1996 Toyota Corolla review from North America

Besides the regular maintenance, nothing has failed on the vehicle.

The only thing that I thought was major at first, but ended up being maintenance was the timing belt. Being a college student, $350 is a big deal.

This car is so worth so much more than I paid for it. Even though it has almost no creature comforts, it feels like a luxury car to me because my last vehicles were a 1977 British Leyland hatchback and a 1984 Toyota truck.

The ride is very comfortable and low speeds and on the freeway, even at 85 mph.

The interior is roomy enough for me (5'7") and all of my stuff.

The exterior is holding up very well, no rust (even though it's a Colorado car where there is a lot of snow and salt on the road), and despite it being hit once in the front, it still drives straight and the unibody is not crooked.

The best part about this car is that it gets up and goes. Now I don't know if it has something done to the engine, because I've driven other Corollas before and was not particularly impressed with the acceleration, but this car gets to 60 in a little less than 8 sec. It was almost out do my sister's RSX to 45 mph. (Her car is an automatic, without the Type S engine)

Currently it has almost 120K on the clock and honestly, it still feels like the day I bought it. It still gets 37 mpg, it's still fast, and it makes no unusual noises. I couldn't be happier with it.