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Ownership review of my pre-owned Toyota Corolla Altis AT

7th February 2022, 09:05 by Dev Shah

The car was so well built that even after nearly 10 year of usage. There were no rattles, no squeaking sounds from anywhere inside or outside.

BHPian Strider24 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My pre-worshipped 10th gen Toyota Corolla Altis AT:

Disclaimer: This is a long post of my car ownership history, how at various stages of my life I owned different cars & how being a car & driving enthusiast kept my morale high in difficult life situations. You can also directly jump to the 'The Corolla Altis Story' to skip my car ownership history.

Here is a glimpse of what's coming up:

Prologue:

I was leaning outside my balcony with a cup of morning tea in my hand. Wife by my side sipping her tea, we both are looking at the outside world, the sky, the road, the compound wall & there was no one there. There is no traffic on the road, no crowd inside the society, nor anyone to look at anywhere. Why? Because it was the 1st lockdown period, and everybody was trapped inside their homes, binge-watching Ramayana, Family Man & what not.

My wife was looking at me & I was looking at the car parked under the shade below - an electric blue Skoda Octavia in its full glory, admiring its colour, curves, the awesome looking alloys & that vRS badge!

If you think that I was admiring the beauty of MY car, then NO. It was not mine. Someone had visited the society from Mumbai before lockdown started and now was stuck here until further notice. So no, it was not my car. My car was parked opposite the Octavia - a humble Renault Kwid in white colour, giving me no reason whatsoever to even look at it twice. In my heart, I kept questioning why I owned this car when the world had a beauty like the Octavia.

“Kabhi meri taraf bhi itne pyar se dekh liya karo”, taunted my wife.

Me (back to reality): "Do you think we should change our car now? The Kwid is not suiting us. What if we have to travel to our hometown by road? Can you sustain that long journey in it? I know I can't drive 700+ km in the Kwid!"

Wife: "So you want to buy a new car again? it has been just 1 year since we bought the Kwid."

Me (being at my persuasive best): "No, No,..No. It's not like I WANT to buy a new car, but we NEED a bigger & better car to endure long road trips. Due to this pandemic, I don't think we can do air or train travel anymore. Not for a long time, at least."

Wife: "Here you go again."

Me: "Okay, prove me wrong!"

Wife: "No point in trying. I know if you have made up your mind, then you won't stop. So I leave all car-related decisions to you, but this time, please, buy something for the next 5 years at least & it has to be a really good one that you can drive without complaints, no compromise at all & mind you, I will not be driving on long road trips at all."

Me (mentally grinning from ear to ear): "Aye Aye, Captain!"

And just like that, I got a green signal to replace our car.

My car ownership history is almost 11 years long now. In this period, I have owned, in total, 5 cars costing from as low as Rs. 80,000 to as high as Rs. 6.5 lakhs. If you are wondering why I've owned so many cars in such a short period of time, then read the full article. Else, just jump to the Corolla ownership section.

The car owner's history:

My first car, as a driver, was my dad's 1998 Maruti 800 DX in blue colour. I learnt to drive on it & it was a joy to drive then. I have lots of pleasant road trip memories in it with my dad & with my family.

This is my father with his beloved Maruti: He would talk incessantly about driving etiquettes and road manners on all our road trips. He is the reason I am a good driver today. I hope I can pass them on to my son.

However, when I moved to Pune for my job, I started to feel the need for my car & with lots of deliberation and limited choices at a low budget, I zeroed in on a pre-owned Daewoo Matiz from 1999.

I bought it for a paltry sum of Rs. 80,000 from a service centre owner. The date was 10.10.10, to be precise. I noticed this coincidence later when I got the RC. The car served me well for nearly 18 months before I sold it to a friend in Mumbai and moved on to pursue MBA. The Matiz had a zippy engine, sufficiently good build quality & spacious interiors compared to my dad's Maruti 800. The ownership experience was not entirely trouble-free, but that is what you can expect with your first car. Like any other car-loving person, I learned from every problem. The biggest lesson for a 26-year-old me was, get your car serviced on time & don't accept any faults in it.

My second car was a brand new, fabulous Honda Brio VX MT in 2014. It was the first car after my marriage and my wife, and I have so many fond memories of road trips in it around Pune. The best memory was being stuck in a long traffic jam on the Pune-Bangalore highway on our epic 13-hour Pune-Goa road trip with our 6-month-old son.

