Today, while driving toward an on-ramp at speed, a beige Corolla with gold badging, a spoiler and a whole lot of mumbo jumbo crap hanging from its rear-view mirror dove across two lanes to jump into the on-ramp slip lane at the very, very last minute.
Luckily I'd seen him coming and braked well in time.
He then proceeded to try to merge with the freeway at 45 km/h.
It made me feel feelings.
They were not positive feelings.
Fortunately, the Corolla I drive isn't beige, I have nothing hanging from my mirrors, and that little 1.8L 4-pot is put to the test to make traffic keep up with ME!
While papa Noto's FJC was getting its O
2 sensor (likely not faulty, but replaced any way) and vacuum switcher valve (stuck open and replaced, both under ECP warranty at $0 cost to papa or myself), I strolled around the dealership to look at the new Corollas. I noticed a few things that really p!ssed me off, actually when comparing it to the gen that I drive (2009-2013):
1) There is no longer a 12V port in the centre console box: so there is now only one outlet in the entire car instead of two; i.e. no 12V port in here (where there used to be one):
2) The rear seat folding mechanism in the 2009-2013 is operated by pull tabs in the trunk, whereas the new Corolla uses levers located inside the cabin on the seatbacks. This is very unfortunate as it means one would have to open both rear passenger doors to put down the seats instead of merely standing at the trunk as I do frequently. i.e., I prefer this in the old one:
To this in the new one:
3) ^^ notice above: The rear seats don't fold nearly as flush with the trunk floor as they used to. I couldn't figure out if the seatbacks were thicker, the seat bottoms were higher, or if the trunk floor was lower. Whatever the cause, there's now a noticeable lip.
Otherwise, the upgrades are fricken fantastic. Those headlights, the HMI, etc. All are worlds ahead of the prior gen.
