TOYOTA COROLLA - Everything You Need to Know | Up to Speed

(engine humming) - 40 years before the Initial D, there was the Initial E Chassis, which I will talk about with my initials. JEP, yes. I'm talking about the most popular car in the history of the world. (engine revving) Have you ever heard of him? The world is flat and hollow. Here's

everything

you

need

to

know

to get up to

speed

on the Toyota Corolla. (upbeat music) Grandpa, that's my NOS energy drink. Mm, mmm, NOS energy drink. Hello Nolan, what are you doing in my dream, Nolan? More power, baby. Rainbow over there. (mumbling) Hey Nolan, what's up, buddy? - Hello James.

I have a lot of work to do, but I'm just not feeling it. - I can help you, friend. Don't worry. (thunder) In 1960, the idea of ​​an average Japanese person owning his own car was pretty far-fetched. Most Japanese car manufacturers made cars that only middle class and wealthy people could afford to buy and maintain. But Eiji Toyoda, who was president of Toyota at the time, realized that they were leaving a lot of yen on the table by excluding the general public. So he had engineers create the Publica, which featured a small 697cc two-cylinder Boxer engine that squeezed a monstrous 27 hsprs out of the crank. (Crickets chirping) And with a base price of only 389,000 yen, the 1961 Publica was successfully launched to the public.

Thus, while Toyota celebrated the success of Publica, Datsun and Subaru created their own people's car. They were like. - Listen guys, we want a car that slaps. - Yes, Toyota can't be the only company with a car that slaps. - Um, sorry to bother you guys, but your basses arrived a little early. - Oh, yeah, let's slap the bottoms. (bass music) - And so, in 1966, the Datsun 1000, also

know

n as the Sunny, and the Subaru 1000, also known as the Subaru 1000, crashed into the struts. Both cars featured larger, faster four-cylinder engines that barely reached 1000cc. 1000 CC was a major barrier because anything higher meant higher road tax.

Japanese consumers preferred more powerful cars to the Publica, but just a few months after those cars were launched, Eiji told Datsun and Subaru to hold onto his Sapporo and proceeded to launch the 1100 CC Toyota KE10, also known as the Corolla. (singing "Corolla") Sure, the new KE10 costs a little more in taxes, but Eiji marketed it as the 100 CC advantage. And you know what, people bought it. Finally, the average Japanese could afford a car that was reliable and powerful enough to zip up mountain roads in the unlikely event of a Mothra attack. And trust me, when Mothra attacks, you'll want that 100 CC buff.

In the United States, consumers drove Detroit compacts that had much larger engines and more cylinders. Toyota thought it could compete with domestic brands because the KE10 was much more fuel efficient. Then, in 1968, they began selling the KE10 in the United States. Toyota

need

ed to rename the KE10 for the North American market and since their flagship sedan was the Crown, they called it the Lil' Crown. But since Lil' Crowns are impossible to sell to anyone but princes and princesses, they used the Latin translation, Corolla. America gently dipped its toes into the new Japanese rear-drive subcompact Corolla and liked how it felt.

The base 1.1-liter engine demonstrated 60 horsepower, which when combined with a 1,600-pound curb weight, a MacPherson front suspension, and a fully synchronized four-

speed

manual transmission made it a true zoom dog. But the best thing about the Corolla as far as American consumers were concerned was that it drank gas like I drink tea at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. My, my, my, Queen Mother. These scrumpets taste delicious. - Oh James, you are a pleasure. More power, baby. - Poison. - Is he already dead? - It'll take a lot more than a little poison to get rid of me, Charles. - Grab him. - More power, honey. -Bring me his lightning bolt. - Did someone order a light show? - No. - Why did it take you so long? - Go. - You win this round, Kentucky Cobra. -How was dinner, friend? -If you want to see a Kentucky Cobra animated show, leave me a comment in the comments section below and I'll submit it to Adult Swim.

The Corolla earned a combined 30 and a half smiles per gallon, which was up to 60% better than the Detroit competition. This turned out to be the Corolla's claim to fame when the energy crisis of 1973 was in the distance. By 1973, the second generation of the E20 was taking over the market. (engine whirring) With its front suspension with stabilizer bar and an all-new overhead valve 1.2-liter base engine good for 73 clippity-clops, that's horsepower, Toyota also released some new versions like the sporty 1.6 SR5 coupe liters that produced 102 clippity. -clops. (engine whirring) In 1974, Eiji's son Schoichiro was running business at Toyota like a damn boss, and the Corolla was making a splash in the U.S.

