[nagr22]

Originally Posted by llamainblue

Hi all,

My first post here on this forum, as I am looking to enter the world of being a car owner today with a purchase of a pre loved Altis 2009 G model.

Welcome to team-bhp! Corolla is a great car to own but you have to remember that it is a D segment car and the cost of spare parts are exorbitant. For instance, here's the cost of a single headlamp assembly for a 2009 Corolla altis from boodmo:


It is indeed a bulletproof car and will serve you well with minimal maintenance. But being this old, I am sure it's IDV will be less and even a simple shunt in the front will make it a total loss due to high repair costs. So if budget is not a constraint, go for a 2014 or newer corolla. If your budget is fixed, look for a Honda city or Etios diesel which are also very reliable and will serve you equally well with reasonable maintenance costs.

Cheers!

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by llamainblue

My first post here on this forum, as I am looking to enter the world of being a car owner today with a purchase of a pre loved Altis 2009 G model.

I am looking at an immaculately kept manual silver G model owned by a TKM employee, who is the second owner (first owner was a TKM employee also). The car had no issues, and has run 97.5k km and has a valid FC till April '24. We took the car to the service centre too, who confirmed the odomoter reading as genuine and recommended a price of 2.8L if I wanted to purchase it.

I got the listing through a dealer (who of course claims to be a friend of the owner) who quoted 3.15L initially, but has agreed to a price of 2.75L including the RC change price.

I wanted some advice from fellow Altis owners on whether it is a good deal, or if I should keep looking for something else in terms of the car of the price I'm paying.

P.S. I understand that this is a pretty old model, and has run a lot, but being a Toyota, I hope it will run up to 2L km easily without a lot of investments, and being my first car, I didn't want to go for a Civic (which was my other choice) which was an automatic but needed more upkeep.

I have the 2008 model of Corolla Altis. It IS a reliable car (my car started after 7 months during the COVID lockdown, no fuss & no tantrums) and can easily do 200K kms if you maintain it regularly at 10K km intervals. I only give my car to TKM's dealers. No FNGs for me.

Originally Posted by nagr22

Welcome to team-bhp! Corolla is a great car to own but you have to remember that it is a D segment car and the cost of spare parts are exorbitant. For instance, here's the cost of a single headlamp assembly for a 2009 Corolla altis from boodmo:

The 10G Corolla came with normal and HID bulb variants (HID in the GL manual and V automatic versions, the latter has auto levelling as well. The assembly with normal incandescent bulbs is much less expensive.

This won't be any different with the 11G version either. This one came with LED headlamp assemblies IIRC.

A rule with Toyota - accident repairs and related part replacements can be VERY expensive. Take care to prevent accidents. That said, normal routine maintenance parts and service charges are reasonable.

One thing to remember for total loss they may take repair cost v/s market price of the vehicle, not necessarily only IDV. The 10G Corolla has an IDV of about 4-5L varying on the model year. If the repairs cost more then they will offer a total loss settlement. More so a reason to be careful whilst driving.

[llamainblue]

Thanks for your responses R2D2 and nagr22. I got her home on Sunday, and am loving going weeee whenever I accelerate

Here's hoping to get some miles in and around Bangalore in the coming weeks!

[llamainblue]

New car update:

So we took our first trip and drove from Bengaluru to Goa end of April. The car performed like a charm, my furry one loved the drive, completely smooth that she even slept off in the back for a bit.

Very comfortable seats, with no issues for the entire 9.5 hour drive each way, and the AC cools the car within seconds (not even exaggerating)!

The powerful engine performed very well, with good feedback and acceleration too. I thought the brakes were a bit unsettling while driving in the rains at slightly higher speeds, but I think that is normal.

The steering did feel a bit light at higher speeds, but it was an acceptable compromise for a better experience during city drives, which form a bulk of the drives anyway.

I also saw a difference in how cops respond to this car over a Civic. I come across as more mature, at least to them (Civic owners, don't beat me please)

Overall, I'm very happy with the decision to go with the Altis over a Civic, and this one is officially mine now, with the new RC coming in a few days back!

