i ♥ my car
I love driving, and I’ve always driven interesting cars. I started with an ‘83 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce, then a ‘62 Ford Ranchero, and now an ‘05 Corolla XRS. For all-around, the Corolla wins hands down.
I live about 50 miles from my job, so I spend about 2 hours each day in my car commuting on the freeway. The Corolla has been a fantastic car to do it in. It is comfortable, gets about 33 mpg, and has more than enough oomph to merge with the breakneck speeds of Highway 280, without looking like a homemade super-hero car.
The performance aspect is no small part of why I wanted this car. The Alfa was a slow-ish sports car with good handling, and the Ranchero was terrifying to drive on a freeway, even in the slow-lane, and it turned like a bowl of wet pasta (but looked good doing it). The XRS comes in at 170 horsepower / 2670 pounds, and handles quite well for a car in its class. I can take it out into the hills on a Saturday and tear around awfully fast for a laugh, and have no complaints about perfromance. It has a 6-speed transmission, which means I have to shift a bit more often, but I can always find a strong spot in the power band to really jump the car forward.
The interior fit and finish gets decent marks. The seatcovers are very comfortable, though the console lacks a bit. It is far better than the Scion line, but feels a bit weak. I guess that is to be expected in a lower-end Toyota.
There is no question that I’m picky about what I drive, and the XRS has been a fantastic car.