1989 Toyota Corona review from Australia and New Zealand

Absolutley nothing that is not a normal consumable on a car.

OK, a bit of background, I was born into a moto X rideing family, so naturally as soon as I could walk I was on Motobikes, I started raceing very young, and just followed that path, I'm not saying that to big name myself, just to give a picture of the driver in this review, I tend to take my vehicals to the limit, and sit them there all day. When I found this car I must have looked at every other car in the yard first, truth is I never even noticed the mild looking little famliy wagon, I told the sales rep there was nothing there for me, and he said "hey why don't you take this one for a drive" I though OK well why not, within 3 seconds I was hooked... I have never looked back.

The amount of distance at a brisk pace you can squeeze out of a tank of gas is astonishing, the actuall distance I have got on a long range drive in one tank is over 735km, that's driveing it quite hard on 100kph roads, where your doing very well to reach 100kph! the more you give her the more she asks for - I like cars like that.

She has plenty of cabin space for people with long legs.

Reliability is second to none, period. I drive her quite hard (but I never abuse her!) and it just keeps going, never flinches, ever. Although in saying that, she is also exceptionally well looked after, all fluids, filters and tyres are all replaced very regualry, as with any thing she needs, shes also always keeped in showroom condition.

Preformance is deseptively very good, light weight 2.0ltr 5 speed is untouchable in tight and windy, I'm liveing in Australia at the moment, but the car is stored in a garage in NZ, waiting for me to come home, I always take her for a few very long drives when I go home, I like to wind it out when I can safely once every mission, it will still zoom up to 190kph very easy, I don't sit on this for long, just a quick blow out, but even after over a quarter of a million kilometers (!) it will do that with vertualy no effort, not bad for a 'family wagon'! (mind you it is painted in British raceing red)

Parts (if you ever needed them) are as cheap as chips, ie Disk rotors - $105NZ, and this is the only thing that is looming, fare enough after 270000 km of spirited brakeing!

Cabin is starting to look a bit dated, but not too bad if you keep it in context, ie it never was the top of the range modle you could buy, but every thing is fully functional, theres no nonsence gadgitry, although the non standard stereo is a bit average, but that's my fault...

I've driven a lot of cars, from absolute crappers, to top of the line, but I would always go back to the reliability, and shear capability of the 1989 Toyota Corona station wagon, with its twin cam 2.0ltr 5 speed engine for me it is the best, it is so versitile, from lugging the family round all day all year, to very spirited driving long range (its also perfict for overnight camping, just crash in the back! so comfortable). As boring as this car may seem, she is perfect.