Corolla vs grey Corolla

In Dhaka where Japanese grey imports dominate the streets one might wonder what cars people buy and why.

It is not surprising that in this poor nation of ours people tend to go for compacts. They are cheap to buy, cheap to run, easy to drive in the city and it is easy to get hold of cheap spare parts.

Pull up at the lights and look at the vehicles around you and you would discover that a large number of them are Toyota Corollas, some old and some not-so-old. Almost every other car on Dhaka streets is a Corolla or a Toyota model which is Corolla underneath. The car obviously is not a fashion statement and some would even consider it invisible on streets on account of it not having astonishing styling while others disagree.

When you have such a large number of a single model you are bound to get a bargain for spare parts. Almost all small spare parts stores in the city, if anything, have parts for Corollas.

Corollas do come with the Japanese quality of reliability and let’s face it, people want reliability and it is not that often Corolla owners head for the spare parts store.

For people who need just a car--nothing fancy--to go from A to B the Corolla has been pretty much the choice. Durability-, performance- and reliability-wise there are very few makes that can match the Toyota standards.

Reconditioned car sellers say people lacking an understanding of cars and people who tend to be baffled by technology usually buy Corollas and buying a Corolla is considered a no-brainer.

So to roundup, it is cheap to buy, run and maintain and it is reliable and it comes with a really good reputation that has been built since 1966.

Now the question is, why people mostly buy the grey imports rather than a new car from the authorised dealers of Toyota. They grey-import Corollas in Bangladesh are actually cars that have been used in Japan. Toyota makes these only for the Japanese domestic market (JDM) and they are actually quite different from the Corollas marketed elsewhere in the world. Most cars in Dhaka are JDM cars and the Corollas are no exception.

Since Japan and Singapore have strict restrictions on how long one can use a car before it has to be removed from the road, Bangladeshi car traders import these used cars and sell them to people here.

So, one may think that grey imports are dead cheap--and they would not be wrong--but how cheap are they compared to new cars? Well, you could save up to Tk 8 lakh buying grey imports rather than one from the authorised dealer. The question is what you are getting or, rather, what you are not getting.

The new JDM Corolla has been renamed Axio while the authorised dealer of certain Toyota models will sell you the new Corolla GLi. The Axio is noticeably narrower and a bit shorter in length so that it remains under a certain tax bracket in Japan.

However, the GLi does not give extra room in the cabin for you to brag about but it does give you better boot space. When buying an Axio you are pretty much restricted to the colours the showroom has but in case of the GLi you can choose from seven colours on offer. If you are lucky you could find an Axio with a fitted optional sunroof but if you go to the new car dealer, Navana, they will get you Corolla with a factory built sunroof, making your wallet considerably thinner though.

With an eye for cars, the obvious thing one might notice is the rear brakes. The Axio comes with drum brakes in rear wheels, a technology that started in 1902. The GLi, however, gives you disk brakes on all wheels, ventilated disks at the front.

Brakes and tyres are not something you want to take lightly. Everything a car does goes through the tyres. Brakes are a key component of the experience you have while driving, not to mention the safety issue.

Navana claims that the Corolla GLi comes with an engine and a body that is more suited to our environment, more precisely the environment of the subcontinent, a few more Asian countries and Australia. But if I were you, I would not buy too much into that since Toyota dominates the automobile industry by keeping development cost down. Just think about why some Corolla engine parts fit so well in other models. Sharing parts throughout the range of models distributes the development cost resulting in cheaper cars for buyers.

Care to think why Ferraris are so expensive? They are purpose-built. Every Ferrari price tag includes its own development cost.

Having said that, the 1.5 litre engines of the Corolla and the Axio are a bit different, deep in their version numbers. If you plan to use a car for pretty much for ever, the engine of the GLi would probably last longer and give you less trouble mostly because you will have it new with no miles on the clock. The Axio engine will be an engine used for several years.

Before you hand in the cheque for literally lakhs of taka to sales managers of car showrooms or Navana, there are a few more things you should know about. The Corolla GLi comes with a year or 20,000km warranty but it becomes void the minute you convert it to run on CNG. It also comes with special security keys to start the vehicle--no replica will do. If you lose the keys Navana will ship you in another set. Buy an Axio with similar set of keys and you could be in trouble if you lose them or even if the key batteries die.