[BeemerBug_06]

Time for some updates !!
The Corolla has taken over as the my daily driver from the Zen for sometime now since I've decided to give the little one a break for a bit. I have driven it about say 300km since the restoration, in different kinds of traffic situations and roads and here are a few pointers about how it's been.

The Good :-

• The Great Low End Torque of the 1.8 litre motor makes overtaking and driving in city traffic speeds a breeze. I can even drive in 4th gear all day long with a partially open road and not need to downshift.

• The AC is a chiller, such that I often need to turn it down or even put it off. Ideal for our humid Mumbai weather. Furthermore, unlike the Zen, it doesn't bog down the engine's power hehehe.

• The comfort of driving/being driven in one of these is second to none, now it feels even better with the reupholstered seats

• The ABS too happens to be a blessing as it did it jobs at a couple of situations which could have been fatal thanks to some idiotic two-wheelers

• As for the mileage, I have been getting a constant 9-10kmpl reading in the city with AC and bumper to bumper traffic. I find it to be a respectable figure for the car. I'm sure most Corolla owners would be experiencing the same

The Not-so Good :-

• The car moves well, but it just isn't engaging to drive. Not a driver's car. Best driven sedately and using short shifts. Pulling it beyond 3k rpm will not be of much fun at all, although the engine has some amazing capabilities

• The size can be a bit of a headache at times. Especially near my workplace where parking spots are few and small. In bumper to bumper traffic, I miss having the Zen with which I could cut through easily

• The clutch feels heavy and hard. Surely the age has a role to play here. Again, in traffic it feels very cumbersome and I wish I had an automatic at times

• Overall visibility is not bang on. There are certain blind spot areas which if unaware will not be taken into consideration and can lead to mishaps while reversing/overtaking

So there's some Pros and Cons. But overall, it has been good dailying the Rolla. Glad we kept it !






With BHPian vishy76's Chevrolet Spark which has now moved to Mumbai

[BeemerBug_06]

Some weeks ago when I took the car on the highway and went above the speed of 80-90 kmph, the steering would start vibrating. It felt odd as I had never experienced something of that sort before. Nonetheless, I thought it was a problem with the wheel alignment or balancing. So on my return, I drove over to my local tyre shop and had the balancing done. It did sort out the issue temporarily, but it returned after sometime.

The tyre guy then suggested that it was most likely the tyres which had gone bad and were causing the problem. It sure was !

The Yokohama Earth 1s that my car was running on were changed by my dad in 2015 and the car had hardly run since then, causing the rubber to go hard and develop cracks on the sidewall. Hence, it needed new rubber immediately, lest the tyres would burst the next time I went on the highway.

After some research and asking the experts, I zereod in on MRF Perfinzas. The tyre size is 195/65 R15 and I was lucky to get totally fresh new tyres for the car.









Once the tyres were changed, it made a world of difference to the car. The improvement felt is phenomenal. Seriously, tyre changing is something that I'd call underrated.Several people I know avoid changing tyres and then complain that the car doesn't feel right. Here-on I suppose the mileage too will improve.

The work was done at Century Tyres Prabhadevi, which is my go-to place for anything related to tyres and alignment.


Here is another thing I'd like to speak about. Firstly, I would like to thank BHPian vigsom who is a literal human encyclopedia of cars and especially of those that he has owned. Most of you would know that he owned two Corollas.

Sometime ago when we were speaking, he informed me about a cheap thing that Toyota did back in the day on pre-2005 September Corollas. They did not provide a cabin filter and merely gave a stupid mesh there which was of no use. This was the reason behind cars facing AC problems and also why they began to give it on the facelift cars. Thanks to my then low usage and maintenance, the AC is in good nick. However, I took this suggestion and put one in for the car ASAP.


The useless mesh




The filter I got isn't OEM, but it should do the job.

To leave you with yet another THEN VS NOW pic :-


2006


2022

That's it from me for now, until the next update!
See you soon

[Beingtraveler]

Corolla has always been a no non-sense car. I've always admired and I almost finalized a pre-worshiped 2010 Corolla Altis automatic back in 2018, but things didn't work out in the end and that deal never happened. It's a great vehicle to own. Also, the before and after pictures, are they at same place?

