Ninth Generation E120 (2002 - 2008)
XLi (2002 - Present) – Corolla XLi was offered with Z Gen 1300cc VVTi petrol engine and was offered only in two basic colors, black and white with matching bumpers, full tyre wheel covers, three spoke steering, black pillars with power steering, beige interior, cassette player and air condition as standard; in march 2004 XLi got the RPM meter as well in its cluster panel and in 2005 the cassette player was also replaced by an Alpine CD player.
GLi (2002 – Present) – GLi was basically and XLi available in metallic colors and all the power option running with same engine under the hood; It had RPM meter from day one however the cassette player was replaced around the same time as XLi in 2005.
SE Saloon Manual and Automatic (2002 – 2005) – SE Saloon was the power pack top of the line variant of Corolla in 2002 and not to forget it was the most glamorous among all the cars at that time; SE Saloon came with 1600cc Z Gen VVTi petrol engine, it had alloy rims, optitron meter, wooden finish interior paneling, 14 inch alloy rims, four spoke leather stitched steering wheel with airbag, leather stitched gear knob, side skirts, double din CD & Cassette player which was replaced by a pioneer unit in 2004 all this was offered with the luxurious touch of beige interior. Optional automatic transmission was also offered. In the end of 2003 son of some politician had a fatal accident on Motorway and he was driving a SE Saloon with company fitted alloy rims. It is said that the accident happened because the alloy rim broke so then Toyota was sued and later they discontinued the alloy rims in 2004
2.0D (1996 – 2008) – 2.0D due to its heavy success was the only variant that was continued from the previous generation powered by a 2000cc Diesel engine just like XLi it was offered only in two basic colors, black and white with matching bumpers, full tyre wheel covers, three spoke steering, black pillars with power steering, beige interior, cassette player and air condition as standard; in march 2004 2.0D got the RPM meter as well in its cluster panel and in 2005 the cassette player was also replaced by an Alpine CD player.
2.0D Saloon (2002 – 2008) – 2.0D Saloon was the loaded version of 2.0D powered by 2000cc diesel engine. It had alloy rims, optitron meter (till 2005 without RPM meter), wooden finish interior paneling, 14 inch alloy rims, four spoke leather stitched steering wheel with airbag, leather stitched gear knob, side skirts, double din CD & Cassette player which was replaced by a pioneer double din CD & Cassette player in 2004. It was all offered with the luxurious touch of beige interior. In the end of 2003 son of some politician had a fatal accident on Motorway and he was driving a SE Saloon with company fitted alloy rims. It is said that the accident happened because the alloy rim broke so then Toyota was sued and later they discontinued the alloy rims in 2004
1.8 Altis Manual and Automatic (2005 – 2011) – .In the middle of 2005 Toyota discontinued the 1600cc SE Saloon and it was replaced by a more powerful 1800cc VVTi Z Gen Altis. Altis was offered with everything that SE Saloon with addition the car was given a face lift (all Toyota Corollas were) and the automatic transmission had propagating liver; ABS was also offered for the first time & factory fitted fog lights in bumpers. In 2007 Alloy Rims were introduced in Altis.
2.0D SE (2007 – 2008) – In 2007 Toyota launched a new variant in their diesel lineup; 2.0D SE was a variant in between 2.0D and 2.0D Saloon; it was offered with same 2000cc Diesel engine; This car didn't have the side skirts, optitron meter, alloy rims etc but it was power packed; one can say it was the diesel version of Corolla GLi.
1.8 Altis Sportio (2007 – 2014) – In 2007 when Toyota Indus was months away from launching a new model they launched Altis TRD Sportio; this car was a regular altis but it had body kit, TRD emblems and a trunk lip spoiler.
Makeovers
Toyota gave only one make over to Corolla E120 in 2005 which made the car with 2 faces, in the first one (2002-2005) the front grill was with vertical stripes, rear lights were red with orange and white circles of indicator and reverse light respectively, there was a conventional radio antenna and after the face lift in 2005, glass embedded radio antenna was introduced in all variants, front radiator grill was replaced with horizontal stripe grill, seats fabric was changed and rear lights were clear lens with red LED for tail lights.
Colors
There were a number of colors offered in E120 corolla during its time; followings are the ones I can remember at the moment. The list is of the years when certain colors were added
2002 – White, Black, Silver, Sky Blue, Olive Green, Golden, Rose Mist
2004 – Strong Blue, Maroon, Gun Metallic
2005 – Flexin Meca
2007 – Shimren Green
When E120 was launched it was named as mini Mercedes because that is what people were able to relate it to; beige interior was a first time which was previously only seen in German cars; its driving position was very high and different than what was seen before; the long stretch front pillars gave the car some added room and the wooden paneling everywhere gave the whole car a very luxurious look and feel was a class ahead of anything else available.
OA
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