This car was such a brilliant pocket rocket that I enjoyed driving between Pune & Aurangabad on my weekly night drives. I used to redline it regularly on highways, and so far, no other car has ever given me driving thrills as much as the Brio has. The 'VTec kicked in Yo' feeling was awesome.

However, this redlining of the engine didn't stay for long. This has partly to do with the fact that earlier before my son was born, I used to drive alone, and now, most of the time, I drove with my wife and son. So no more adventure of high speed or pedal to the metal thrills.

But, what's life without a little drama in it? While all was going on fine in my life, the back & neck pain started to increase exponentially. Earlier, it was all attributed to my pre-existing disease of 'Ankylosing Spondylitis'. The latest scans showed a different picture. The rheumatologist sent me to a neurologist & he attributed my persistent pain to an 'Arachnoid cyst' on the C3-D1 section of the spine. The only treatment was surgically draining the cyst & putting a shunt to avoid any cyst in the future. So I had major spine surgery in December 2017 to remove my extradural Arachnoid cyst from my spine. Unfortunately, it was a failure. The surgeon couldn't remove it completely . I was told to keep an eye on symptoms & continue medication to suppress my neck & back pain.

Around this period, I was also bit by the bug to buy a used car from a higher segment and get it modified as per my taste. The 'CarThrottle' video series 'High Mileage hero-Miles' on YouTube primarily inspired me. I was amazed how an almost dying and the at-the-end-of-its-lifecycle car can be revived, given so much love, and then made ready to go back to life again.

I decided to take the plunge (against my wife's advice) because of YOLO! Life is too short not to experiment with things you are excited about. I soon found an enthusiastic young buyer for the Brio who loved it & we sealed the deal in 2 days. I zeroed in on the 3rd gen Honda City & started looking for a pre-owned one. Found one at a nearby used car centre and bought it at a reasonable price. It was an MY 1999 S AT model with paddle shifters & less than 45,000 km on the odo. I spent Rs. 12,000 on leather seats and got me an excellent car to live with and drive.

The major health scare:

My neurological problems were nowhere close to being resolved. In the next 6 months, my left foot was dangerously close to giving up its use in daily life. By June 2018, the threat of paralysis materialized. Slowly, I started to lose my ability to run, then went walking and finally the balance to stand. It all happened so quickly that I had no option but to have another major spine surgery at Bombay hospital. The surgery was long and successful this time. The cyst was calcified, but it was removed entirely and thankfully, the biopsy said there were no cancerous cells in it. I considered myself lucky.

But this surgery also resulted in me suffering from paraparesis, i.e. I temporarily lost the use of both my legs because of nerve damage. The next course of treatment was physiotherapy & although the claimed & expected recovery time was 3-6 months, the first 4 months of abysmal progress with extensive physiotherapy made it clear that it was a long road to recovery.

Recovery from major spine surgery is a gruelling task. It takes a mammoth amount of mental strength, carefully planned functional exercise & weight training regimen to get each and every affected muscle in shape and working. All the damaged sensory & motor nerves are regenerated and are trained again. But nerve generation on the spinal cord is a prolonged process. One needs a lot of moral support & something to keep going every day. The trick is to keep the expectations real and take one day & one step (literally) at a time.

So for the next 6-9 months, driving was out of the question, let alone the modifications I had planned on the City. The car was kept in the society parking for the next 6 months. After a careful evaluation of my situation & options, I took a decision and sold it on OLX to an NRI buyer in December 2018. In total, the City was with me for 8 months, and I could only drive it for less than 1,000 km on city roads.

Although I couldn't drive, nothing could keep me from dreaming about it. Thanks to various travelogues and driving videos, I kept my morale high and kept on planning my next road trip, possibly 1 or 2 or 3 years later. Over the next 9 months, I made a good recovery, and as soon as the right leg regained its power and control, I was ready to get back behind the wheel.

Next was the Kwid RXT (O) AMT in May 2019. This was my 4th car & I bought it purely as a stopgap arrangement for local city drives & until I was ready for long drives & with an understanding with my wife that she would be the primary driver at home. We kept it for 18 months & it served us very well.

