in there own way, but i believe that toyota is on the right track. they are a company that is here to sell cars not just have them sitting in the parking lot for customers to look at...the point here is that they are trying to market vehicles that anyone can buy and be able to keep the car on the road...what i'm trying to state is that by not being force induction from the factory, it keeps both cost and insurance down...and that is the biggest factor....i do also believe that the celica GT-S was way over price but i believe that the corolla is in a pretty good range for price...plus we have to remember that the celica was imported...and i also agree with the power to weight ratio...if you can't beat them on the straight them beat them on the curves with style....and also making the SC as an aftermarket option is a better choice for being a sleeper...just my 2cents

I'd love to see a RWD or AWD affordable import, namely from Toyota, by means of the 3SGTE. But really it isn't realistic, because Toyota has demonstrated that they can't make a fast car for competitive price...Look at the Celica GTS...24K MSRP...You can get a SRT-4 for the price and still have $$$ left over. For all intents and purposes styling is debatable.

Would I actually get a Redline? Probably not. Am I paying homage to GM? Not really (I watched that Michael Moore film "Roger and Me" and I wanted to blow up my brother's 2003 Chevy ZR2).
I would wait a year for the bugs to be fixed and get the 2005 model (which probably will not be, as the Cobalt is coming out on a similar platform from Chevy, and in Car and Driver the GM designers said that the Cobalt will be a lot better car). SRT-4 is the way to go though, such a good buy.
I really love imports, but the cars that make really high HP numbers are not either too pricy or not good buys (Evo, STi, 350Z, RSX type S, the list goes on). What I do think is a good buy is the SE-R Spec V. Why don't you compare it to the Corolla XRS and see if the XRS can put up better numbers, because they are in the same class.

I know, stock they are pretty hideous. But check this SE-R with a VIS R34 kit and CF hood out. It's gorgeous. Not that I would buy a car just to get a body-kit on it, but...just take a look.
Sweet SE-R Spec V

Ok, i'll accept it's nice. But what I won't accept is the fact that you need a body kit to change that hideous look. But I get what you're trying to say. The headlights remind me of the mid-90's Sentra's.

hahahaha is it the stylin that u hate?? or is it because GM used other company engine, and production strategy?? remember saturn was an experimental company for GM.. the tryin to copy the japanese in how to make reliable car.

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Lower curb weight than the XRS? Look again <a href="http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/vdp/articleId=107510/pageNumber=5" target="_blank">http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcont...10/pageNumber=5</a><br />
2993 lbs of the redline is not lower than 2670 lbs. of the XRS.

That's a bunch of bull. The Corolla XRS will cost you about $20,000 NOT $17,000.

http://www.longotoyota.com/en_US/Ve..._id=toyd-longo1

$20,000 for a 164hp Corolla? No thanks. I'm not a brand loyalty whore. I call things out as I see it. For $20,000 I'd rather take a GTI. I've driven a Corolla XRS and I can say that it's a complete rip off for $20,000.

What year gti? A new one will cost you much more than $20k. MSRP + Financing + Fees = a lot of $$ for an 06 GTI. You're looking at a price closer to $30k than $20k.

just a side note to add to this thread:
this weekend i saw 2 good drivers run an autox course - one was an XRS and one was an ion redline. both stock. the corolla ran 61 sec. and the redline only did 77 seconds, which was one of the worst times of the day. a 94 ford escort even did better. thats like miles worse. my CE with suspension mods ran a 62. now that just sucks for the redline, sorry to say. that car has more understeer than a tC

it would cost way more than that. try a piggy back ecu, camcom and whatever other goodies you will need to get that running. not to mention water injection.

Ion Redline sux... just wait till the MazdaSpeed 3 come out... but i really dunno how reliable those 2.3L turbo engines are though...