Short Take Road Test
Toyota's Corolla is sold in various versions all over the world and is one of the planet's most ubiquitous models. An ideal stealth car, no? All it needs is a high-revving, high-output engine and some stiffer underpinnings to secure its handling, and then you can go hunting for Civic Si's, SVT Focuses, and Sentra SE-Rs. Enter the XRS.
It will strafe the anti-destination leaguers as they meander-cell phone in ear-toward some distant and unachievable terminus. Actually, the strange high-rev switchover point for the 2ZZ engine's variable valve timing and lift system almost begs a bank-heist-getaway driver technique. The high-lift cam is where the real excitement lives, and it's particularly effective in taller gears, where the thrust stays on longer. So you find yourself shrieking around freeways in third and fourth gears, zinging the engine wherever you go for maximum response.
When you get tired of that, or perhaps when the "grande cappuccino" wears off, the XRS's normal valve timing is perfectly okay, providing respectable torque levels for less competitive commuting. Although the 2ZZ engine is the same unit that powers the Celica GT-S and Matrix XRS, it has been retuned for a broader torque delivery and has lost a few horsepower in the process. Now delivering 170 horsepower instead of 180, it is noticeably more civilized in daily use than its speedy siblings, offering acceptable throttle response through most of its operating range.
Of course, the engine and six-speed-transmission module also shares the usual Toyota 2ZZ testing conundrum, where it drops off the high-lift cam at every upshift, forcing the engine to rev back up to the 6000-rpm (or thereabouts) switch point before starting the frenetic burst of energy that will carry it to its 8200-rpm redline and the next gear. (Honda gear ratios keep the hot cam on the job throughout redline acceleration runs.)
The whole exercise is accompanied by a symphony of phase shifts. First, there's a cam-timing shift somewhere in the midrange that has the exhaust tone abruptly open up in character and then the big cam-profile switchover that really wakes it up.
In manner, the 2ZZ engine is even more schizophrenic than Honda's VTEC engines; its high-rev character quite unlike the tamer persona that operates at a sub-6000-rpm tempo. So you only go to the upper reaches when you mean business, and when you do, the sheer insanity of it is huge fun.
Toyota calls the XRS the first ever sub-eight-second 0-to-60-mph Corolla. In PR-speak, that usually means a 7.7-to-7.9-second sprint, but our car, with a fairly green, low-mileage engine, ran to 60 mph in 7.1 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 15.8, which is 1.1 and 0.6 ticks quicker, respectively, than a Corolla LE we tested in a November 2002 comparo. (The XRS costs about $2500 more than a 2005 Corolla LE.)
We got these impressive numbers despite the challenges of launching a peaky front-drive car at a dusty, windy high-altitude site where you need enough wheelspin to hike the revs up near the torque peak, but not enough to turn forward momentum into tire smoke. Our weather-correction math puts all our numbers on a level playing field, but it can't alter the physical challenges presented by the environment. So we're happy with the 15.8-second quarter-mile and its 90-mph trap speed.
We're pleased with the chassis modifications, too, which include higher-rate shocks and springs, a stiffened steering column, a half-inch-lower ride height, and 16-inch wheels and tires. Under the hood you see a cleverly crafted rod bridging the two shock towers. Designed by Yamaha and badged by TRD, the brace had to make several detours to avoid brake boosters and other underhood hardware, but it lends the car's front end a confident sense of solidity.
Braking is handled by four-wheel discs with ABS. This setup proved good enough for 176-foot stops from 70 mph. The XRS's interior trim includes sport seats, silver instruments and switch plates, a leather shift knob, and electroluminescent gauges. The exterior has specific badging, a color-keyed rear spoiler, and that silly aero package you've seen on the S model.
Don't let that put you off. While onlookers are laughing, you can smoke 'em away from the lights.
