Any 01 LE owners?

[Mike Morris]

Looking to buy one as a beater car.
One I am looking at despite a little over 100K(102K) has original paint accident free and runs well. Needed a cat which was replaced.
Researching this car online revealed some complaints about oil consumption. Any other areas to look or examine. They want 3K for it.

[Crowbar911]

I have a 01 LE with 80K miles, runs like a champ.

The engine (1zz-fe) is known to have oil consumption issues early in its life, but I believe that it was resolved by 01. You may want to have a compression test and/or a leakdown test to determine if it is burning oil.


Check suspension, Sway bar bushing, and MAF to make sure its clean.

I would try to bring down the price a tad.

Other than that good luck, and show some pics if you get it!

[rgurleyjr]

$3K is a good price, look up the BB value.

[Bhavesh]

also check to see if all the power windows are working properly

[Mike Morris]

Ok thank you. Ill get back to you

[PhatRoyale]

check the door jambs and front and rear wheel wells for any signs of rust.

[wylee]

Originally Posted by Mike Morris

Looking to buy one as a beater car.
One I am looking at despite a little over 100K(102K) has original paint accident free and runs well. Needed a cat which was replaced.
Researching this car online revealed some complaints about oil consumption. Any other areas to look or examine. They want 3K for it.

I'm thinking these 2 are probably related. I wouldn't consider it a deal breaker if the rest of the car seems to be in good shape, but it is something to consider. Cats usually last a little longer than that under normal conditions.

[teppista881]

Oil consumption was definitely not resolved until 2003+.

[Salty_Dog]

I have an '02 LE which is virtually identical to the 01. I just hit 75000 miles and I do not have an oil consumption problem and never have.

[AlaricD]

About 93K on my '01 LE. I've kept it in the garage for most of its life (now the Previa gets the garage) and it's definitely no beater. Oil consumption is certainly tolerable in mine but I do check it often because I've heard all the stories of this particular year.

I've got a little mileage and driveability problem, and my timing chain tensioner o-ring leaks a little, but I'm in no hurry to get rid of this car.

Knowing what I know about my own car, I'd say $3K is a fine price (if they took care of their car like I do mine).

[Mike Morris]

Thanks for all the input.
Nervous about the replaced cat. I never ever replaced one ever on any Toyota I ever had.

[teppista881]

Originally Posted by Salty_Dog

I have an '02 LE which is virtually identical to the 01. I just hit 75000 miles and I do not have an oil consumption problem and never have.

That's good for you, but you can't extrapolate one example to the whole. There are plenty of online complaint sites filled with oil burning Corollas/Prizms from 01-02.

The only point is that no one can assume that a 2001 isn't an oil burner, as if it only happened in some isolated cases.

[Salty_Dog]

Originally Posted by teppista881

That's good for you, but you can't extrapolate one example to the whole. There are plenty of online complaint sites filled with oil burning Corollas/Prizms from 01-02.

Yes there are; I'm not arguing that point. I'm just saying mine has never had the problem so maybe I'm just lucky.

[RoachRolla]

For those that have the oil consumption problem, do you remember at what mileage you noticed the oil burning? just looking for a rough figure.

[Transformer]

My 2000 corolla with 150K burns a quart every 800 miles... On the other hand, my 2002 corolla with 70K burns half a quart every 3000 miles.