1985 Toyota Corolla LE review from North America
"Excellent car, a very good friend to me"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Brakes, tires, oil, and belts. Oh, and a hurricane.
General comments?
I picked this up (my first car) when I turned 16 for $600.00 -- UGLY as sin and embarrassing to pick dates up in, but I got around 100,000 miles out of it and many trips from New York/New Jersey to Wisconsin and back. Used it forever as a pizza delivery car too.
The car was in Bound Brook, NJ last spring when Hurricane Floyd made the Raritan River wipe out most of the town. My Toyota (then at 190,000 miles) was under 5 feet of water for 16 hours.
Pep Boys drained the radiator, gas tank, engine, transmission, refilled everything, replaced the battery, and fought with a LOT of ether sprayed into the carb.
Would you believe it actually ran after that? The car got moldy, rusty, and smelled bad of course.
Never ran really good after that, but I don't fault the car. It eventually was fighting to start (at 210,000) and blowing black oil out the tail pipe. I gave up and drove it to the junkyard on Christmas Eve, 1999.
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| First year of ownership | 1996 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 1999 |
| Engine and transmission | 1.8 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 4/10 |
| Reliability marks | 10/10 |
| Comfort marks | 0/10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 10/10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 10/10 |
| Distance when acquired | 108000 miles |
| Most recent distance | 210000 miles |
| Date of Entry | 3rd August, 2000 |