2000 Toyota Corolla from North America - Comments

An easier question would be what hasn't gone wrong with this car? For the first few months, it did fine then the problems started. The power windows on the driver side worked when they felt like it. Cruise control fails when taking long trips. I have had the brakes replaced 3 times since buying the car. The steering wheel rattles whenever I get over 50 MPH. The car has no power at all. The shock absorbers were replaced last year and need replaced again. Of course every time I take it in, the dealership says it must be something I did because Toyota's are such great cars.

I bought this car because for years I had heard how reliable Toyota was. I think from now on, I am going to stick with my American cars. My 1988 Ford Escort was old and ugly and had a lot of miles on it, but it never let me down the way this car has and the dealership is rude and condescending to me every time I go there.

I cannot get rid of this lemon fast enough.

Cruise control? Power windows? You want a reliable Toyota? Don't try to turn it into a Mercedes Benz.

Don't listen to the last comment- trying to change the definition of reliability and good workmanship isn't going to improve your car.

Having the problems you mentioned and only 46,000 miles? I agree that that is unacceptable, especially for a great reputation Toyota receives. What is this world coming to? You can't even drive a Toyota for 50,000 miles anymore without problems? What a shame. My Volvo has over 200,000 miles and the power windows still work.

Just read your review because I am having issues with my 2001 Corolla. Bought it because I heard how reliable Corolla's were. (My '93 Paseo only lasted me 7 years, I was disappointed when it stranded me 3 times in 6 months after that with high repair bills, and later heard that the Paseo's did not meet usual Toyota standards, hence the reason for their being discontinued.) So I bought this Corolla and am having the same issues with the power windows. Fuse has blown 3 times in less than a year, something is overloaded. Concerns me that I will have additional problems with other power equipment in a few thousand more miles (at 35,000) right now. Also the vents plastic pieces broke a few months after I bought the car. I have heard wonderful things about them and hope this is an isolated issue with this car, but am having doubts whether my next car will be a Toyota.

I have found over the years when buying a new or a used car that less is more, meaning that there is less to go wrong with a standard transmission and hand operated windows, as well as with standard brakes. Keeping it simple is my motto when buying a car or any other mechanical device.

I live in the UK. Having bought a two year old Corolla vvti 1.4 GS last May (2004) a major problem has just emerged. The car had done 11,000 miles when I got it. 11 months and 6,000 miles later it's pinking like crazy going up hills. Use Shell premium fuel the dealer suggests. Helps a bit. Turns out that it is a problem with the onboard computer which has no adjuster for the fuel mix. Only answer is to fit a new unit, at cost of around £500 plus labor. The new unit will have an adjuster, because of course lots of other people have had the same problem, so Toyota had to modify it. Just 6 weeks out of warranty too. Outrageous for a car that's done only 18,000 miles.

Power windows motors do blow on new or old cars. This is usually caused by the window getting stuck as it goes up. It's usually quite obvious, instead of a clean up and down motion it usually stutters. I say this because this is a warning sign that the motor driving the window is struggling.

On my Suzuki swift it actually pops out (common problem). If you see this problem immediately get it looked at. It is easy to fix, adding some graphite powder to the windows tracks should put things right (you can use silicon sprays, but that can damage paintwork and is messy). Failure to see the warning sign results in a shorted motor as they aren't designed to have strong resistance applied.

This potential for this problem exists in any car with power windows, only some are more susceptible to it. Extremes of temperature do make the problem worse.

Toyota is the best. I drive a pre runner Tacoma with total chaos long travel, and I beat it up, but she holds up really well.

I have a 2000 Corolla too; it gets 38 mpg on the highway and runs like a champ. It's the CE model and everything works great still, and it's a good car.