The Kwid was suitable for city use & the occasional nearby highway drive, but I never felt safe enough, knowing that it scored just a '1-star' rating in NCAP testing. The engine never felt underpowered, but the NVH levels were terrible, and seating comfort was not acceptable to my semi injured back for long drives. My son never liked it as he always complained of motion sickness in the back seat. The overall ownership experience was neutral. The only positive about the car was the ride and handling. It was so impressive that when I compare the Corolla with the Kwid, I feel that the Corolla lags behind (primarily because of the stiff suspension setup of the Corolla after a suspension overhaul). Despite all its shortcomings, I will never forget the Kwid as my first car after recovery & I had so much fun with my family in it.

However, one road trip to Mahabaleshwar made it very clear that I would not keep it. The return drive on a super crowded Bangalore-Pune highway was torture in the Kwid, mainly because of the uncomfortable seats (my poor back) & the constant droning noise of the 3 pot motor. Soon, a passive search for the next car started. Passive, because I was afraid that as soon as I would mention "new car" to my wife, she would explode about how I keep changing cars and can never stick to just one.

The following episode:

A few months later, one morning, I coyly said to my wife, "let's change the car," and she readily agreed to it to my surprise. She too had the same reasons as I did to change it - the car not being comfortable & safe enough. In addition, she knew I was not enjoying driving Kwid at all (now you can relate to the prologue of this article).

Now, an active search for my next car started with the below parameters in mind, agreed by both of us:

Car has to be safe with a 5-star crash test rating.
Car has to be at least from the C2 segment. No more hatchbacks, not even premium hatchbacks or mini sedans.
Budget was set at Rs. 15 lakhs (maximum), but was extendable up to Rs. 16.5 lakhs as the car WILL BE with us for the next 5-7 years at least.
All 4 seats MUST be comfortable. No compromise on this.
And of course, an automatic transmission car. Only CVT or TC. No DSG or AMT.

Because of the 1st point itself, our choices were limited & after watching numerous YouTube videos and reading Team-BHP reviews, we shortlisted the below cars:

Mahindra XUV3OO W8 - 5 star NCAP safety rating, powerful turbo petrol engine, large wheels & imposing stance of an SUV from Mahindra. My son loved it as it was big & it had 60:40 split rear seats. Wife & I loved it because of the plush, comfortable leather seats. However, the AMT was not as smooth as a CVT & the boot space was tiny compared to others in the same segment. So it was kept as the last option.
Tata Nexon XZA+ - I considered it, but Tata salespeople were too reluctant to bring it for longish test drives. Some of my colleagues have given less than good feedback about TASS. The AMT transmission was another downside. Still, being a 5 star rated car, I shortlisted it.
Honda City V CVT – was a great overall package. The latest generation model was well built & though its crash test rating was not out, I really liked the overall driving experience. The CVT was awesome (in my opinion), the cabin felt premium & the redesigned front & rear were easy on the eyes. My heart & mind, both were set on this one.

Enter the EV argument:

All this was in my mind and I couldn't help but also consider the fact that the EV market was fast developing. So while I was open to EVs too, I was not convinced that an EV can actually suit my long road trips. The best possible alternative was the Tata Nexon EV, but even its best-case driving range was limited to 250 km only. This gave birth to the thought that when in the future, we get longer range & higher battery capacity EVs, it would be prudent to own one. So, did I want to spend Rs. 15 lakhs on a car which again I might replace with an EV? One alternative was to go the pre-owned route now, keep it for the next 4-5 years at which point, possibly, the EV market would become mature enough and offerings would make sense to consider owning.

In the pre-owned route, a few D1 & D2 segment cars were in my mind & one car which stood above anything else was the 10th generation E140 Corolla Altis. Its long-term reliability, low maintenance & solid build quality was sworn by by all Team-BHPians. A few ownership experience articles made it the best contender. I also considered a 3-year-old Octavia AT (in blue colour of-course, remember the prologue?) which would have cost the same as a new CITY, but I simply was not ready for the hassle & expense of maintaining a Skoda. With my ongoing recovery, peace of mind trumped over the heart's desires.

I shortlisted only one variant of the Corolla in particular. It had to be 10th generation E140 Corolla Altis VL AT from September 2011 onwards only. It was the facelifted top-end variant with a 7-speed CVT as opposed to the 4-speed CVT, which was not so great to drive.

