5th Dec 2007, 12:30

I bought my 1988 2DR FX Hatchback for $35 with 112,000 miles, running a little rough. Had a family friend take a look, cleaned out the Carb and it runs great now. I think I get around 25 MPG in town, about 30-35 MPG on the road. I love the car and for $35, you can't even buy a bike. Something this economical and dated has so much value and character.

28th Dec 2007, 22:48

I have a 88 Corolla Fx. It has 190,000 miles. I've always been happy with it, and I'm always looking for ways to make it run better. I've replaced the engine, carb, suspension, wheels, exhaust. I am always looking for parts and/or info on the FX. If anyone out there has more info on service manuals, and wiring diagrams please let me know. Info is very hard to come by, even through the dealer.

8th Jul 2008, 14:28

My 1988 Toyota Corolla FX (2door hatchback subcompact) has

238,000 miles on it. I am emotionally attached to this car---it has been with me from it's birth and is now 20 years old. It has seen me through roughly half of my life. I don't know what mileage it gets, but it is good! I will never abandon this car to another, but will drive it till it's natural death, even though I also have a 2005 Subaru Forrester (for appearances and the dog). The Subaru mileage is not that great.

Go Toyota. Mechanics tell me the engine can go forever.

19th May 2009, 00:46

Mine has about 188,000 miles. I've owned it for about 9 years. Still fun to drive.

20th Jul 2009, 14:27

Mine has 358900 km, it still runs great!

19th Aug 2009, 02:47

I just bought my 1988 Corolla FX about a month ago, and have already put 1200 miles on it. When I bought it, it had 38,800 miles and the interior matched the mileage and the car was looked over very well so I was happy. Had the oil changed and it runs perfect, I get around 35mph driving with the AC ON, yes the car has AC and it works pretty good.

If you want a good daily driver get one of these cars. Great car for someones first car too, slow and easy to drive.

5th Oct 2009, 01:58

I bought my 88 Corolla FX with 240,000 miles on it for 250 bucks. Just needed a jump and it made it home for me. Great little car.

18th Nov 2009, 19:28

My 88 Fx runs great... I'm in the process of replacing the brakes (master cylinder, booster, etc) 188,xxx miles, and with preventative maintenance, should see another 100,xxx+. GET THIS CAR.

5th Jan 2011, 00:39

My uncle "T" actually gave me an 88 white (new paint job by the way) Corolla FX Hatchback this past Christmas with 63,380 miles on her. Best gift I ever got! I call her my Lil' Japanese Tank. He switched her over to synthetic oil while in his possession... nice move if ya ask me. Very comfy seats that hold ya, even on long rides I must say n' I'm a big fella.

-P.S. No wonder why people were so happy during the 80's. ;)

6th Jan 2011, 19:05

I had a 1988 Toyota Corolla FX 1.6 carb, 5 speed. It was grey metallic, 15 inch chrome wheels, 225xxx miles, runs strong as hell. Traded it a couple of years ago for a Honda CRX. Biiiggg mistake on my part. Just got her back from my boy, who sold it back to me after he bought it back from the guy I traded with... now that I've got her, I will never let her go... Get a tiny glass pack and muff tip; while us carb dudes may not be that fast, we will be loud as hell to make up for it.

17th Dec 2012, 12:01

I love my '88 Corolla FX 2-door hatchback. It may look like a boxy little piece of junk, but it's still going strong at almost 300K miles, and still gets 25 to 30 MPG in city driving. Only real trouble is, I have the devil's own time trying to find parts when something needs replacing.

Recently the linkage connecting the windshield wiper motor to the blades broke (this is usually called the "wiper linkage" or "wiper relay rod"). I've looked around locally (here in Sacramento CA) and online, but no luck. Anybody know how to find a wiper linkage (or for that matter parts in general) for this wonderful old car? How do other owners deal with this problem?

27th Apr 2015, 01:24

I have a 1988 Toyota Corolla with 78,000 and it runs great. I'm looking to fix the fenders, but can't find them. Anyone know where I can get them? My email address is vgabriel1984@gmail.com.

Thanks for your help.

27th Apr 2015, 09:08

I owned both the Toyota Celica GT and Corolla SR5 models from the late 70s early 80s. During the warranty period I remember zero returns to the dealer with issues. They were made in Japan. I also think even the quality of the paint was better then. Now it is continual recalls and issues with Toyota. Lower production in my mind was better, with more care put in the cars then.

The Celica especially was a really nice car then. They were not cheap at the time in GT form. Even my Corolla was pretty sharp at the time. It was special order black with both the factory black glass and black metal sunroofs and air. You took your pick of which sunroof you wanted. They were a nice design. They could be lifted out and switched. I also ordered both completely loaded. The Corolla even had aluminum factory alloy wheels and was a hatch SR5. The Celica GT looked just like a small Mustang. There was a period where Toyota had a great design. Mid 80s they got pretty ugly. I went to Datsun later with Nissan 280zx models. Wind tunnel tests led to bean shapes. Perhaps for more interior room, but it sacrificed style, so they lost me. All the same, I liked the quality and lack of issues from that era.

A lot disappeared from road salt. Find a 1977 Celica GT today in nice shape and you can get 3 times what it cost new. That's hard to do with a Toyota.

1st Jul 2015, 00:05

I bought my Corolla FX in 1991 from a journalist moving to Europe. She bought the car brand new and had kept excellent records. She basically wanted me to take over payments ($3700 owed on it) and it had 34,000 miles on it. 24 years later the car (named 'lil bit) has 277,000 miles and is still running. Running beautifully!

However, I agree with some of you regarding finding parts at this point. Some of them are obsolete, luckily I have a creative mechanic. At this point she has no radio, and no A/C, but talk about dependable, and the gas mileage out of the city is incredible. I don't think I will ever find another vehicle like this one!

22nd Nov 2016, 22:13

'88 Corolla FX Standard 5 speed:

I bought my FX with 180K on it for a thousand bucks from a buddy of mine because I was desperate for wheels and he had a family mechanic do a TON of work to it before I got it, i.e. new fuel filter, rebuilt carb, new clutch and flywheel, new fuel pump, all new brakes and brake lines front and back, new alternator and battery, new throttle cable and headlights. I did the front wheel bearings, clutch slave and master cylinder and have done some oil changes and he runs great, like an old swiss watch.

Whoever had the car before my friend abused the hell out of the poor little guy, so that's why all that stuff's been done. He gets grumpy when he's been running for awhile and you really need to stomp the accelerator to get 'im restarted, but hey, he's an '88, not a 2015 Rolls for cryin' out loud!

I just have a couple little minor things left to do as far as PM goes, maybe rebuild the carb again soon, but I've been driving him for almost a solid year without doing anything major, which is more than I can say for any of the other Toyotas that I've owned.

He's known in my circles as "the noisy cricket" or "the cricket" because the transaxle chirps just like a cricket under load LOL. I'll never get rid of this car.

For all of you out there having trouble finding parts, I live in Colorado and use NAPA auto parts almost exclusively as they've never come up short finding things for me.

Cheers.