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I'm graduating Uni in June, need a car now. How are these?

845 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  94RollaDad 
#1 · (Edited)
My budget: Around $1500-2000 before maintenance/repairs/registration/etc.
I'm going to be moving from San Diego to San Jose in early August. Between now and then I'll be using the car to drive to school and back in the evenings a few times a week (5-10 miles round trip) and to work and back on weekends and occasional road trips (Maybe a 100 mile round trip once a month at about 65 MPH). I'll be driving to San Jose when I move and there, I'll be living about a 10-15 mile commute away from where I will be working, so roughly 30-40 miles per day commute. I'm estimating I will put roughly 13,000 to 15,000 miles on the car before I decide to put her in the garage to get her "Phoenix Down".

What I want: 7th generation Corolla preferably in 5-speed with power internals, AC, clean title.

I've found quite a few in San Diego area but I'm also looking in LA. If the car is right, I would ask my friends to go with me to LA to pick it up. But I have some questions.

Are there any common issues other than the 4AFE oil leak issue? My Ford Taurus also had an oil burning issue but it was more like 1.5 quarts a month so I don't mind about a quart every 1000 miles. Given I will probably drive it for about 15,000 miles before I pay a mechanic to drop a 4AGE in, I can handle the expense/inconvenience of 15 quarts over the remaining lifetime of the 4AFE.

What are the bang/buck modifications that can be done to improve the quality of driving for the car? I don't mean straight line performance but basically anything that can get worn out after 15 years that's not too expensive to replace that just invigorates the driving of the car.

Do you think this is the best route? For those of you who have had issues with your 7th Gen, are there other cars you would've considered?

I'm also considering Accord's, Early 2000's Kia/Hyundai. The reason I removed Civics is because there tends to be a considerably high amount of wear and tear on Civics. The F&F generation really put a beating on a lot of Civics so despite their high reliability that's relatively similar to Corolla's, most of the Civics I see have gutted/Frankenstein repaired interior, mixed/matched OEM body parts with body kits, unpainted 'performance' fenders, lowering springs. I feel like bringing those cars back to a daily drivable condition would end up costing me more than $1500 on top of the price of the car. There also seems to be a prevalent "Honda tax" here in Southern California. Just because it's a Honda and they know that some people like to modify them, they slap $450-$2000 on top of the KBB value of the car. One guy even had the nerve to say his 1998 Civic with 180,000 miles would be $10,000 at a dealership. It's 16 years old and he thinks a dealer would sell it for the same price as a brand new Hyundai or Kia!

Anyway, I appreciate the future responses and I'm going to peruse through the forum and check out some modified 7th generation Corolla's while I wait for your responses!

:thanks: :hi:
 
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#2 ·
Welcome to our forum!

A lot of us have only one car, and it's a 7th gen Corolla. I love mine, great cars. Slow, but a lot of fun and personality. It's quite a strange phenomenon, a family car being fun.

The 4A-FE doesn't have much of an oil burning issue, it was mostly the pre-96 7A-FE. 96 and up 7A-FE have curbed oil burning.

Some common problems are a cracking exhaust manifold (an eBay header fixes that right up, though my Corolla never had it crack), worn suspension (as any car this age), high pressure power steering hose leak, and that's pretty much it. They're bulletproof. Maybe someone else would think of something else.

I would have suggested going for the 7A-FE over the 4A-FE, but if you plan on doing a swap down the line, and just need a commuter for the time being, the 4A-FE will do perfectly fine.

The three main things people recommend doing are intake/exhaust, suspension, and headlights. Intake could be a short ram to add a little kick, or a cold air intake for even better results. Exhaust is obvious, but a header really makes a big deal as the stock one is poorly designed. This will make the car feel a lot better. Suspension is important on any old car, so a set of new struts and maybe some 2" lowering springs (to get that 4x4 ride height down) will make a big difference. And headlights... US headlights are terrible. The light output sucks. You can get eBay headlights (not the JDM replicas), you can do a projector retrofit on any eBay headlight, or you can get genuine JDM headlights (they'll have a RHD beam pattern but great light output).

Don't consider any automatic Honda other than a Civic from 98 to 2010. Transmission issues are pretty much guaranteed. Manuals are of course fine.

I may have some bias, but I think the 7th gen route is a great one. If you can find one with a good body and no rust, go for it!
 
#3 ·
"My budget: Around $1500-2000 before maintenance/repairs/registration/etc."
Consider this, will you have the time and the expertise to repair a 15 year old car seeing your beginning at new job? If so go for it, if not you may be better off paying more up front for a newer car. Its pay me now or pay me later, especially if to expedite a repair you end up paying shop rates.

Don't assume that the internal parts of the engine or the transmission have just normal wear/tear. The older car is for sale because probably it cost more to fix(shop rates) than its worth .

I would encourage you to buy a scanner and use it to do a basic health check on the cars your looking at. If that passes than have the engine compression and the transmission tested. Your hoping for normal wear/tear condition.

If a seller objects to the inspection that makes it an easy decision for you.

If you don't want to go the scanner diagnostic route then there are some posts on this forum telling you how to do basic diagnostic tests using your senses and specific knowledge of engine.

Good luck, not easy to find what your looking for. Ah, passing emissions, check the cal gov web paqe. Between that and carfax you can get pretty good idea on what the formal condition/maintenace and repair record is.
 
#4 ·
I agree with the sentiment from cj1, which can basically be distilled down to this question: Do you have the time and knowledge to maintain a 15-20 year old car?

Even though these cars are "rock solid" per se, they are at an age and mileage where a lot of parts typically require replacement.
- Anything rubber in the engine compartment or drive train? Brittle and leaky.
- Thermostat? Likely stuck open.
- O2 sensor? Likely not working well.
- Normal tuneup (PCV valve, spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, idle control valve/TB cleaning)? Likely not done by previous owner, or done with inferior parts.
- Oil seals? Likely leaking.
- Timing belt? Likely overdue for replacement.
- The coil or distributor might be about to fail.
- The previous owner probably ignored exchanging the transmission fluid (or if you get a 3-speed auto, the ATF fluid in the diff too).

Is any of this particularly hard to do or particularly expensive? No. Compared to other cars this age and mileage it's typically fewer items, it's less expensive parts, and easier repair. But it all adds up in terms of time and money. So as long as you're prepared for that, go ahead. But if you're not, I agree with cj1 - this car generation is too old for you.

Typical rust spot to look out for is in the rear wheel arches.

Search this forum too - there are a lot of threads just like the one you started where people chime in with things to look for when you buy one of these cars.
 
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