Faults:

My seats are worn.

The engine broke down at 131000 km. due to the previous owner's inability to check the oil level and eventually change the oil. The oil pressure was quite low and the oil lamp was lit for over 5 seconds after the car had started before it went dark.

General Comments:

The car is a dream to drive. Very comfortable gearbox, it shifts like a dream, and the clutch is as easy to press in as on a newer car.

It handles well, but is not too good on iced roads if you do not know how to drive a rear-wheel-driven car. It is easy to get the rear part slipping.

The engine on these cars are very tough and can run on an on forever (3K). However, the previous owner of this car did not see to the oil pressure and oil replacement, and as a result of this, the motor died.

The dashboard lights are not too bright, and can be hard to see when driving in tunnels during the day and other such environments. However, when it is pitch black outside, you can see it.

There was once a break-in into the gas tank of the car, and as a result of this, gas is flowing back out from the fuel filling tract when pushing the accelerator to the floor.

Apart from this, the car has been rust-treated a lot of times since it was built, and it is still without rust, even though corrosion was a serious problem on these cars.

Low fuel consumption. I would definitely own another one!

Faults:

Clutch burnt out and piston shot out of the motor after several days of use. This was only because we gave this car an absolute hiding.

General Comments:

This car was unbelievable I got it given to me for nothing. Myself and two friends took it into the bush for a week and intentionally tried to destroy it.

We ran it into trees got it bogged, we even rolled it over twice, once on its side and once right over.

The only reason the motor blew up was when the clutch had burnt out a brick was placed on the accelerator pedal and left to run flat out. It lasted over 5 minutes like this until a piston eventually flew out of the side of the motor.

Faults:

Car started overheating at 85,000 miles which resulted with a slightly blown head gasket. Re-rodded and cored radiator cured the problem. Still haven't replaced head gasket yet.

Clutch went out at 100,000 miles.

Master cylinder went out at 100,000 miles.

General Comments:

This car is running a Toyota 2T-C engine, which is quite popular for the mini sprint cars at the local tracks, so a Toyota enthouiast can really turn a small commuter hatch-back into an older performance car for only a slight amount of money. For the right amount of money and patience, one can pull about 175hp out of this small 1.6 litre engine.

Great with gas mileage around town and on the highway.

The SR5 and the S5 models of the Corolla come with a 4 speed manual transmission with overdrive 5th gear. So on the highway it gets about 70mph at 2800 RPM. With no emission parts (I removed mine after I left California) it has some decent rear end torque and speed. I recommend this car for first timers or for people who love a project car, trying to squeeze every ounce of horsepower out of a small import engine.