Faults:

In nearly 4 years the only thing that had gone wrong with the car (other than tyres and rego) is one front of the suspension broke. I was not even aware till I had it in the shop getting new tyres put on, and when they took the wheel off, the strut just fell out!! It still drove fine!!

General Comments:

Engine / gearbox / clutch has never been touched. I have had 4 turbo cars since I have owned this car (I use it for daily run about to work).

And I have given this car HELL sometimes trying to thrash it to the point that it will blow up, but it does not.

I only paid $475 for it, and it has been the best car I have ever owned... other than it looks terrible and the colour is bad, and it is scratched... but it just runs so well, and has never given me one problem.

Faults:

General maintenance done as infrequently as possible, still ran like a top.

Valve cover gasket replaced.

CV boots replaced.

Not much else.

General Comments:

The little econobox that could. Second-hand car from my dad who owned it since new. Taught at least 5 people to drive stick with one clutch replacement in its life. Would go 100mph in fourth gear (but not fifth), do E-brake slides, and gave a level of handling confidence that encouraged the driver to put into hill sides with reckless abandon. I would often run things over for fun. Things like park benches, cones, trash cans, things it had no right to be able to crush. Ah, the folly of youth. And it still ran just as well as when it only had 100,000 miles and took my siblings and I to school safely and reliably everyday. Was convinced this car would never die until someone pulled an illegal u-turn in front of me and put a end to its proud career.

I bought another one.

Faults:

I bought this car as a replacement vehicle for a 2005 Suzuki Aerio (that I forced Suzuki Canada to repurchase) because it was the biggest piece of crap that I had ever owned. The toyota is 20 yrs older and has given me far less problems than the Suzuki every did...and it was brand new!!!

General Comments:

While it is carburated and rather gutless...Its reliability more than compensates for these minor short-comings. I would strongly recommend buying a 20yr old Toyota over a new Suzuki any day.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with this vehicle since I bought it in October of 2005. I purchased a new headliner for the interior which was torn and in really bad shape. I later purchased 4 new tires since the car had its original tires. They were pretty beat due to dry rot and age, and they were really unsafe. The car was checked over by my mechanic who gave it a tune up and he suggested a new timing belt. The car is in excellent condition.

General Comments:

My 1986 four door LE Toyota Corolla was purchased for $250.00 back in October of 2005 from an 88 year old woman. She simply had it parked in her garage for the past 7 years and never drove it during that time. She purchased the car brand new and had it 19 years. The car had to be towed on a flat bed truck to a service garage to get it started. New head lights, a new battery, and fluids - and "WOW" - she was good to go. The car was tuned up, and I also had a new timing belt installed. The interior is like brand new. The car had close to 78,000 original miles and is like a time warp from 20 years ago. It runs and looks like new.

It gets over 27 miles to the gallon which is a huge savings over the family SUV (Mitsubishi Montero). With gas prices what they are, we drive the car daily back and forth to work. It is one of the best cars I have ever owned and I plan on keeping it for many years to come.

The only down side is that it doesn't have pickup and rarely do I attempt to pass other cars especially in single lanes. I really don't want to push the car too much because of its age and the driving habits of the previous owner. I'm pretty sure that the petal wasn't pressed to the metal often.

Once the car picks up speed she is fine and it is fun to drive and handles great. The steering is impressive and it takes corners well and is easy to control at highway speeds.

It is also a comfortable car and the back seat has plenty of room for 2 adults.

There are no safety clips for the tethers to anchor down a car seat safely, and therefore can't use the Corolla as our primary family car. It is great for commuting to and from work and errands around town.

The other safety disadvantage to owning an older car is that it doesn't have any airbags.

Over all it is a fine car and it is put together well. We are completely satisfied with it and would buy a brand new Corolla or Toyota model in the future.