Here's to more drives in the coming weeks and months!

[Strider24]

Originally Posted by pta320

You can look for Bosch rotors and pads, they are pretty decent and Bosch is a well know company.

The Toyota pads and rotors are excellent but very expensive. I've seen Toyota brake pads last well over 85k kms if driving is not overly enthusiastic. Can't comment the same for Bosch but they should be decent enough and provide you great value for money.

Brakes albeit critical, but it's still safe to consider good aftermarket options. It's just a myth that for brakes only OEM is reliable, there are decent after market parts out there.

.

Sorry for a delayed update. I had a lot to do and a covered lots of places and Kms in last few months. More update on my road trips and repairs in coming posts.

I finally ended up choosing Toyota rotors and brake pads in rear side. no changes done in front.

Did it make any difference in overall braking feel? Yes-There was some minor improvement for sure but the initial bite is same as before.

Did I have to spend 20k for this? NO!- I guess I could have gone with Bosch parts too. but I am glad I didn't replace front rotors yet, will go for Bosch in future if required.

However the uneasiness of having a worn out rotor is gone. Post this part replacement I went to a cemented road section with almost zero traffic and tested the stopping distance under very heavy braking, simulating an emergency braking scenario on highway, & voila, it was amazingly quick to stop. there was no squealing noise or unsettling feeling on steering wheel. Car just stopped in straight line. Did this testing 4-5 times. came back pretty impressed.

After this test I was satisfied and have stopped giving undue attention to brake setup.

[anandr84]

That's a great post @strider24. I bought a preworshipped Corolla Altis G CVT (2018) model with around 30k on the Odo in March 2022. Drives like a charm.
Already clocked 8k kms on it, with multiple long trips to mumbai, vadodara, bangalore etc from Hyderabad.

The only thing that I wish to upgrade is the ICE, to something which can support android auto.

Did you end up upgrading the ICE? Any other recommendations for a good ICE system?

[navjon]

Hello Corolla ardent fans, I am moving to India for a 18 month break and I am highly considering getting a Corolla Altis 2011-2013 AT version for daily drives, with school hops, city crawling, and highway cruise.

If you hear of any dear corolla's for sale, please share it with me.

[Strider24]

Originally Posted by R2D2

I have the 2008 model of Corolla Altis. It IS a reliable car
The 10G Corolla came with normal and HID bulb variants (HID in the GL manual and V automatic versions, the latter has auto levelling as well. The assembly with normal incandescent bulbs is much less expensive.

hi R2D2, right side HID of my car conked off today. right in front of my eyes. . as much as I know its replacement will cost me something like 12-15k at Toyota. I haven't looked for it on accessory shops yet but probably they won't have it.

is there anyway to source it at lesser price from somewhere else? India or Malaysia?

If anyone owning GL or V-AT variant of 2011-2013 year has one HID in spare, can I get it please?

Thanks in Advance.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Strider24

hi R2D2, right side HID of my car conked off today. right in front of my eyes

I am sure you can get the bulb at aftermarket stores if not in Pune but for sure in Mumbai. Also these are HIDs for reflectors so make sure you buy the same type of bulb and not the one for projector headlamps. Also try Boodmo using their dropdown lists to select the correct model and year for your car.

Keep in mind - Toyota is reasonable for normal annual maintenance and consumable spares. But accident damage and some spares, like the HID bulbs or headlamp assemblies for e.g. can get really expensive.

[tanmay1904]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

These are the OE bulbs spec:

https://www.amazon.in/Osram-HID-4150...s%2C287&sr=8-2

However the car comes with Philips which is slightly more whiter than this.

Taken from Vid6639's thread on his Corolla Altis.


