Looking for a used Toyota Corolla. Very confused as to what I should be looking at and comparing. Is it better to buy an older car with less mileage or a newer care with higher mileage. How should these cars be priced?
I'd take a newer car with slightly higher mileages. The body is most likely in better shape, toyota engines arent gonna run out of steam on ya. Thats my opinion.
And check if the car has been rustproofed, chances are a body with that done is gonna be better. OR get a car from a southern state, where it doesnt snow and theres no salt used.
Best price/ newness compromise is the last year of the Gen8 - 2002. All the bugs are worked out and you have almost the same engine as the Gen9 in a smaller chassis which is lighter in 5-speed S or CE Trim.
Of course I am totally biased because I have a Gen 8.5.
I'm from MA, heard my 89 rolla isn't all that great in the snow, was sitting last winter so didn't get a chance to test theory. Definetly look into a gen 9 like they said or as far back as 97, any further wouldn't suggest. To light for New England roads with the snow, if anything like last year. Definetly get a 5spd. gas mileage is crazy good. Also, depends on what you want to spend. Spent 600$ for my rolla, best 600 I have ever put towards any car. The thing is crazy reliable, go with a rolla at least, she won't let you down.
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Crizzle Dizzle for Shizzle Bizzle!
Go SOX!!! Yankees you'll soon find out who yo Daddy is Biatch. The yankees bunch a tight wads, don't know how to have fun.
Your 89 Corolla is not THAT much lighter than a brand-new Corolla. Any FWD car is decent in the snow with good snow tires. Of course AWD/4WD is prefered.
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Last edited by Chris Corolla S; 09-26-2005 at 02:14 PM.
Ya true not much bout 200lbs, but all in all, not to many people even get snow tires for front wheel.
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Crizzle Dizzle for Shizzle Bizzle!
Go SOX!!! Yankees you'll soon find out who yo Daddy is Biatch. The yankees bunch a tight wads, don't know how to have fun.
I can honesty say anything with the A series engine will last you a lifetime. And they are really simple to fix if anything should go wrong. Oh how I miss my 97. Well that's my 2 cents!
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"If it ain't broke, DON'T fix it!"
Get the 2003 with the 1zzfe engine and 4 wheels discs brakes, very effecient, simple engine(non vvti), the auto is a bit sluggish but I love the 5speed manual tranny. If you don't have that much of a problem with traffic, get the manual if you can.
Ok I'm biased, mine is almost three years old with 26000 KM and I love the 2003 rolla
i have a 93 manual dx. i love her! with some new tires she goes great in the snow. i'll tell you in my opinion manual vs automatic makes all the difference.
Get the 2003 with the 1zzfe engine and 4 wheels discs brakes, very effecient, simple engine(non vvti), the auto is a bit sluggish but I love the 5speed manual tranny. If you don't have that much of a problem with traffic, get the manual if you can.
Ok I'm biased, mine is almost three years old with 26000 KM and I love the 2003 rolla
actually, 03's had vvti....as stated earlier, 00 was teh first yr with VVT-i
Well I dont have it anymore but we had a 97 with 175k miles on it when we traded it in. We did almost no maintenance or major repairs to the car the entire time we had. We bought it new and drove it until about Christmas of last year. We replaced the front brakes twice, the rear brakes once, the timing belt once and about 4 or 5 sets of tires. We never, yes never, changed the transmission fluid becaue I was jsut to lazy to do and my wife claimed she never had time while she was out. It was the absolute best car for us while we had it. Oh yeah we had to replace the battery once also and it had the original plugs and fuel filter when we got rid of it and still got over 30mpg on a regular basis.
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Chris
PLEASE DO NOT GET RID OF THE OLD TN AS WE KNOW IT.
And a "FORMER TOY TECH????" <------- Shame on you!!!
Actually, I can't say it's not a good idea to just leave some things alone. Sometimes, getting your hands *into* something for maintenance is actually the worse of 2 evils vs. just leaving something alone.
In personal watercraft it's a debate that often gets argue silly, but I have a buddy who did R & D on jet pump technology and one of the things they found in *real world* testing was that they had less trouble with the machines that pumps that they filled, sealed & never touched again vs. ones they cracked open & maintained w/ new fluids.
Always a chance to introduce contaminants
Always a chance to overfill
Always a chance to underfill
Always a chance to introduce a leak
etc.
etc.
As far as years go, I'd probably suggest a Gen 8 ('98-'02). I'd probably pick a '98-'00 to avoid the vvt-i, but I just like "simple".
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I can honesty say anything with the A series engine will last you a lifetime. And they are really simple to fix if anything should go wrong. Oh how I miss my 97. Well that's my 2 cents!
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