Toyota peoples opinions please (gadgit)

Great little car, that thing will last another 15 years with those low km, will be cheap to run, down on power a bit compared to the more modern cars, but overall a cheap run around car.

Great car, yes, but $5k for 17 year old car.!

Lot of money for an old car,cant you look at a slightly newer car .

Olders cars have gone up in value, but yeah.

Looks very basic, I doubt there is much that can go wrong with it.Doesn't even appear to have air bags or ABS (not that I would care).

Price is high but mileage is low and that's the way the market is for Toyota Corollas.

A lot of money for an old beater but with basic maintenance they go for ever

1500cc Auto Corolla with low kms. will probably probably give a good run for someone who is really not at all interested in cars or driving.

It's not a very impressive car for $5,000, but then condition and low kms are worth paying for too IMHO. Not everyone chooses their car based on what will impress the neighbour's daughter.

Remember that just because it's a Toyota, that doesn't mean you neglect the auto fluid changes and all the other service items in the book.

The 1500 is shockingly underpowered, the 1600 (4afe) go well enough though. The Sprinter are very reliable (super basic, horribly boring car)

The seals in those things are going hard, often need axle, crank end seals and rocker cover gaskets doing. Even low KM examples, it can wear groves in the rotating assemblies then even a new seal won't fix it.

Ask about a corolla,jazz suggests a fiat

If you read the post I have owned two Corolla's of that age, not only did I explain about the Corolla pro's and con's from first hand experience, but I gave a good tangible comparison on value and features with the Fiat.
It doesn't get any better than that.

IMO its about 1 k too expensive. darn good little car. I agree with a post above though. I would definitely replace the cambelt and crank end seals -the rocker cover gasket id live with. there is a real danger of those seals being hard and brittle at that age. -not milage but just age. in prospective we sold a really clean 94 sprinter marino for 3500 a week or so ago. done 135 k--the new law as predicted has pushed up the price of decent small oler cars by a grand to 2 grand

Yeah not such a good deal, the cam belt would need changing from age and Toyota's from that era had poor paintwork. The clear coat is due to peel off and red's a bad colour for fading anyway.
Being an import it's probably had no servicing in Japan. Check the auto fluid colour, should be red not brown. Look inside the oil filler cap on the motor parts for 'tea leaves' which indicates it hasn't had regular oil changes = walk away!
BTW that's why you should never buy a Jap import Subby without service records.they have a remote oil filler, so you can't check inside the cap to see if it's had regular oil changes!

I imported a 97 toyota like that for my neighbour, it's also 1500 and auto. It really struggles around the Dunedin hills where we live and as a result isn't economical at all. I have a 92 ae101 with 4afe and auto, there is no comparison.

thejazzpianoma wrote:
We had two of the much higher spec 1600 Corolla's of the age. Even the 1600 was rubbish in the hills (in auto, manual was O.K) and drank a lot of juice for its size. The last one just sat in the drive because both of us and the staff would always prefer to drive the 1200cc MK2 Punto or other cars in the fleet. (The Punto we had was every bit as reliable as the Toyota's BTW)
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I have a 1600 Corolla FX SJ which is the 4AFE engined model of the FX range and same as the 1600 AE101 range we got here NZ new .mechanically, and it's automatic too, 4 speed with switchable O/D 4th gear, plus the power/economy switchable feature as well as a Toyota Avalon 2001 year.
I have found it very frugal on fuel .like driving from Picton to Central Otago where I live on nearly a tank full is damn good going.
I must admit I wasn't messing around on that trip either 9 hours just over it took driving the scenic route inland from Amberly then on south to home.
I bought it to use as my "hack" and got the FX coupe version because it's coupe doors being longer suits my biggish frame for ease of getting in and out of the car, other than that it's mechanically similar to all the other AE101 Corolla range.
I fill a tank full of gas at present every month or 5 weeks approx which I'm happy about.
I'll let you know and others who have been with me or have driven it besides me reckon it's a mighty quick point to point car on twisty windy roads particularly from Central Otago to Dunedin which I drive up to once or twice monthly for medical reasons.
If by myself I prefer it to bigger cars which I have owned plenty of .namely,Euro Japanese and Australian and for that matter Scandinavian.
Admittedly it's a 1993 model car but I have found it's got a lot of positives that I have not found in lots of so called "upper Market Pfft" Euro's and other country made cars.
All cars have their faults .likes and dislikes .it's what folk make of them which is to their liking and NOT what they have forced down their throats on here JAZZ !
Jazz don't get me wrong .I do like reading some of your knowledgeable stuff on various items and cars persay, but in this case and others of "Bashing" it's a pity it all turns into a hijacking with UNCALLED FOR RHETORIC!
I get heartily sick of reading threads that ask eg. questions on (in this case "Toyota Peoples Opinions Please (gadget)" ) and have them hi jacked by the "Jap basher" posts that I see so often.
Hells teeth the thread title questioner (Who has clearly defined the question) should be able to ask and get answers about a particular make or model without being heckled pretty much or have alternatives "rammed" down their throat as has happened on this thread and heaps of others.
I will say to the O.P. in my opinion from a Toyota owner of years of happy pretty much faultless reliable motoring with the make I'd say you won't go far wrong with that car in question, but the $$$ asked may be still on the high side I have to say, but in saying that .weigh that up against the high likelihood of trouble free motoring you are bound to get in the future.
Over 47 years of car ownership of may makes Euro, British, Australian Japanese and American cars .I have found the Asian cars to be effectively the least troublesome of them all.
I'll say too I still own a Euro namely a Mercedes Benz 220SEb Fintail model .now that's when Euro's were actually good, I wouldn't even consider any of the post 1990 models from Mercedes let alone others from Europe with odd exceptions .
Sorry it's long winded but I just had to say my peace on this one .sorry O.P. but I at least made an attempt to answer your question .being as the thread title states I myself am one of the "Toyota People."

thanx guys

Despite the glowing endorsement of Fiats by our regular poster, I would still rather the 95 corolla over the 01 Euro. It's priced at $4000 for good reason.

Kel (gadgit) might be away racing A T M matt-either keep it bumped or i'll fire a flea male up is jacksy if ya want-However yes age and seal and gasket hardening-and not a race car-however a few **subtle mods** and they are economical and reliable

Agreed, the fiat salesman will always try hard to promote euro's

Toyota Tis atidy lookin example , Realistically though 3000 to3500maxwould be a good buy.