However, the above bulbs are showing out of stock on Amazon but are available on Flipkart. Here is the link https://www.flipkart.com/osram-headl...mdb92e52b0763a.
Kindly do check whether these are with the same level of Color temperature of the Corolla Altis as I don't exactly remember the OE spec to be 4300K or 4150K. (It is mentioned as 4300K in Vid6639's thread). However, some reviews on Amazon do mention this to be perfect fit for the car. Hope this helps.

On a side note, I really loved your thread on your Altis. We too owned a 10G Corolla Altis, bought way back in 2010. It was the lower middle variant 1.8G. We recently sold it 2 days back. It had done some ~172000 kms and was largely trouble free until now. Your thread had really convinced me to hold on to the car for a little longer when you first wrote about your car. Attaching some pictures of the car taken a day before it went away.

[Strider24]

A bit late in posting the update about headlight bulb, but I was able to source a Philips D4R HID bulb at relatively cheaper rate. MRP of Rs. 4500, got it for Rs. 3500. It turned out to be an exact replacement of OEM bulb, even the part number matched.

Here are the pictures.
The original old bulb which went kaput. You can see the Bluish part which indicates that it's no longer alive.



The new bulb sourced from an accessory shop at FC Road. The specification is exactly same as the stock HID. Got it installed by a installer at my home. He has to remove the headlight as the lock was stuck and was not opening. (Toyota was charging an exorbitant Rs.12000 for this.)









After replacement there was no difference in light colour or intensity. It matched perfectly with the 11 year old stock HID bulb.



Overall it was not so expensive part. Some local HID too were available at even half cost ( Genome ,MRP Rs. 2200) but in the end I decided to stick to the brand name and value.

[Strider24]

While I was searching for the replacement bulb, I spotted this neatly maintained Altis D4D in Pashan ( near dolphin Circle).




Would love to know whose car is it and if we can connect sometime to exchange notes on our Corollas. I have always loved this color and wanted this at the first place.

[Strider24]

What are the chances that you get to see not one but two exact same color and model of same vintage parked side by side.
I spotted these today 😊

[llamainblue]

Hello all!

I gave my Altis for servicing yesterday, and the service advisor asked me to change the front break pads as they were at 2 mm. He also asked to clean the disk, and the quote was 6,500 for the front pads and 2,500 for the cleaning.

I looked online, and Bosch pads are like 2k and Brembo are 3.5k (from the Chennai UM dealer).

My questions on this were -

1. Why is the Toyota price 3x of normal ones, when they also use the same Bosch parts? Would they use a different part number?
2. Should I get Bosch parts directly at a Bosch centre (they quoted 2k + 500 for labour).

Also, if I go with an outside service centre like Bosch, should I expect squealing noises? I read some Teambhp threads, and squealing seems to be a common issue for going with pads like Brembo.

[Strider24]

Originally Posted by llamainblue

Hello all!

I gave my Altis for servicing yesterday, and the service advisor asked me to change the front break pads as they were at 2 mm. He also asked to clean the disk, and the quote was 6,500 for the front pads and 2,500 for the cleaning.

I looked online, and Bosch pads are like 2k and Brembo are 3.5k (from the Chennai UM dealer).

My questions on this were -

1. Why is the Toyota price 3x of normal ones, when they also use the same Bosch parts? Would they use a different part number?
2. Should I get Bosch parts directly at a Bosch centre (they quoted 2k + 500 for labour).

Also, if I go with an outside service centre like Bosch, should I expect squealing noises? I read some Teambhp threads, and squealing seems to be a common issue for going with pads like Brembo.

Are you experiencing and decrease in braking performance? If yes then must go for replacement.

No idea abou Brembo parts, but Bosch brakes pads are good, you can directly go for it a Bosch centre itself, I wouldn't rely on local FNG( if he is not your trusted one or has experience working on a Toyota Car. I too am planning to go for it when replacing front disk rotors next time.

As for why Toyota charges ridiculously high price is a mystery, last time my SA told me it's because of higher quality material used in parts which are imported. However if you have seen my earlier post, i was able to source one HID bulb with same part number at 30% cost (compared to Toyota Genuine part) locally.