Toyoland: Toyota car and truck forums

On initial long trip through mountains of west virginia I found the car to be under powered for the task. Cruise control caused high revving to sustain its speed. Prior vehicle 99 camry 6 ate up these hills with no problem.

Ongoing gas mileage for primary city driving runs at 8.9 l/100 km which does not translate to good mileage in my esteem. Car now has 12000km on it.

Any opinions or similar findings?

This is really a corolland.com topic but -- I prefer the late 90s-early 2000s Corolla engines. I never had a power issue but I had a stick and that might have been the difference. (It was an LE).

Automatic or standard transaxle?

The does 1.8L works pretty hard in that car.  For winding roads, the engine and chassis are totally outclassed.  But that was the design of the car, just a  point to point commuter that has a nicer interior then the previous generation (also heavier by roughly 200lbs).  The upgraded engine in the XRS has a much broader torque range and upgraded suspension that helps the car out in those types of environments.  

Can\'t really compare this Corolla to a V6 Camry, as even though the Camry weighs more (~1470kg vs ~1270kg), also runs 194HP/209TQ vs 132HP/128TQ.  Just the difference in torque will make all that difference in the hills and winding sections.

As for fuel economy - 8.9L/100km or roughly 26MPG is exactly the posted EPA city fuel economy.  Other users have reported similar findings for fuel economy, some that have seen considerable better numbers have noted that you have to drive the car a little differently than what they were typically used to.  Sometimes replacing the OEM tires with better aftermarket ones have markedly increased overall handling and steering feel with no drop in fuel economy.