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How I helped my friend buy his second Corolla; Initial ownership review

5th August 2024, 16:32 by Rahul Nagaraj

Since I have owned/ maintained the 9th and 10th gen Corollas, this was exciting and I was looking forward to the experience.

BHPian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Introduction

This is an account of how I helped a close friend acquire his second Toyota Corolla viz. a 2016 Toyota Corolla Altis (E170).

What's in store?

Options evaluated
Purchase decision
Comparisons with the 9th (E120) and 10th (E140) Corolla
Initial ownership experience

What's unique about the purchase experience?

All examples of the Altis that were evaluated were, coincidentally, in the Champagne Mica Metallic shade.

Quick run up to why a car was needed

Circa Dec-2023: December is a month of cyclones and/or torrential rains almost every year in Chennai. Dec-2023 seemed to be a repeat of December 2015 when all sluice gates from the reservoir aka heavens had been opened. End result: Vulnerable areas of Chennai were partially inundated, and a friend of mine, who wasn't in the station then, came back only to find all his vehicles submerged to seat level. Both the cars were operational, with the fluids in order, but

one of them had a busted Airbag module and a busted EPS module
the other one had a non-functional Climate Control module, non-functional power seats, and an Airbag error

While car no.1 joined a long queue at an already overcrowded workshop, car no.2 was not worth rectifying because of a) age and b) costs. It was decided to process Car No.2 as a loss through insurance. Insurance claim processed - a buyer came, bought the car, and the balance of the IDV (minus deductions) was processed. Friend became car-less!

Car search activated

Friend's intent was to acquire an automatic car but he wasn't clear on which cars to look at. He wanted a 7 seater but wasn't sure if he should go for just a 5 seater as a replacement for car no.2. Here was a wide list