Faults:

I bought the car at auction (my first car), so expected it to have some faults.

Faults at purchase-

-Syncho worn going into 2nd gear

-Steering rack leaked badly

-Brake lines and calipers needed replacing

-Steering boots needed replacing

-Clear coat layer above paint is cracked and peeling badly

-Auction house took out all stereo equipment (irritating)

-Wheel alignment needed at purchase.

General Comments:

When I first bought the car, I expected it to have some faults, and, as a result, didn't pay very much for the car. Because I bought it at auction, it was not registered, and did not have a roadworthy certificate. I took it to the mechanic, who told me about all of these faults. The subsequent repair of these things took the purchase price up another A$500, on top of the A$1950 I paid for her in the first place. After all was fixed, I took her for a spin. Not expecting much out of the 1.6L engine, I was quite surprised at the reasonable level of power. I took her for a spin in the roads in the hills near where I live, and was also quite impressed with the road holding of the skinny tires. Being my first car, I want to stuff around a bit, so I upgraded the tires to wider rubber, and fitted mag wheels, and a larger exhaust. This has improved the cars performance by large amounts. I am now even more happy with how the old girl runs. In the 12300 odd Km's I have had no problems with the car, which I am quite happy with considering the mileage. The shape is nice (it will look much better once I get the paint fixed up), it is comfortable, it drives well, it has plenty of room for a few mates in the back, and the hatchback provides quite adequate space for the odd road trip. After the initial expense I am incredibly happy her, and, at a time where the price of petrol is over A$1/litre, the economy is very helpful.

Faults:

Not much. In the 3 years I've owned it, I have changed the exhaust for 120$ (my fault), brakes (a lot of brakes), radiator for 100$, and an injector for 20$, when I got it.

The rest doesn't count, such as a door and both front fenders... because of the rust (rust wins on all Toyota's in the 1990's).

General Comments:

I got the car for free; my mother bought a new car and wanted to sell it. So I ended up with it.

The handling was not very good on the sports side, but rather comfortable. The seats were to the limit, OK. Good heating in winter too.

The first I noticed was it lacked a lot of power.. so I ended up putting an aftermarket cone on it. And on the highway, I would take it up to 195 km/h... with the stock filter I barely could reach 160!

The next 3 years have been hell for my Corolla, because I have beaten the crap out of it like you would not believe. Every day it would reach the rev limiter at 6600 RPM, and I could reach 180 km/h in fourth gear... till the rev limiter would kick in.

This car could beat brand new Civic Si's, Protege 5s and Sunfires hands down!

I have never touched the engine or transmission. It just started at -40 degrees and never let me down.

I sold it a few months ago because RUST was everywhere... That's the flaw with Toyotas. My Celica was the same... it ended up with an engine still running and no body left. If it wasn't for the rust, I would still have it. If you can, buy one!!