Rental Corolla

[FC]

I had a Corolla for a day in Orlando. The last time I drove one was in the late 90's. It was my sister's early 90's Corolla.

Overall, not pleased. Car looks ok, interior was low-rent but not bad except for the tacked-on display.

I came away surprised by how much the car reminded me of that early 90's model. Same buzzy engine under acceleration, but quiet when cruising. I hated the transmission. Perhaps it's the desire to constantly go 3 gears higher than you really ought to be, but I hated it. It seemed to love to do what felt like 1-to-4 shifts. Jumpy off the line and then slow as molasses unless you punch it, in which case you get jerked, car shifts down a few gears, engine makes lots of noise and car starts moving adequately. Let go of the gas and it goes back to 6th gear or whatever.

I actually felt it handled pretty well. Brake feel/response was weirdly non-linear.

Overall, very meh. I know it's a cheap car and can live with low quality materials and even the noisy engine and weird brakes (maybe), but the transmission disappointed. I'm sure it would be a much better car in with a stick.

[John V]

Modern automatic transmission programming is terrible, in general.

But yeah, I mean, Corollas have always been awful.

[Terri Kennedy]

Originally Posted by John V

Modern automatic transmission programming is terrible, in general.

A lot of this likely has to do with tradeoffs for either fuel economy or emissions purposes. Corolla owners are probably uninterested in having their transmission reflashed for better responsiveness.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by John V

Modern automatic transmission programming is terrible, in general.

This is so very true. People talk about how great the 8sp auto is that all the automakers are using these days, but its programming - especially off the line is horrible. The old 5sp auto in my e46 is light years more pleasant. It has a pretty linear approach to start - go and slow down.

The 8sp seems completely random in its decision making. I assume its due to fuel economy goals, but it either starts off so soft that you are afraid to pull out into traffic, or locks up so hard you jerk everyone/everything in our car. There is no such thing as smooth acceleration from 0 to 5 mph.

It sucks.

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

This is so very true. People talk about how great the 8sp auto is that all the automakers are using these days, but its programming - especially off the line is horrible. The old 5sp auto in my e46 is light years more pleasant. It has a pretty linear approach to start - go and slow down.

The 8sp seems completely random in its decision making. I assume its due to fuel economy goals, but it either starts off so soft that you are afraid to pull out into traffic, or locks up so hard you jerk everyone/everything in our car. There is no such thing as smooth acceleration from 0 to 5 mph.

It sucks.

My 2 is fine, but you have to be in Sport.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by wdc330i

My 2 is fine, but you have to be in Sport.

It might be better than what I have in my '13 X5, but in sport there is no throttle feathering, much more off/on. I expect the fact that the car is heavy as sh*t and being powered by the n55 doesn't help.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

This is so very true. People talk about how great the 8sp auto is that all the automakers are using these days, but its programming - especially off the line is horrible. The old 5sp auto in my e46 is light years more pleasant. It has a pretty linear approach to start - go and slow down.

The 8sp seems completely random in its decision making. I assume its due to fuel economy goals, but it either starts off so soft that you are afraid to pull out into traffic, or locks up so hard you jerk everyone/everything in our car. There is no such thing as smooth acceleration from 0 to 5 mph.

It sucks.

It's not perfect in Audis, but it's WAY better. BMW keeps screwing it up.

[zach]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

It's not perfect in Audis, but it's WAY better. BMW keeps screwing it up.

They seem to have finally figured out, at least the one in our X7. Both of our prior X5 50is had the random decision making and jerkiness.

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by zach

They seem to have finally figured out, at least the one in our X7. Both of our prior X5 50is had the random decision making and jerkiness.

Yes. Our X5 50i was anything but smooth at launch.

[robg]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

This is so very true. People talk about how great the 8sp auto is that all the automakers are using these days, but its programming - especially off the line is horrible. The old 5sp auto in my e46 is light years more pleasant. It has a pretty linear approach to start - go and slow down.

The 8sp seems completely random in its decision making. I assume its due to fuel economy goals, but it either starts off so soft that you are afraid to pull out into traffic, or locks up so hard you jerk everyone/everything in our car. There is no such thing as smooth acceleration from 0 to 5 mph.

It sucks.

Yep. I've tried the 8 speed now in multiple cars including BMWs, Audis, Land Rovers and Dodges. Weirdly the Dodge felt the most smooth but that might be because it was paired with an NA v8. The BMWs were all bad. On the other cars with turbo 4s and sixes, it felt as you described (sometimes too soft, sometimes harsh and jerky). I'm always mystified by the positive press it gets. I guess if you're driving it all out, manually shifting, etc while trying to achieve a good 0-60 time, yes, it is capable of fast shifts. But most reviewers seem to totally miss the everyday lack of smoothness. It is also very unhappy when its cold. In all the cars I've tried it in, the first 15-20 minutes are filled with noticeable jerkiness.

The best automatic I've had was the ZF 6 speed in my old e92 335. That transmission never bungled a shift and always seemed to respond immediately to manual shift inputs as well. Rev matched downshifts as well. I remember thinking when I first drove the car "oh i guess they've finally figured out how to make good automatics". Then, when i first drove the 8 speed I was very confused given how much I hated the feel of it comparison.