[BeemerBug_06]

Originally Posted by Beingtraveler

Corolla has always been a no non-sense car. I've always admired and I almost finalized a pre-worshiped 2010 Corolla Altis automatic back in 2018, but things didn't work out in the end and that deal never happened. It's a great vehicle to own. Also, the before and after pictures, are they at same place?

Yes Indeed the pics are taken at the same place, in fact if you look closely, I have purposely taken it at the same angle. Coincidentally, both were taken on a Sunday afternoon

[BeemerBug_06]

Quick Updates

A month and a half into using the car daily, I realised that the electronics had begun to go all slow and sluggish. The power windows and power mirrors took ages to work and it became quite annoying after a point. So one Sunday afternoon, I called a gentleman named Mr. Ram over to my place. He is a seasoned electrician and someone whom you would call a "Door mechanic". I was astonished to see the amount of muck, leaves, and other gunk that was lying behind the door pads and at the bottom. The winders and motor had all gone rough and slowed down, considering it had never been worked on ever before.

Doing such a job might sound easy, but doing it right is indeed something that requires skill and patience considering it involves using a number of screwdrivers and pry tools that can easily mess things up.

However, for a seasoned technician like Ram Bhai, it was child's play. He spent a good two and a half hours at work, while I watched for most of the time. Just watching him go about his work so skillfully was an experience by itself.

Once done he assured me to that they would have become smooth like makkhan and they indeed had!

To summarise the work done :-
- All four door hinges serviced
- Window winders serviced
- Power window motors serviced
- Power mirror motor service

All this was done for a little less than a 1000/-


Now for a few pics of the man at work :













Post that, I took the car to Star Auto Electricals, my trustworthy electrician shop for ages who helped service the wiper motor and get it back into smooth action

[BeemerBug_06]

With that out of the way, the car felt more cosmetically fresh than before. However, there were then some mechanical hassles that showed up after a couple of weeks. For starters, there was an annoying vibration that started behind the dashboard and resonated into the car once the engine came to temperature, furthermore, oil was leaking out of the tappet cover owing to a worn out gasket and lastly, the brakes began to feel vague and lagged the bite that they originally had.

Frustrated, I decided what to do about it. Once again, thank you to vigsom for helping me out here. It was all thanks to him that I was able to diagnose that annoying vibration that was resonating into the cabin from behind the dashboard and disrupting an otherwise very silent ride. The issue was caused due to worn-out engine mounts. Although, my car is low run the age of the mounts had caught up and they were done for. Later on , I dropped off the car to my mechanic Ravi for a test drive and he confirmed the same.

There on, I had to order the parts. It was more likely that only two mounts i.e the foundation mount that sits below the engine at the back and the other hydraulic mount that can be found below the power steering oil reservoir. Nonetheless, I decided to go ahead and change all four in order to future proof the car for another decade or so.

Procuring the parts wasn't as easy as I thought. My local auto parts shop did not have stock at all and in the end I had to pay extra to get the OEM parts from Toyota itself. Once they arrived, I dropped off the car to my other mechanic Sanjay as Ravi was unavailable, the following morning.

Now for some images of the WIP :-




Old Rivals, now spending some TLC time together






The head of a well maintained car !


New tappet cover gasket fitted

Now a look at the mounts








Once the new mounts were in, the car became super silent. Such that I could not even tell whether the engine was running or not. In fact, I had never experienced it in such a smooth and silent state.

As for the brakes, the pads had worn out as they had gone all hard and the discs were in desperate need of being skimmed. So I had that done, along with a thorough brake service. Post that they became as good as new !

[BeemerBug_06]

And finally, once all the work was complete, it was followed by a quick early morning drive to Lonavala and back. The car performed very well and returned fuel economy of about 16-17 km/litre. Impressive I'd say.










An image of the expert vigsom himself checking out the car during a quick visit to Mumbai a few days ago.

