Yes, but it's tuned more toward comfort with some handling elements thrown in. The current plain Corolla looks good as it is. Hopefully the GR Sport version won't ruin the looks of the car by turning it to look like Fast and Furious racer boy cars which may appeal more to youngsters.

It's not a "true" GR Sport as there's a separate fleet of those vehicles available starting from RM300k and above. The Corolla Cross and Corolla sedan with GR Sport badge are known to have good comfort while having a bit of decent handling. I have test driven the Corolla Cross "GR Sport" and can verify it's rather comfortable!

I"m not sure who are those people but that surely does not coincide with my experience. I've not driven the Honda BRV or Iriz before but test driven the Honda City and CRV and the handling of the Corolla Cross GR Sport is surely much better than the City and CRV which in turn handle worse than Proton Preve Turbo. The most important aspect of the GR Sport Corolla Cross is the vehicle feels solid with good (quick) throttle response. The build quality of Toyotas in general is much higher than Hondas. If one looks at the kerb weight of the Corolla Cross GR Sport and the equivalent Honda HRV, he will notice that the HRV is almost 200kg lighter than the Corolla Cross.

So you say there is no way the Cross handles better than the City and I say that is true for my case. The handling of the vehicle is not solely on the laws of physics being the SUV sitting higher than a sedan. It's a combination of the steering feel, the suspension and the chassis, and I can tell you the City handles terrible. Of course I can expand on it if you think the terms I used "feel" or "better" is not helping in any way. It's not every time people will spend time writing a long essay in detail but since you have asked. The steering of the City is not only light but feels loose with low feedback which contributes to poor or reduced handling of the vehicle, apart from the soft floaty suspension. IN contrast, the steering of the Ford Focus although light, it is accurate with high feedback. You feel like you are in control of the vehicle with the steering wheel of the Ford Focus but with the City, it's just a loose steering where during cornering at higher speeds more focus is required due to the looseness. The Proton Preve's steering is much stiffer than both City and Focus but it's accurate and tight and not loose like the City.

My test-drive of the Corolla Cross GR Sport and hybrid is just a short one but that is enough for me to tell me the handling is at a much higher level than the Honda City and the CRV. The City is poor, and the CRV is one level poorer. If the City's handling is superior to the Cross to you, I won't say you are wrong. I will say your expectations may be different, or you look at different things. But one thing is sure, the City is one of the worst handling vehicle I have driven notwithstanding the poor rattling sound that plague all Honda vehicles including Civic and Accord. All the vehicles are from previous generations and I'm not sure if the current latest models have shown improved quality in terms of NVH and rattling sound but I doubt it.

You can say I can't compare the weight between the Cross and HRV but I have compared it. Different engine capacities still can be compared since it's the same segment vehicle.

No problem. I didn't respond to your post earlier as you are just like the earlier poster which doesn't seem to understand and maintained that it's wrong. Hence I didn't want to waste my time with you any further. So, I won't be responding to your post above.

Details of the new Corolla and Corolla GR Sport came out yesterday. There isn't much change from the old Corolla to new Corolla but I have to say, the new Corolla GR Sports look rather nice and doesn't have the "racer boy" looks. Apart from the tuned suspension and new design black-coloured rims, the biggest difference with the GR Sport is with the front grilles. To me, the front grilles on the GR Sport looks a lot better a nicely integrated, forming a clean stright line across the Toyota logo.

The rear of the car looks the same except from the rear diffuser at the bottom of the vehicle which isn't visible in the photos posted on the internet. At a price of RM152,800 for the GR Sport which is RM10k higher than the Corolla Cross, I am not sure if it will sell well although looks-wise to me it is an improver version. As for handling aspects, it is yet to be verified if the sports-tuned suspension will bring more harm than good, spoiling the already excellent suspension of the current Corolla. If it is tuned too much toward handling then comfort-wise it will go down. The Corolla 1.8G at RM147,800 doesn't have much going in it and with a RM5k price hike, not sure if it's good buy.

Corolla :-


Corolla GR Sport:-

That surely has some resemblance as the lower grille has been made wider. Anyway at above RM150k it's already considered too costly for a Corolla. The standard Corolla 1.8G priced at RM147k with some minor improvements mainly cosmetics (apart from keyless entry for front passenger door which may be useful) is also RM5k costlier than the previous version. Nowadays all C-segment sedans are now priced the same as D-segment. Times have changed. The good old days of getting a C-segment between RM110k to 130k are gone.

