Faults:

Timing chain cover leak at 75,000 km. Cost $750 to reseal the cover. (Dealership advised this was a labour intensive job, as the engine had to be removed from the engine bay, but this was questionable in retrospect.)

A bulb back lighting the HVAC control panel burnt out. Replaced with an aftermarket replacement bulb (less than $5), but it was difficult to find a bulb having the shape of the original bulb to fit the original green bulb cover.

Ventilation system emitted a foul odour unless the air conditioner was turned on.

The grey velour upholstery retained atmospheric dirt, and appeared soiled even with routine vacuuming and gentle cleaning.

General Comments:

I found myself driving more slowly when driving this car than when driving other cars. The engine, steering, throttle, and brake characteristics are not conducive to spirited driving.

The car was comfortable, performed adequately, and very fuel efficient. The powertrain sounded and felt refined for an economy compact car. The front suspension seemed to lack sufficient travel, as the struts would seem to use up their travel limit even on modest speed bumps at low speed. The factory radio was weak in power. In all other respects, the car was unremarkable.

Given Toyota's reputation for reliability and engineering quality, the aforementioned timing chain cover leak, lighting, and HVAC odour problems were disappointing, in view of the car's relatively low mileage, its gentle use, and regular maintenance and care, both before and during my ownership.

The only real compelling reason to choose this Corolla would be its fuel efficiency and expected higher than average reliability, but as actual experience has shown, expectations may not be reality.

Faults:

Engine stopped working at about 130K miles.

General Comments:

The car could reach VERY high speeds and had GREAT performance. But Japanese cars are high quality 99.9% of the time, and this car was one of the 0.01% that broke in 10 years.

Faults:

- A little bit of rust near the door started appearing @ 182000 miles.

- Exhaust: A screw holding the pipe fell due to speeding for sustained periods of time. This created some exhaust noise @ 181000 miles.

- Accelerator pedal had to get tightened when we first bought it @ 110000 miles.

- The starter was a bit jammed and the key wouldn't turn @ 140000 miles.

- Cassette player wouldn't rewind sometimes @ 175000 miles.

- Other than that, normal wear and tear items such as brakes and tires.

- We replaced the brake discs @ 175000 miles

- The speedometer light stopped working somewhere around 180000 miles

- The tires did seem to wear out pretty quickly.

Other than that, nothing else.

General Comments:

First of all, I would just like to say that this is my first car review ever.

Well anyway, this is my father's car, so I'll be writing a review about his car.

So my father bought this car sometime during the middle of the winter at the end of 2005. This car was meant to replace our 1995 Toyota Tercel (I'll hopefully write a review about that too very soon). It was a white 2002 Corolla with a nice exterior, clean interior and high mileage. Seeing that Toyotas have a reputation for reliability, that didn't matter. So we bought it for 4,500 dollars, which seemed like a pretty good deal at the time. We were all very excited about getting a car that had 4 doors.

My dad would drive to work (30 minute drive) and back (another 30 minutes) to Ford Motor Company with his little Toyota. (Quite embarrassing when everybody else has a Ford car). It served as our basic transportation for 5 years without any problems. To me, that's what a car is supposed to be.

Interior. It was made of hard plastic, which held up pretty well. Nothing special there. The seats were very comfortable. And I mean very comfortable. 5 hour road trip, slept like a baby. Ours had a cassette and CD player with AM/FM stereo. Pretty cool. Nothing special. Just a normal car. The problem with the interior was the sheer amount of legroom. When I sat in the back, I had no problem. That's because I knew how to fit in it. When my friends were with me, they would always have to stick their feet out.

Exterior. Beautiful. Sure it had a couple of scratches, but whatever.

Driving and handling. This is where the real review comes in. I drove it a couple of times, and it was pretty good. On the highway, there was a bit road, wind, and engine noise. Just a little. Suspension was very soft. This is what mainly contributed to the smooth and comfortable ride. Brakes were OK. One of the main problems was the acceleration. It was horrible compared to other cars of its class. Another problem was the handling. The suspension was so soft that when we would take a hard turn, sometimes the wheel would grind against the wheel arch. After fitting it with new tires, the problem was solved.

Fuel economy was the best in its class

In conclusion, this was a great car. This car was driven to its limits especially when my sister got her license. Hitting 5000 rpm was very common. Despite this, it held up pretty well. Finally, about 3 months ago, a lady pulled out in front of us while we were driving. We were going about 40 mph. We didn't have time to stop and crashed right on the side of her car. She was lucky enough that we hit her tire, not the door or else she would've been dead. If it hadn't been for the accident, we would have probably kept it till it died. That's another thing I learned about the Corolla. It did a very good job in keeping the driver safe. I rate it a 9/10.

Now we are stuck with a 2004 Ford Taurus station wagon, which has been to the mechanic more than Corolla has ever been at the mechanic in that 5 year period.