2015 Corolla S Premium Bugs

[Jim Green]

I got my 2015 Corolla S Premium end March and notice it has some bugs. I'd appreciate any advice before I call the dealer. Are the items below covered by warranty?

1. Rust-colored spots on muffler. I'm thinking maybe the car was sitting on the lot for a few months before I bought it. Are these really rust or has anyone else noticed similar spots?

2. Door handles inside on door panel are loose. The parts of the inner door handle don't appear to align perfectly (where you would pull on the door from inside the car to shut the door).

3. Front of dash has a long vent for the front defrost. This long vent has two round knobs on each end. One knob is missing on my car and there is a hole there.

 

[Donabed Kopoian]

Everything is covered by the bumper-to-bumper warranty. Couple things.

1. The rust is surface rust, and all mufflers have them. The outside layer of the metal oxidizes quickly but prevents further oxidation. Only perforated rust is covered in the exhaust system.

2. Mine aren't loose and the panels align. That oughta get looked at, but without pictures I can't tell you if it is normal or not.

3. The knob on the left that is missing is the auto-headlight feature that Toyota took out of '14+ U.S. bound Corollas. Only the Canadian models have auto-headlights now.

 

[Jim Green]

Thanks Kopoian! By the missing knob on the long vent, I mean the long, thin horizontal vent that touches the base of the windshield. It should have two round knobs on each end as follows.
O=======================O

One of those knobs is missing for me
o=======================O

You say al mufflers have surface rust, but I picked up my new my car 3 weeks ago from the dealer. I don't want it if it sat for 6 months on his lot. Is there a way to tell that?

 

[Donabed Kopoian]

Yup, that missing knob (sensor, rather) is for the auto-headlights. Only Canadian-bound Corollas have them now.

Yeah, the sticker inside the driver side door jamb has a build date. Why are you concerned if it sat for a little bit? Most cars do.

 

[Jim Green]

Thanks Kopoian! I'm surprised Toyota left the hole on the left of the vent where the missing sensor should be Looks bad. Should have put in a dummy knob.

I don't mind if it sat on the lot for 2-3 weeks but I'm worried it sat for 6 months and so picked up rust. I'd want a car as soon as possible from factory, just psychological since I've never bought a new car before.

 

[Donabed Kopoian]

They don't rust in the lots. Auto dealers will clean the cars on the lot to ensure they don't rust or have paint issues.

I suppose they could have put in a dummy sensor, but then it might open them up to lawsuits for misrepresentation.

 

[Jim Green]

Thanks Kopoian, you are very helpful! I did get a good price $20,471 for my '15 S Premium and am happy. If it did sit in the lot, that might explain why the dealer was ale to meet my price.

 

[Jim Green]

My last car was a 1999 Honda Civic manual and I used to shift gears at the following speeds.
1st: 0-10
2nd: 10-20
3rd: 20-30
4th: 30-40
5th: 40

My Corolla has the CVT but also the manual option (paddle and floor gear). What speeds or tachometer levels should I shift at. It has 7 speeds so I am lost at how to calculate this. Any benefit or intended purpose (e.g., hills) to using the manual shift for me? I have been using it only for braking. When I am in auto mode D but need to brake, I'll press the left (-) paddle shifter to go into 3rd or 2nd and that slows the car down.

 

[VTAK8k]

The paddle shifter is worthless. Click them whenever and however you want, the car will automatically shift for you before it over revs anyways.

 

[Jim Green]

But when I put the floor shift in M, the car does not automatically shift.

 

[oneover]

But when I put the floor shift in M, the car does not automatically shift.

Yes it will shift automatically, but at a higher RPM. Meaning if you rev the engine high enough, when in Manual mode it will shift automatically.

 

[VTAK8k]

Yes it will shift automatically, but at a higher RPM. Meaning if you rev the engine high enough, when in Manual mode it will shift automatically.

^ This ^

Mine will automatically shift about 500 RPMs before the red line.

 

[Jim Green]

OK, I drove in M mode today but it did not change gears even at high rev. I did not go near the red line though.

 

[Jlinn]

OK, I drove in M mode today but it did not change gears even at high rev. I did not go near the red line though.

Floor it and wait for it to shift

 

[Jim Green]

Aha, sounds like a ricer!

 

[Donabed Kopoian]

Thanks Kopoian, you are very helpful! I did get a good price $20,471 for my '15 S Premium and am happy. If it did sit in the lot, that might explain why the dealer was ale to meet my price.

My '14 S Plus 6MT was $20,300 ... so I say you did pretty good considering the Premium throws in the heated and power seats.