At the current new prices of the Corolla sedan, I believe the interest will be more toward the value buy of the Corolla Cross.

I see. Corolla is still CBU from Thailand? I assumed the Corolla has started CKD but perhaps I was wrong.

Any Corolla owners of the current model here? I was informed that there are many complaints on the Corolla Altis Gen12 Facebook Owner's page from gearbox problem (1 month warranty claim wait), headlamp burnt, exhaust pipe bush frequently broken, HU and dashcam problems, absorber oil leak within few months and frequently happen, engine idle suddenly drop to 500rpm with vibration then raise back to normal RPM.

Is this true?

Thanks for the information. That's a little surprising since I would expect a Toyota to be reliable when compared to all other cars. I've never experienced any issues as listed above for all my previous old cars Nissan Sylphy, Ford Focus more than 5 years old or even a Proton Preve Turbo. The rpm of the engine dropping to 500 and vibration inside car before the rpm goes back up to 1000+ when the vehicle is idle, this surely sounds serious and I can't imagine something like this to happen to any new cars even Proton or Perodua as in my 30 years of driving experience I haven't encountered anything like this before.

Did you experience this for your Altis? Any owners of the current Corolla care to share if your experienced all these issues which sound shocking to me. I test driven the Corolla GR Sport earlier and found that it's a nice car to drive, tuned more to comfort instead of sporty. The suspension is very nice which absorbs all the road imperfections and the cabin is fairly quiet. Overall it's a solid car from first impression.

Toyota'S forte or main selling point is reliability and trouble-free so hearing all these issues especially for a new car is shocking.

Thanks. The group is closed, only open to owners. Not interested to join and will just find out here on this forum from existing owners.

It's surprising, to me, if this is the characteristic of tuning in that the rpm will drop to 650-700 with vibration and climb back up. But perhaps it doesn't feel as bad in real life. Reading this feels like it is something that only old cars with worn out engine or clogged pipes which will show this. I don't have experience with this so I am not sure about the severity. If it's bad to the point of affecting the experience of the driver, I suppose the service centre will be able to rectify it to make sure the rpm will be stable and won't drop and cause vibration inside the vehicle when the car is stationary waiting at traffic lights. Or at least tune it to drop just a little if that's the inherent character of Toyota tuning..

Good to know. When I test drove the Corolla GR Sport, I didn't feel any vibration although the car was stationary just for a split second for once when waiting at U-turn, but this was with the air conditioner turned on all the time as usual. Will arrange for test drive another time if serious in considering the car. A bit of put off to hear these issues considering the famous "Toyota reliability" tagine but guess it's not perfect after all. If all these issues are plaguing the Corolla or other Toyota models (a Vios owner reported same rpm drop symptom on the main forum page but a rare occurrence), I am not sure what other hidden issues are prevalent with other car manufacturers. Nevertheless I presume issues can be fixed at service centres but it's just the inconvenience of sending the car to the SC to have problems fixed.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jan 7 2024, 10:35 AM

@voscar does your car have noticeable or serious rattling sound inside the cabin? I am particular about rattling sound of poor fittings inside the cabin and have low tolerance to rattling sound, and from what I was made to understand the Corolla and higher Toyota models don't show much rattling sound when compared to other competitors and are fairly quiet when on the road.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jan 7 2024, 10:39 AM

Thanks for the information. Appreciated. Looks like it's not all roses as what I've imagined.

Thanks for the response. I hope you will get it sorted out during the next service. I have test driven the Corolla GR Sport earlier last month and the overall feel of the car is high quality. The suspension of the car feels more planted and nimble when compared to the Corolla Cross and is tuned toward comfort. I'm not sure how different is the Corolla GR Sport to the regular Corolla but my guess is the difference is minimal judging from my test drive experience of both Corolla Cross regular and GR Sport version. In other words the GR sport badge is a gimmick with minimal difference in the handling and performance of the vehicles as the changes are mainly in the looks.

You may try other service centres if the current one you are visiting fails to resolve the issue of your car. Perhaps some pointers from other Corolla owners here might help but it appears that the owners here are not very active.