Zeroing on Corolla & specifically this particular model was all thanks to the review post written by bhpian @Jaxy & another post by Sr.bhpian @aparth here.

One fine day, when all the right stars were aligned perfectly, I found one exceptionally well-maintained example on OLX. It was exactly the same variant I had in my mind. I went to the owner's office on a weekend with my wife & took a small test drive. We both loved it. The car's owner, Mr Santosh Mane, was very open about the entire service history of the car. Its price was non-negotiable for the reason that car was in mint condition. It drove really well and felt premium in every aspect. In the next few days, I got the car checked at a Toyota service centre, checked the service history & pending work on the Toyota connect app & all was good. Showed it to my trusted driver Raju bhai & he gave his OKAY to buy it. Some suspension work was due, which I accepted. Within the next 15 days, I sold my equally well-maintained Renault Kwid to its next owner through OLX and on the same day, welcomed the Toyota Corolla Altis VL AT into my family.

The Corolla Altis story:

It was 24.12.20 when the Corolla arrived home. My son was very excited to see a big car at our home. My wife performed the mandatory puja and we all went for a long drive.

By the end of the first week of ownership, we all were smitten by this car. My son loved the 60-40 split seat feature and played with it a lot whenever he could. The car was so well built that even after nearly 10 year of usage. There were no rattles, no squeaking sounds from anywhere inside or outside. Every function & feature of the car was working like new. Nothing was broken. The only sign of wear was on the driver side seat leather which was showing the obvious signs of usage. So, all in all, we were happy.

Major decision making factors which worked in favour of this car:

Ergonomics: Seating comfort, cushioning & side bolstering of front seats are perfect. VL being the top variant came with eight-way electrically adjustable driver seats & let me tell you, for someone with persistent back issues, the electrically adjustable lumbar support in the driver seats is a god's gift. I can drive the entire day and not feel even a bit of pain all thanks to these seats. Even all 3 passenger seats are super comfortable. Ingress and egress were spot on. I just wished it had powered neck rest adjustment too.
Powerful engine: The1.8L, 4-cylinder NA petrol engine with 140 PS power & 173 NM of torque is more than sufficient on Indian roads. With a weight of 1,380 kilos, it has a power to weight ratio of 101.45 PS/ton. Though the linear power delivery does not give it a sporty driving character, it is fun to drive. With a 7 step CVT gearbox, overtaking is effortless. Gear changes are not noticeable. It cruises at 100 km/h at around 1,200-1,300 RPM and the engine noise is non-existent at this speed. The only sound which penetrates the cabin is the road noise on cemented sections, but even that is minimal thanks to the soft Michelin tyres. Driving a big car with a powerful engine is effortless and covering long distances is not tiring anymore.
Automatic climate control and auto-dimming IRVM: In all my previous cars, I had to fidget with the manual air-con switches to find a setting that would suit all occupants. The ACC has relieved me from this torture. That being said, my son, in the rear seat, still complains of being cold (even at 24 degrees). The simple solution is a permanently placed blanket at rear seat.

Money saving: Yes it was a big factor in making a used car purchase decision. I paid Rs. 4.85 lakhs for this car & I am getting all the power, comfort, convenience and features which are present in a Rs. 15+lakh car in today's market. I would spend a few thousands on gizmos and this car is as good as Honda City V AT, which would have cost me Rs. 15 lakh+ OTR. Therefore, it is a straight saving of Rs. 10 lakhs or a saving of EMI of Rs. 15,000-20,000 pm over the next 7 years. Total savings on the future cost of ownership calculated over a period of the next 7 years is nearly 47% compared to a new car. I call it one wise financial decision, which gave me the freedom to go for accessories & upgrades whenever I want and whatever I wish for. You can refer to the attached excel sheet, which I downloaded from somewhere on the internet & used for this calculation.

Smaller yet significant things that I like in this car (it is a long list):

The previous owner had installed a Matchpoint GPS module in the car, giving some features of connected car tech. I can track the car movement on the map, see the critical information like drive time, idle time, max speed and current speed. It also has multiple tracking modes like valet mode, service centre mode, parking mode and 'no tracking' mode, depending on who is driving the car. Geo-fencing can be done i.e. I get a notification on the app if the car leaves a certain area. The subscription is valid till 2024.

