Why Civic following but none for Corolla?

I don't follow small cars at all but there's obviously a serious Civic demographic here.  I can't recall ever seeing anyone waxing poetic about the performance potential for the Corolla...  No high performance versions ever made, I assume?

There were some, like the Corolla  XRS, but not much else in the last twenty or so years that I can think of.  The last GT-S must have been in the early nineties.

Toyota went for bland, but reliable, so not much out there for people to start with, at least when they are starting with a Corolla.

The XRS was a great 'Rolla.  I test drove one once a couple years ago but didn't buy it.  It had been beat to E36 M3 by a series of DPO's and the seller wanted too much for it.  All the syncros were gone, for example, which he completely forgot to mention.  Saw it listed on CL last week.  I can tell it was the same one because of the holes in the dash made by a hole saw to mount some extra gauges. 

I had an AE92 GT-S Rolla.  A good car with the stock 4AGE, but I put in 4 more valves.  Made a Great car.  I only ever got beat on the onramp by something exotic, like a G8 or AMG. 

I have expressed much enthusiasm for the XRS here before. I have also begun to put my efforts where my mouth is and assemble the ingredients of a 2zz MR-S, which is after all just a parts-bin special of rearranged Corolla parts! 

I have been singing those praises since I started winning autocrosses in my 2001 corolla in 2005. With koni yellows and Kumho 710s it was an H stock monster. It was definitely not the driver(me) as one day I had won the class and during the fun runs me and my main competitor (who could actually drive) swapped cars for the fun run. He beat my class winning time by 2 seconds in my car and I was 4 seconds off the pace in his. Second, I asked another friend who was seriously competitive in his miata to drive and evaluate my corolla to see what could be improved during a different date fun run, and he came back and told me not to change anything. I still feel like if it had been a developed platform with some good drivers it would have challenged the MINI for dominance in H stock. I know that's easy to say now, but we did have a nationally competitive mini show up for one race with a tire warmer and the main driver and I was 3 seconds behind the main driver and 3 seconds ahead of the tire warmer. 

In addition, to prove the point not to toot my horn, I won the regional H stock championship in 2006 and 2008 in that car. All while being a mediocre driver. 

If you are looking for parts see the Monkey Wrench Racing website. Tire Rack carries koni yellows for it, but you have to call and order them.

Plus after moving the corolla to occasional duty my wife started to drive it to work and commented to me several times how she can take the corners in her commute at much higher speeds than the minivan. I think she may be a closet car girl. 

Edit: forgot to mention, I still own it, 226000 miles original trans, engine and clutch. Only buy the manual trans when looking at these cars, its way more better.

I think it's mainly the 12 year production of pretty similar chassis, with double wishbone suspension upfront and easily upgraded engines from Integras

Vtech, yo.

No following for Corolla?

None?

No Corolla so iconic that Toyota named a currently-produced model after a portmanteau of its trim level (GT-S)  and its chassis code that only enthusiasts would recognize (AE86)?

Vigo said:

I have expressed much enthusiasm for the XRS here before. I have also begun to put my efforts where my mouth is and assemble the ingredients of a 2zz MR-S, which is after all just a parts-bin special of rearranged Corolla parts! 

Can you post a short "build list" of what year car and subsequent parts you'd want for such a project?

You haven't been to central florida recently. Corollas easily on. 1:1 ratio for enthusiasts. 

Run_Away said:

I think it's mainly the 12 year production of pretty similar chassis, with double wishbone suspension upfront and easily upgraded engines from Integras

This. The Honda suspension was fundamentally superior to virtually any other compact car for a very long time and both the B-series and K-series are the benchmarks of their respective eras. While the suspension is no longer a factor, the community is already there.

In reply to Knurled. :

I think OP is referring to the appliance Corollas, post AE-92, the ones that are basically a Toyota Civic. My guess as to why is because Toyota entry-level performance cars were more centered around the Celica (besides the Supra), and post AE-92 was there even a 2-door Corolla? I don't remember seeing one.

Vigo said:

I have expressed much enthusiasm for the XRS here before. I have also begun to put my efforts where my mouth is and assemble the ingredients of a 2zz MR-S, which is after all just a parts-bin special of rearranged Corolla parts! 

I can't wait until you start on that. I might have to snatch it when you're done. Dont even bother making it look clean. 

In reply to TheRX7Project :

It could also be argued that Honda didn't make a Civic with a "following" past the early-mid 1990s, early 2000s if you accept that the Integra was just a long Civic.

Some don't:

They continued to make performance models but they don't quite have the same effect as the old EGs.

(This is a rather interesting documentary, about street racers in Osaka who prefer the Civic over all else, the practical and historical reasons why they do so, and an interesting cultural cross-pollination where some of the old school Kanjo guys talk about how American "JDM" influence is filtering back to Japan.  Reminds me a lot of music documentaries where pioneers wistfully talk about how their music was the REAL punk or the REAL metal)

TheRX7Project said:

In reply to Knurled. :

I think OP is referring to the appliance Corollas, post AE-92, the ones that are basically a Toyota Civic. My guess as to why is because Toyota entry-level performance cars were more centered around the Celica (besides the Supra), and post AE-92 was there even a 2-door Corolla? I don't remember seeing one.

Came here to say this. I think the fact that there hasn't been a Corolla coupe made in a long time killed a lot of the enthusiast market for it, which is why the FR-S/86 fills that void nicely for Toyota, despite it not being called a "Corolla".

I puttered around with hotrodding the girlfriends 7th gen.  I dtruggled a bit with vailability on bits as you really needed to be familiar with the parts bin options.  I stuffed a header/catback, open intake, and some gti wheels under it for giggles.  All in all a great car for the girl for a few years.

No coupe, ugly styling, no hot models like Si, CRX or Del Sol (XRS was day late and a dollar short plus still ugly) , no parts-bin Lexus upfitting like Integra to Civic.

Besides, which would you rather drive?

I might have to snatch it when you're done. Dont even bother making it look clean. 

In my dreams i'll be painting it a pearl yellow like they put on some early 90s sports cars like 300zx/Stealth/3000gt. 

In reply to Vigo :

Very rare color man

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

Hey guys,

Thanks for the headsup on Monkey Wrench racing.

Are Konis MUCH better than KYBs?

I have an '08 Rolla: How can I increase the negative camber on the front? What static settings should I be looking for on the street?

Thx,

Rog

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

Corolla

Corollas have massive followings around the world.

Go to 2nd and 3rd world countries.  You will find more corollas tooling around then just about anything else, and whats left is other toyotas since not much else can take the abuse

In reply to boulder_dweeb :

IIRC KYB's are supposed to be straight across stock replacements, whereas KONI yellows are more dampened at their base setting and are adjustable for rebound beyond that. Koni's made a huge difference on stock springs in my 2001.

I think since Toyota already gave us a Celica, MR2, and Supra there probably wasnt much business case to bring the later levin and trueno corolla coupes, and Honda had the double wishbone cars during the height of the FnF Frenzy