Generally these cars are very reliable and cheap to maintain. Go to any college town and you will see thousands because they are just hard to break. However with almost any used car it's lifespan is almost entirely determined by the previous owner. On the manual/auto issue I have a bias to standard so you have been warned. Here are my reasons.
1)Standards get better mileage about 10% better for these cars.
2)Standards are cheaper to repair by about 2 times when they break.
3)Standards generally break slowly and they let you know long before they are totally broken. Autos often leave you stranded when they break.
4)Standards are just plain more fun to drive.
I would find a mechanic you can trust (or two) and base your decision largely on their opinion of how well the car was maintained. Even supposing you accept my arguements a well maintained low mileage auto will serve you better than a beaten up standard if I understand your priorities correctly.
I know this is older than what you said. But 89 corolla had about 167,xxx when I started to have some problems and repairs were cheap. They are great cars!!
I remember when my friends broke their tranny on their saab. Broke 1, 2, 3rd was grinding, Reverse was unoperable. they drove it home with 3,4,5 They had to gain speed when they went up hill but hey they made it home
Sorry. Let me rephrase. When do you "normally" see problems in a Corolla?
I have a 2003 Impreza with 92,000 miles on it. At 90k I changed to transmission bearing and the clutch. $1300.00 for the fix up. Yup, it's a stick.
Yes, I agree, standard is way more fun. That's what my Impreza's for. The Corolla is going to be a get around town car. And if I don't want to drive in traffic, My girl friend can. And she can't drive stick for $H!T.
__________________
05 Corolla Xrs-Super white, 6-spd.
Injen Cold Air Intake, Sun hyper voltage/hyper ground systems, Hotchkis Front/Rear sway bars, and a few random trd goodies.
The automatic trannies Toyota put in these cars were not the best ones that they ever made...a stick would make more sense in a Corolla of this vintage. Most here do not think too highly of them, not because they are automatics but because they are just not very good automatics. If you can find a car with an auto that has been well maintained, you would probably be alright. Regards, Aaron
BTW: Used cars don't GET any more reliable than Corollas!
Last edited by cobrajet25; 03-27-2005 at 03:40 AM.
Knowing that your other car is pretty quick I would recomend that you go with a 7afe (1.8L). These came with better trannies (both auto and stick) and I don't think that the 4afe(1.6L) is going to be tolerable to you. I know. Later.
Knowing that your other car is pretty quick I would recomend that you go with a 7afe (1.8L). These came with better trannies (both auto and stick) and I don't think that the 4afe(1.6L) is going to be tolerable to you. I know. Later.
~neophile_17
Please explain what a 7afe and a 4afe is or refer to.
What does a new auto tranny go for? I'm sure I might make it a little peppier once I get it? Can it handle 150whp?
The automatic trannies Toyota put in these cars were not the best ones that they ever made...a stick would make more sense in a Corolla of this vintage. Most here do not think too highly of them, not because they are automatics but because they are just not very good automatics. If you can find a car with an auto that has been well maintained, you would probably be alright. Regards, Aaron
BTW: Used cars don't GET any more reliable than Corollas!
then how come civics have higher retail values? im a toyota guy, but theres got to be something to honda if they lose the least value over time.
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very well said
They had to gain speed when they went up hill 
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