Puddles lamps on front doors are a safety feature, which should be made mandatory in all cars now.
Manual rear window shades are very convenient for rear passengers on a sunny day's drive. I wish it also had them inbuilt in all 4 doors.
Headlight washer is a cool party trick. My wife was amazed to see it. When I told her that back in the 80s and 90s, Mercedes cars used to have proper headlight wipers on them, she went wow! There is a switch to operate them manually. They automatically activate whenever wiper fluid is used & headlights are on.

Full-size alloy spare wheel is a rarity even in today's cars. Thankfully, Toyota did not cut corners 10 years back.
Car was manufactured in Aug 2011 and I was told by the previous owner that it is a CKD model assembled in Bangalore. So parts quality, fit & finish are top-notch. Probably this is the reason that some spare parts are so expensive. Even a single HID bulb costs around 12k+taxes in Toyota ASC.
Car came with 3 remote keyfobs! All 3 are working fine. Apparently, each keyfob costs 30K+ for replacement in ASC.
Sliding armrest, height-adjustable seat belts for front passengers, soft opening lower glove box & soft-touch material on the dashboard & upper door-pads makes the cabin feel premium.
Illuminated glove box and trunk. Both vanity mirrors have lights near them.
Auto headlights with 4500k HID bulbs light up the darkest roads. Although they are expensive to replace and hard to find in aftermarket shops. It has an automatic headlight leveller too.

Here is a video showing the illumination on a dark highway.

Full keyless entry & start-stop function. I do not have to remove the keys from my pocket at all. As soon as I reach near the driver side door, the car recognizes the key, cabin lights light up, I just put my hand inside the door handle and it unlocks. Press the request sensor to lock the door. It is a big feel-good factor about the car.
Keyless boot opening - When I have to open the boot, if I am carrying the keyfob then I just have to press a button beside the license plate lights & it opens. No need to press the boot opener button on the keyfob.
Hill-start assist & hill hold control is a boon on hilly climbs & where there is a lot of traffic. Although I use the handbrake most of the time on such roads.
Ground clearance of 175 mm in a sedan - I can (but I do not) go mostly anywhere without worrying much. It also means that ingress & egress is much better compared to other low slung sedans.

There are tons of sensors for safety. A constant warning chime sounds in the below scenarios and ensures I don't leave the car unsafe:

- I open the door without putting the gear in D mode.

- Driver side door is open & keyfob not detected.

- Car is not in P mode, and I am trying to lock the doors from outside.

- However, no chime if the boot is left open after locking the car. The MID shows if the boot is open, but one can miss it easily.

- Open the hood without the key near it, and the car safety alarm would scream like hell. It happened once when the car battery died, and the keyfob's battery died too. I opened the door with a manual key & then opened the hood with the key in my pocket. Since the engine couldn't detect the immobilizer chip without a working battery in the keyfob, it detected it as a theft and bam! The siren blurted out in full intensity in my underground parking. It was quite a racket before I could realize what was wrong. I googled and immediately found out how to deal with such a situation, just keep the fob near the start/stop switch and press it a few times. Problem solved.

- Seat belt warning for both front seats.

Rake and reach adjustable steering wheel - It's perfect to find the sitting and driving position for a person of any height.
Cruise control is a boon on roads with controlled traffic. Also, it is great to extract good FE on such a road. I have never tried it on city roads because most of my city drives happen in a radius of 2-3 km only.

Things I miss in this car:

4/6 more airbags, hill descent controls & DRLs.
Current touchscreen infotainment system's incompatibility with a rear parking camera. So far, no accessory shop has found an adapter to integrate a rear park camera into it. & I would hate to change the HU just for a reversing camera.
If ORVMs could auto fold and unfold when locking and unlocking the car. I have to press a button every time for it.
2 or 3 stage door opening.