As in the climax of The Departed, the Corolla was taking out its competitors from left to right. Chevy was thrown from a building. Chrysler was put in an elevator. And Ford was knocked down in his fucking apartment. And the Corolla became the best-selling car in America, a title with which it would become synonymous. You see, the third-generation Corolla, which was launched in 1974, came in five variants, so there was something for everyone. For the hyper-miler on a budget, there was the base 1.2-litre coupe, which got 49em per jus on the road. For traveling families, there was a 1.6-litre estate version.

For the budget-conscious, hairy-chested, butterfly-necked, Saturday-night-fever disco king, there was the SR5 liftback. The little crown caused quite a stir among American consumers, but Toyota didn't rest on its laurels. They kept developing, they kept tinkering and they kept working. (engine whirring) In 1983, they launched the AE80, which was more commuter friendly and much more boxy, which was the shape du jour in the 80s. A completely new chassis allowed for more interior space by transversely mounting the 1.6 engine. liters and changing the car (sighs) to front-wheel drive. But before you get to work on rear-wheel drive, Toyota realized that an enthusiastic Corolla was still needed.

Instead of wasting R&D on developing a new rear-wheel drive coupe, Toyota took a page from Eiji's book, took the old SR5, turned it up to 11, and the AE86 was born. (engine whirring) The car featured the legendary 4AGE double overhead camshaft, which revved faster than a Wankel engine, devouring Fun Dip without the stick. I'm talking 7800 RPM, 112 hsprs, which is fine in a 2400 pound car. (engine whirring) You don't have to be Matty Matheson to know that's a recipe for drifting. And a guy named Keiichi Tsuchiya certainly wasn't Matty Matheson. Keiichi is the grandfather of drifting and his favorite weapon for burning rubber was the Thunder.

His exploits in the mountains not only gave rise to one of the most popular motorsports today, but they also gave rise to one of the best manga series for car enthusiasts of all time. You know what I'm talking about. I could literally talk about AE86 for 12 minutes and then again for 11 minutes. In fact, I already have it, so check it out. As the '80s came to a close, Schoichiro wanted to revamp the Corolla again, and since the Corolla was selling so well in the United States, he killed off the coupe and wanted to focus on making an affordable luxury car that could consume daily commutes.

His directive to the head of development, Dr. Akihiko Saito, was simple. - Make me a mini-Lexus with a starting price of less than 10 thousand dollars. - After spending a day crying in the shower and eating canned cake frosting, Dr. Akihiko got to work and developed E100. The new Corolla was much larger. In fact, it replaced the Camry as Toyota's compact vehicle in its lineup. Dr. Akihiko also made the new Corolla look super futuristic by removing the body panels and curving all the edges for a more fluid design. Americans loved the new Corolla. - Surprise neighbor, I just bought a new Corolla truck. - Even people who only bought American cars loved the E100.

They just bought a rebranded version called Geo Prizm. Do you remember Geos? Basically, GM went to a Japanese car buffet in the late '80s and picked out their favorite little cars and then rebadged them as American ones. My favorite model was Storm because I love the X-Men. The interior looked like a damn fighter plane. with constant improvements, although not entirely attractive. Honestly, they're pretty boring. But then in 2005, Toyota launched the first Corolla XRS. The (engine revving) And apparently, it was all there was to drink on sake day at Toyota's parts department because they paired it with a six-speed manual transmission from the Celica GT-S and the Lotus Elise.

Yes, the same gearbox as an Elise in your Corolla. Toyota quickly recovered, realized its mistake and discontinued the car after a year. Then they brought back the XRS a year later, but it was a shadow of its former self. The Corolla was boring again. I say boring, but I don't mean it in a negative way. Reliable, predictable, comfortable. Have you ever taken a good look at a Corolla? It's just, you know, it's a car. Just because something is boring doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, many times boring things are good. I mean, water. Water is boring.

But we must drink it every day. This is what being boring has helped the Corolla achieve. As of 2016, Corolla has sold more than 44 million units, the most of any vehicle to date. If we matched every Corolla ever sold, bumper to bumper, it would circle the Earth five times. And I'm not talking from pole to pole. I am referring to the thickest part, the equator. That's over 120,000 Corolla miles. In fact, when the Corolla celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016, they were averaging one sale every 15 seconds. Now the Corolla is trying to change its name again. The 2020 model comes with a hybrid version, in case Toyota fans don't want to buy one of the four available Prius models.

And the new ad campaign suggests it's great for people looking to get 45 seconds of uncomfortable rides in the back of a compact car. But really, it doesn't matter how the Corolla is advertised because the Corolla is consistently a great car. When we were writing this script, I was surprised that the Corolla was the most popular car of all time. I thought it was the Volkswagen Beetle, which turns out to be number two. The Beetle died. I don't know if the Corolla ever will. The Corolla. (laughs) The Corolla. The Corolla. I love you. I love you.