[BeemerBug_06]

A very Happy New Year to each and every one of you here!
Hoping that your 2022 ended on a good note as mine certainly did

Here's why :
As is the norm in my household, we often plan to take a week off usually during the Diwali or Christmas holidays. We travel to Goa, our favorite holiday destination in India. This time our Goa trip was planned post-Christmas from the 26th of December to the 2nd of Jan. My folks always prefer to fly down, however, this time the flight ticket prices were through the roof owing to the holiday rush. Furthermore, it was too late in the day for us to book the Tejas express. So what remains?

The Road !!

At last, after a long wait my wish to experience a proper road trip had come true. Since I happen to be the only enthusiastic driver at home, I was absolutely elated on learning that we would be driving down. My folks on the other hand weren't as excited, but looked forward to it

Weapon of Choice :


At last, the 1.8 litre motor would get an opportunity to hit the highway at a stretch and perform like it is supposed to , after years and years of being confined to boring city commute travel.

Given below is the route that we choose to follow. After checking with a good number of people who frequent this route, we were assured that it is the one to go via as it is a proper National expressway route and will make for a pleasant driving experience.

The other route to get to Goa from Mumbai is called as the Konkan route and is said to be prettier to drive along but not as brisk as the expressway route. Plus, it is frequented by ST buses that drive like absolute mad men !



As for the car, it had been ready for a long trip since ages. Now with the engine mounts and brakes ready, it was entirely sorted. Still, one last pre road trip check was done by our trusty mechanic Ravi and all seemed good.

[BeemerBug_06]

D-Day- 26th December 2022

Surviving on just about 3 hours of sleep, I woke up on the 26th feeling rather groggy. Post a quick early early morning coffee and a frugal breakfast I was ready to hit the road. After loading up the car, we were all set to leave. It was roughly 5.45 AM when we left our home at Dadar. I was the captain for the first leg of the journey and my dad was to take over later on.

It was quite something to see the city that never sleeps at that time of the day. Everything was so quiet and peaceful. No horns , no hustle and bustle to be seen. Almost made it seem as though it was a ghost town and not-so-good memories of the lockdown came flooding back into my mind.

Inside half an hour, we were on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway which can indeed be quite menacing to drive on in the dark. Everyone is driving with their full beams on, other drivers drive extra slowly in fear that they might run into something, and then of course there are the big boys- the trucks!

Anyway, I have driven on the MPE enough times to know how to get through it and I managed fine. By about 6.45 AM the sunlight began to crack through the gloomy smoggy sky and it was a sight to behold.


A very good morning indeed !

By about 7.15 AM we had all gotten quite hungry again, so we decided to make our first pit stop at a McDonald's which was about 40km away from Pune.




The Rolla catching some morning sun while we filled our stomachs

[BeemerBug_06]

It was roughly 8AM by the time we exited the McDonald's food complex and headed towards Pune. By that time Goa was about 8 hours away for us. Dad suggested that I continue to drive as we were making good time and since he was still feeling quite sleepy

The road was absolutely fantastic to drive on although after a point it did get a bit monotonous due to the lack of any twisties. The Corolla sat comfortably at about 80-100 km/h on the stretch in 5th gear along with the 4 of us (mom, dad, my cousin brother and myself) , our luggage loaded to the brim, and the air conditioning on at full blast.

Thanks to the fantastic low-end torque of the 1.8 litre motor , I was able to overtake several cars and trucks on the expressway without having to downshift even once. In fact, at times I forgot I was driving a manual because the way I drove it at the time, was almost like how I would drive an automatic car!

The kilometers were being covered briskly and thankfully we didn't encounter any untoward incidents or traffic.

After passing through Pune, and then onto Satara via the twisty Satara Ghat which was thrilling to drive on, even with the Corolla which may not be every enthusiast's car for that kind of road. I was having the time of my life.

6.5 hours into the drive, it was about 12 PM and we were hungry again hehe. By 12.30 we were at the outskirts and Kolhapur and on the recommendation of a helpful traffic policeman who earlier stopped us to check for our paperwork validity , we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Kolhapuri Tadka.


We were each served a traditional Kolhapuri Thali which made for a heavy but absolutely delicious and scrumptous lunch meal. I ordered a chicken thali which consisted of a variety of curries , chicken sukka, solkadi and delicious bhakris.

I would surely recommend Kolhapuri Tadka to everyone here who travels via Kolhapur and is looking for a place to have a quick and delicious meal. Do be cautious about what you order if you don't have very good spice tolerance though . The food is SPICY !!
The food was so good that we went there even on our way back from Goa !








The steed takes a break

[BeemerBug_06]

After lunch, my dad once again surrendered the driving duties to me. So that way, I would be driving for the full trip and I was nothing but delighted about it.
Once we left from Kolhapur, the ETA in Goa was about 5 hours.

We came to a unanimous decision that we would now drive non-stop till we were inside Goa because we didn't wish to encounter any difficulty in transit after the sun went down as most people had advised us to ensure we made it to Goa before sundown.

An hour and a half later, we reached the Nipani intersection where I made a right turn to head towards Amboli. Going Via Amboli Ghat is what everyone suggested us instead of going straight and via Belgaum.

The road towards Amboli ghat consisted of a single lane highway and I think I must have overtaken almost every type of road transport while driving down that route. Bullock carts, trucks, buses, cars, cycles, bikes and even tractors, you name it and I would've passed it.

Post a 45 minute drive , we came to another intersection. Google Maps suggested me to take a left into what seemed like a village while my gut feeling was to go straight. However, I didn't wish to experiment as it would get dark in another 2 hours and I needed to reach Goa before that. So I took the left.

The road seemed a bit odd and as it progressed, it got narrower and narrower. That worried us, making us feel like we had messed up somewhere, but we decided to follow the map nonetheless.

And eventually, there was no road!
It was plane gravel and was going into a forest. Once again I felt a bit apprehensive about it, but I honestly had no other choice in mind.








Strange roads lead to beautiful places !

It was only about 25 minutes later that we encountered another vehicle , also a MH registered car which was driving to Goa from Mumbai , and the occupants were as confused as us. Nonetheless , we kept on going and finally there was road !

The map had taken us via a bypass route which was apparently quicker than the normal route which was the road that went straight down at the village intersection. Lesson learned but it was a fun experience nonetheless.

Amboli Ghat was pleasant to drive down and as we got closer to the border, I could feel an instant improvement in the roads and driving etiquette of those around us, including the trucks and ST buses.

An hour later, we made it to the fringe of Goa - Sawantwadi. Coconut trees were the first sign that we were getting closer.
And finally at 5.30 PM , almost 12 hours after we left our home in Mumbai, we had made it to Goa !


WELCOME TO GOA read an overhead board while I sped past it after crossing the border, a gleeful expression on my face

Touchdown!


You know you're in Goa when


First fuel up of the day .

I had managed to reach Goa inside a full tank . I filled up after entering the state, near Mapusa as the reserve light came on.

A quick FE calculation post the fuel up stated that the car had returned an overall average of 15.5 km/litre. Very impressive for a nearly 18-year-old car that was loaded , driven with the AC on most of the time, and occasionally floored on the highway by me.

[BeemerBug_06]

It was 6 PM by the time we made it out of Mapusa and to our horror Google maps showed us a completely RED stretch of road for the next many kilometers. So what does one do ?
Wait.and.sulk.

Despite that, I hardly felt fatigued or sleepy although my lower back did ache a tad bit from sitting for a prolonged time. The Corolla's front seats could surely do with better lower back support!

We crawled our way into Panjim at a speed that was surely less than 50 kmph and I cannot remember when I upshifted from 2nd gear at the time because there was horrible bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was due to the construction of the new Zuari bridge which is made to connect North Goa to the Southern part. Furthermore, there was a police checkpoint every few meters, owing to it being the busy holiday season I suppose.

This had to be the worst part of an otherwise fantastic journey. It was the grueling last leg that made me rethink my decision to drive. But as everything does, the traffic jam too did pass. A painful two hours later we finally made it to our hotel at Varca Beach in South Goa!

Enough driving for the day, I thought to myself as I parked the car in the parking lot after unloading our luggage.


A glimpse into the pathetic traffic jam we had to endure




Finally at the hotel!


Enough driving for the day!

We reached the hotel by 7 PM and were once again hungry albeit now tired and in much need of a warm shower and dinner before hitting the sack early for once.