Repairs done in the last one year at FNG:

Suspension parts replacement: It was due when buying the car itself. I got it done in August 2021, and after this, the car glides over all types of roads. Although it is now a relatively stiffer setup, I do not mind it because it has resulted in improved highway handling & better steering feedback. City ride suffers a bit, but I have gotten used to it & am okay with it now.
Rear brake pads replaced with TVS branded pads. Rotors turned as advised by Asit. However, braking performance at 80+ km/h even after this repair is still not up to my expectation & I am pushing my FNG owner Asit to diagnose this. A car with all 4 disk brakes should brake very effectively.
I have OCD for keeping my car trouble-free. I can't tolerate even a single unexplained issue in my car & at the first sign of trouble (which sometimes is just my oversensitive ears), I go for a quick check-up. I plan to keep this car fully maintained until it is with me. Periodical servicing will always be done at the Toyota service centre only. However, I will not always go for Toyota spare parts (except the critical ones) as the OEM parts are available at a lower price at my FNG.

Fuel efficiency figures:

I bought this car primarily for highway usage. On my road trips so far with a combination of good & not so good roads, I get close to 13.5 km/l, by tankful to tankful method.
On very good roads like expressways, the FE reaches up to 18 km/l (on MID) over long stretches of roads. The real figure would still be around 17-17.5 km/l.
On city roads, I get an abysmal 8-9 km/l owing to the reason that I use it for short drives in a radius of 2-3 km only. My city usage is low, so this figure does not bother me much.

Accessories/functional part changes done so far:

High beam stock lamps replaced with Philips Xtream Vision G force headlamps.
Parking lamps replaced with Osram T10 LED lights.
Battery replaced last month as the old one was almost 4 years old & was giving me starting trouble.
Sensairy internal TPMS installed, works very well.

Carried over the 70mai Dashcam Pro from the Kwid and DIY installed with hidden wiring up to the 12V socket.
70mai car jump starter kit - This saved me twice in the middle of the road when I was facing battery trouble. Soon after, I replaced the battery.
Carried over the tyre inflator from the Kwid. I use it for all my vehicles & my son's basketball as well.
All 6 stock speakers were replaced with JBL speakers in Nov 2021, along with sound damping on the doors. Changing speakers made big difference to the audio experience in the cabin.

So far, the only gripe I have with this car is its exterior colour scheme. It is all silver on the outside. All body panels, door handles, ORVMs, alloy wheels, and even the front grill is in silver colour. Subtle chrome elements do very little to bring any contrast. So much silver is unpleasant to my eyes.

To overcome this, I am planning to introduce some black elements in below two potential combinations:

Gloss black roof wrapping + black grill (by plastic-dipping) or
Black grille+ dark gunmetal grey or matte black alloys (by repainting).

Either of the above modifications would hopefully give some sporty visual character to the otherwise monotonous silver exteriors. I found some pics online, and I wish to achieve the below look:

My wish list for this car:

ICE upgrade:

- Sony under seat subwoofer XS-AW8 (need more suggestions from BHPians about subwoofer choice).

- An upgrade of head-unit to Sony XAV-AX7000 (low priority).

Sound damping on floor and firewall.
Reverse parking camera.
IPH projector fog lamps with HIDs.
Some cool looking ambient lights in the cabin. No excess of it, though.
Steering wheel full leather wrap.

Summary:

In the last year, I have driven my car exactly 7,000 km, including a 1,500 km round trip between Pune and Nagpur, a 900 km round trip to Goa and numerous other weekend drives around Pune. City usage was hardly 2,000 km in total. On all of my road trips, the car has been a joy to drive and very comfortable for the passengers. My wife and son absolutely love going on road trips in it, and I love it even more to drive. This is not a rumbling racing car with crazy low gear acceleration. There is no turbo kick or VTec kick in feeling, but it is not a boring underpowered car. I am a sedate driver now & I don't push it to its limit anymore. Am I happy to drive it? A big YES. Am I glad to own it? An even bigger YES. Could I have owned something new & better? Yes, of course, but which car lover's heart wouldn't mind upgrading to a better car at any given point in time? But it is the mind that keeps us grounded and allows us to make better choices & that's what I did.

Based on my current usage pattern, I am planning to keep this car for another 4 years when the next upgrade will happen, which will either be an electric sedan/SUV or a combination of a small electric hatchback & a used 4X4 soft-roader like the Hyundai Tucson 4X4 AT GLS.

In the end, thanks for reading till here. It feels good to share my experience of owning a great used car. I would highly recommend everyone to consider owning a good car from 1 or 2 segments above before the EV revolution takes over.

A parting shot, my car in its natural habitat, at an angle from which it looks the best: