2000 Toyota Corolla Conquest 1.8 7A-FE from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Let's hope my new '05 corolla is better

Faults:

Rattles galore.

Console storage compartment lid broke Jan'04.

Dashboard warped.

Trim discoloured badly.

General Comments:

Performance is, well, adequate. It is fine around town, but in the hilly country you certainly need to put your boot down. It can keep up with traffic, but that is all.

Ride is crashy.

Handling is reasonably nimble, it is quite chuck-able.

Great colour and styling, but...

Liftback styling meant poor rear seat space, paint is difficult to match up for chips and scratches.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 26th March, 2005

5th Dec 2005, 13:29

What does "crashy" and "chuck-able" mean? Local slang is fun, but not helpful to a wider audience.

13th Nov 2015, 03:00

Translation from Australian Slang:

Chuckable = good handling.

Crashy = Suspension bottoms out/or harsh.

2000 Toyota Corolla LX from North America

Summary:

Corolla is another word for economy

Faults:

Nothing at all has gone wrong yet. And so far it doesn't look like anything will be going wrong soon. No rattles, clicks, buzzes, etc.

General Comments:

The car does exactly what it should do. Run. Not only does it run, it starts on the first turn of the key, even in the bitter cold of Wisconsin. The ride is virtually flawless, smooth and comfortable even for someone who's 6' 3". The shocks give a very gentle ride though even speedbumps can be felt (keep in mind that this car is still almost 5 years old though!).

There is some swaying on the highway from wind buffeting, but the all wheel drive my Corolla is equipped with is very good at keeping the car stable. Even better, the car manages to get pretty good fuel economy despite having AWD. I get about 28-29 in the city and about 38 on the highway. In fact, I drove for about 4 hours on half a tank, going on the highway about 2/3 of the time and the other 1/3 in the city. An average of 36.5 mpg. Not too bad.

Even though I've had the car for a bit over 600 miles, I've had no complaints with it and I definitely understand why Toyota is so well respected. If they put this much work ethic and consideration into their lower-tier cars, I hope I have a chance to try the upper-tier sometime! I'd definitely buy from Toyota again (so far) and it isn't even showing that the car was made in the US, which is great.

The only thing I am a little anxious about is how much I paid for it. Aside from extras, taxes, licensing and interest on the financing, the car cost me $8,500 when the car had 58k on it. I did come back to the dealer and talked about the terms of the sale and as a gesture of good faith, they gave me $200 back. Basically, I was sick of my '88 Acura Integra (it hated being in 5th gear) and so I wanted a new car fast, so I bought the third car I saw in a weekend. Not a smart move, but I think I could've done worse. Opinions are welcome.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 10th March, 2005

11th Mar 2005, 01:42

Correction on the review: the model is actually VE, not LX.

23rd Mar 2005, 02:36

I'm about 2,200 miles into owning the vehicle (about 60,840 miles) and the driver's side interior door handle needs replacing as it is beginning to crack off it's hinges. The part and labor would've cost $40 but I explained to the dealer that the handle was broken when I first got it, so they're replacing it at no charge. Even though this shouldn't have been a problem in the first place, I'm glad that they're being so polite and prompt about the situation.

9th Jun 2005, 21:27

At 62,700 miles the solenoid went out... only two days after getting the oil changed at the dealership.

4th Apr 2008, 20:36

There is no AWD Corolla - it's FWD. The fuel economy is just average for a FWD car.

16th Aug 2009, 07:01

Yes there is an AWD Corolla, I own one, import from Japan.