[BeemerBug_06]

Our trip in all was fun-filled, relaxing, and enjoyable as always. Having a personal vehicle at your disposal is a serious boon in a place like Goa. It means you can go anywhere as you wish at your time without having to listen to the tantrums of crabby tourist taxi cab drivers and pay a bomb for travelling short distances.

Driving in Goa is also an absolutely brilliant experience. For a Mumbaikar especially who is used to bad roads pitted with potholes at every km , the Goa roads are like a runway and I infact looked around for potholes, but didn't find any. Things like this are always more prominent when you're driving rather than being driven around.

Furthermore, the overall driving etiquette is good. The local GA drivers do drive fast, but majority are disciplined with regard to overtaking and maintaining lane discipline. I also think it's probably the longest time I've gone without hearing someone honk to no end. I enjoyed every minute of my driving experience in Goa and would really kill to repeat it soon.

Here are some miscellaneous images in and around Goa : -
















A few non-car pics for a change :

[BeemerBug_06]

We drove a total of 350 km within Goa itself which included two trips to Panjim from the South which is about 34 km one way. Furthermore it included various trips we made around for fun or to catch a good meal.

By the end of it, the car had gotten rather filthy and needed a good wash before we left. So I looked up on the web for a good car wash place in South Goa and came across one in Sirlim called Oscar's Automatic Car Wash. I decided it give them a call and spoke with the owner Mr. Oden D'costa.

Oden was professional yet very cordial and friendly on the phone and told me I could visit anytime before 6PM and that his staff would look into my car.

























Look at how they got my Silver Streak gleaming again and at a very reasonable price too. More power to Mr. Oden and his team for the fabulous job.

I wholely recommend their services to anyone in Goa who requires a quick and reasonable wash for their vehicle.

Contact no : 099237 50303
https://www.google.com/maps/dir//'13.4354679,74.7445927'/@13.4355988,74.6746278,12z/data=!4m6!4m5!1m0!1m3!2m2!1d74.7445927!2d13.435467 9

[BeemerBug_06]

We welcomed in the New Year and on the 3rd of January, it was time for us to head back. I was the captain of the boat on the way back as well. This time we left at 7AM.

The drive back was as pleasant as the drive to Goa , except for a stupid mistake I made in the beginning which was due to me trying to be a little adventurous. On the way back, instead of going via Panjim and then Amboli Ghat, I decided to take the Ponda bypass and through Belgaum via NH748.

The road was through a dense forest area and was absolutely beautiful. Both to drive on due to a large number of twisties and hairpin turns and to drive through. Unfortunately, I spoke too soon there.

As it progressed, I was greeted once again by terrible ST bus drivers and as we went further, the condition of the road worsened by a huge margin. There were potholes and then there were craters which were so massive that if I had taken my Zen, it may have been swallowed by them !

Thanks to the high ground clearance of the Corolla, it managed to conquer those pathetic roads just fine. But it was a very unpleasant experience to drive through that patch and I was just kicking myself for having gotten adventurous. Once the patch ended, it brought us into Belgaum city , where we were getting caught in little traffic jams every few kilometers until we finally joined the highway.

I do not recommend going via Belgaum as I feel it is a waste if you're going to and fro Mumbai or Pune. Better to stick to the Amboli route.

By 5 PM , after a late lunch we reached Pune and in another 45 minutes we hit the MPEW.


Witnessing sunset this time

The expressway and ghat was indeed daunting to drive on at night due to it being unlit and people driving like maniacs every now and then. By 8PM , we made it safely to Chembur, where the reserve light came on again. So I filled up. Again, it did the journey within a full tank.



Once again, the car returned an average of about 15 km/litre. Same driving style. Super proud of it !


Return trip trip meter reading

And finally by 8.30 PM

Back Home !!


Full trip trip meter reading


So that brings me to the end of this major update/travelouge where the Corolla finally was made to do what it truly shines at doing. Better late than never they say !

Post this drive, I am truly glad that on all the many occasions that we have considered selling this car off , we never ended up doing it and the way it served us during this trip only further strengthens my want to hold onto it for good.







I'm not sure if I'd trust any 18 year old car the way I trust this one and its ability to serve without any hiccups. Here's hoping you enjoyed reading.
Signing off,
BeemerBug