1988 Toyota Corolla FX review from North America

Head rebuilt at 185500 $340 with install and a new timing belt.

New timing belt 185500.

New catalytic converter at 185500 $65 I installed.

New battery at 190508 $35.

Both head light bulbs at 200511 $10.50.

New voltage regulator at 208010 $38 A new alternator was $110 but I checked the book and did a quick test that's all that was needed.

If we didn't have emissions requirements here the top end wouldn't have been rebuilt. It smoked, but still got excellent gas mileage.

This car was beat up cosmetically. Dents and dings. It had a rear window leak that took a while to find. Over all not pretty.

After a basic tune up the mileage went from 22 mpg to 35 mpg with up to 41 mpg on road trips.

Performance is not great, but the low-end response compared to my Geo was super.

My car was a base model with a 5 speed and am radio. Carburetor no AC no power steering, power breaks.

Stereo was very easy to update using an after market adapter for the wiring and changing the location from the stock location to the small package tray just below the stock radio location. The stock location isn't deep enough for most after market radios.

Seats were okay they sit a little to low in the front so I made some spacers with some 1/8 flat bar and lifted the front of the seat about 1 and 1/4 inch's.

Handled best with stock size tires and got the best gas mileage.

A 4X4 truck hit this car while I was slowing to make a turn. The bumper on the truck cleared my bumper so the full impact was taken by the hatch and rear fenders. It was totaled, but held up very well considering the truck was going at least 55 and only had 4 feet of skid marks before contact with my car.

I looked a long time to try and replace it, but couldn't find one in my price range. I only paid $400 for mine.