 

[Donabed Kopoian]

My last car was a 1999 Honda Civic manual and I used to shift gears at the following speeds.
1st: 0-10
2nd: 10-20
3rd: 20-30
4th: 30-40
5th: 40

My Corolla has the CVT but also the manual option (paddle and floor gear). What speeds or tachometer levels should I shift at. It has 7 speeds so I am lost at how to calculate this. Any benefit or intended purpose (e.g., hills) to using the manual shift for me? I have been using it only for braking. When I am in auto mode D but need to brake, I'll press the left (-) paddle shifter to go into 3rd or 2nd and that slows the car down.

There really is no benefit to manual mode other than the fun factor. Unless you want to get silly, you can leave it in D. Judging from your shift points in your '99 Civic ... you probably never let the engine see past 3000 rpm.

Depends on what I am doing. If I'm being fuel conscious, I try to keep the tachometer below 2000 rpm. If I'm going up a hill, I'll downshift and hover around 2500 rpm so I'm not lugging the engine.

When I'm merging on the freeway, looking to pass someone, etc., I'll spin to 6,000 rpm.

Most of the time I shift around 4,000 rpm with half to 3/4 throttle.

If I'm racing around.

1st: 0 - 30
2nd: 30 - 55
3rd: 55 - 80
4th:80 - 110
5th: 110 - 115 (speed governor)

Keep in mind I have the 6MT and not the CVT.

 

[Jim Green]

Wow, that is high revving. Yes, my old civic I never revved near 2500. I'll keep the rolla in D and use M only for fun then. The auto (my first auto ever) is no fun. like driving a boat.

 

[Jim Green]

Doesn't high revving waste gas and strain the engine? I thought it did, so I never rev even a manual past 2500.

There really is no benefit to manual mode other than the fun factor. Unless you want to get silly, you can leave it in D. Judging from your shift points in your '99 Civic ... you probably never let the engine see past 3000 rpm.

Depends on what I am doing. If I'm being fuel conscious, I try to keep the tachometer below 2000 rpm. If I'm going up a hill, I'll downshift and hover around 2500 rpm so I'm not lugging the engine.

When I'm merging on the freeway, looking to pass someone, etc., I'll spin to 6,000 rpm.

Most of the time I shift around 4,000 rpm with half to 3/4 throttle.

If I'm racing around.

1st: 0 - 30
2nd: 30 - 55
3rd: 55 - 80
4th:80 - 110
5th: 110 - 115 (speed governor)

Keep in mind I have the 6MT and not the CVT.

 

[Donabed Kopoian]

Doesn't high revving waste gas and strain the engine? I thought it did, so I never rev even a manual past 2500.

High revving does use more fuel (I don't call it wasting since I'm having fun with it) and keeping the rpms high will wear out the engine quicker than keeping the rpms low (modern engines are designed much, much better than engines from the 70s and 80s and won't wear as much at any rpm), but you should take the car to redline here and there to get rid of carbon build-up in the combustion chambers. Otherwise you'll have to start running 89 or 91 to stop the engine from pinging once you start going into the high-mileage territory.

I had a 4.6 L in my '96 Mustang GT and that engine constantly saw redline. It had 225,000 miles on the clock and burned a quart of oil every 600 miles if I was beating on it (the early 4.6 L were notorious for valve stem seals that loved feeding oil to the combustion chamber), but the engine still had good compression and power. Everything else around the engine was falling apart but the engine held up well. If I replaced the valve stem seals with the updated design, that would have solved the oil consumption issue and I would have easily gotten another 100,000 miles out of that engine before it completely died.

My '08 Matrix had 75,000 hard miles on it when I traded it in, and it didn't lose a noticeable amount of oil in-between changes (technically, all engines consume SOME oil).

So yeah, while beating up on older engines was pretty much a guarantee that the engine would be shot at 150,000 miles, that isn't the case anymore with tighter tolerance casting and machining, and better design.

 

[Jim Green]

I don't lnow how you knew this "you should take the car to redline here and there to get rid of carbon build-up in the combustion chambers. Otherwise you'll have to start running 89 or 91 to stop the engine from pinging once you start going into the high-mileage territory."

It is exactly what happened to my old civic. When i reached 150K miles, it started knocking and i had to do a $1200 engine clean to remove carbin from engine the dealer said :-(

 

[Donabed Kopoian]

It's the same with ovens and grills. You run them at 450 for 10 minutes and it makes them easier to clean.

 

[Jim Green]

Anyone else getting only 27 mpg in town and 38 on hwy? Why so low? I'm trying to hypermile and this is all I get.

 

[jolly]

Anyone else getting only 27 mpg in town and 38 on hwy? Why so low? I'm trying to hypermile and this is all I get.

That's about the EPA rating... but many reported better average here.
I have the ECO and find the valvematic not that stellar in city (around 30 mpg) but great at highway speed (with cruise control, easily 50+ mpg)

 

[Typoe99]

I have the 6MT L model and it gets around 30 according to the computer. I dont think the computer is accurate though (usually isnt on most cars) I probable am getting 29ish. I will have to check and do the math the next time I get gas.