1986 Toyota Corolla XL review from Australia and New Zealand

Annoying carburettor problems.

Gearbox synchros wearing out. Probably due to lack of oil changes.

Starter motor bearings.

Driver side window winder mechanism.

Radio cassette didn't work.

I bought this as my first car. I saw it in the paper for NZ$6500 and the ad didn't show a mileage, but I went to have a look anyway. Had more k's on it than I preferred, but thought being a Corolla, it should last a while longer. After I had a pre-purchase inspection done it was obvious that it hadn't been well maintained by previous owner. I got the dealer to fit new rear muffler, re-cored radiator, oil change & new spare tyre. All up it must have cost him a packet, but I didn't really care, if he wanted me to buy the car.

It was only after I'd owned it for a few weeks when I discovered a few problems. It started fine when cold, but would take absolutely ages to start when it was hot. No amount of throttle, or no throttle, made any difference. Once I accidentally stalled it at traffic lights and was only able to get going milliseconds before I got mowed down by oncoming traffic. Not only that, when I would switch it off, the motor would stop and then 'diesel', as in it would almost start again by itself and chug a bit then stop completely. I was told both problems could be fixed by a tune up. This made no difference. Also, the starter motor would let out a loud rattle after the engine fired, but this was fixable. The gearbox was a pig to shift, worse when cold, and I was told by a mechanic that this model used the same oil supply for gearbox and engine, so when the engine oil was changed, so was the gear box oil. I now know this was probably wrong and in hindsight the gearbox oil was probably like tar which would be why it was so hopeless when cold. I was told to see Toyota about the starting and run-on problems and the guy treated me like a complete idiot and said it was a known problem and they couldn't do anything about it. This was my one and only ever encounter with a Toyota dealer. I ended up selling it after a year and 8000k's and bought a 3.9L EA Ford Falcon, which, as any Australians or New Zealanders will know, were far less reliable. In hindsight I should have spent the money I paid for the Falcon on getting the Corolla properly fixed up.