Great little corolla

TigerTim

Oh happy days. This probably isn’t really a posting for the classic car forum but my 1991 Toyota Corolla sailed thru’ the NCT with no problems. I’d forgotten how reliable Toyota’s are. I have always driven fairly modern cars until I bought a 2001 Peugeot 607 2.2 petrol about 1.5 year’s ago. I bought it fairly cheap – it depreciated approx €8.5k per year in its first 3 years. I suppose I should have known that normal cars don’t depreciate like that but as I was buying it cheap enough, it had all the toys known to man & came with a year’s warranty I bought it. Really luxurious, comfortable & safe car but with French electronics. Fine while it was under warranty with the Peugeot dealer, they sorted every alarm light that came on & even replaced the radio/cd/cassette player but when you have to pay main dealer rates I gave up. Also petrol prices were going up & it was only doing 23mpg around town/ about 35mpg on decent spins. Last Easter weekend, I washed, waxed & valeted it & parked it early outside the entrance to the local “Ideal Homes & Motorshow” with a for sale sign on it. After not more than 30 minutes a guy phoned to say he was interested, he viewed the car , drove it & we did the deal. As we were chatting, he said they would need to sell his wife’s 1991 Corolla which had 6 month’s NCT left on it. To save me looking for a car for a while, I said I would trade it in against the Peugeot & it cost me €400. In 6 months of ownership, I changed 1 parking light bulb. For the NCT I serviced it myself & got 4 new tyres & it flew thru’ without a problem. It’s a fairly nondescript car but in very good condition. I reckon it must have been clocked forward rather than back because the odometer reads 299095KM – that’s almost 300,000KM & the emissions were perfect. Still has original engine. Anyway I’m happy & plan to drive my “modern classic” for another few months.

Tim

johnnycortina

Well done - thumbs up for the older motors, while the government and eurocrats want us to drive new boring plastic euroboxes.

MercMad

This probably isn’t really a posting for the classic car forum but my 1991 Toyota Corolla sailed thru’ the NCT with no problems

...........yep......... you lost me after that sentance !!

Max_Damage

This probably isn’t really a posting for the classic car forum but my 1991 Toyota Corolla sailed thru’ the NCT with no problems

So what??? I've a 1990 Micra and it's hardly classic car material. It's more like shítbox material!

Still has original engine. Anyway I’m happy & plan to drive my “modern classic” for another few months.

A 1991 Corolla!? Modern Classic!? LMAO!

BrianD3

The AE90 (which I presume yours is) was a very good car and not as boring as many would have you believe. I often thought of getting one for myself as a cheap runabout. In its day it was also one of the safest cars in its class. Was crash tested by the ADAC along with a few others and came out ahead of all of them including the VW Golf.

Most of the AE90s left have not surprisingly done huge mileage and they all seem to smell of burning oil but keep going. With this oil burning it is lucky that they don't have to meet the post 1993 NCT emission standards and have the complication of needing catalytic converters etc.

Itsfixed

TigerTim wrote:

Oh happy days. This probably isn’t really a posting for the classic car forum but my 1991 Toyota Corolla sailed thru’ the NCT with no problems. I’d forgotten how reliable Toyota’s are. I have always driven fairly modern cars until I bought a 2001 Peugeot 607 2.2 petrol about 1.5 year’s ago. I bought it fairly cheap – it depreciated approx €8.5k per year in its first 3 years. I suppose I should have known that normal cars don’t depreciate like that but as I was buying it cheap enough, it had all the toys known to man & came with a year’s warranty I bought it. Really luxurious, comfortable & safe car but with French electronics. Fine while it was under warranty with the Peugeot dealer, they sorted every alarm light that came on & even replaced the radio/cd/cassette player but when you have to pay main dealer rates I gave up. Also petrol prices were going up & it was only doing 23mpg around town/ about 35mpg on decent spins. Last Easter weekend, I washed, waxed & valeted it & parked it early outside the entrance to the local “Ideal Homes & Motorshow” with a for sale sign on it. After not more than 30 minutes a guy phoned to say he was interested, he viewed the car , drove it & we did the deal. As we were chatting, he said they would need to sell his wife’s 1991 Corolla which had 6 month’s NCT left on it. To save me looking for a car for a while, I said I would trade it in against the Peugeot & it cost me €400. In 6 months of ownership, I changed 1 parking light bulb. For the NCT I serviced it myself & got 4 new tyres & it flew thru’ without a problem. It’s a fairly nondescript car but in very good condition. I reckon it must have been clocked forward rather than back because the odometer reads 299095KM – that’s almost 300,000KM & the emissions were perfect. Still has original engine. Anyway I’m happy & plan to drive my “modern classic” for another few months.

Tim

Great, well done. Love hearing about this kind of stuff.

Never mind the 'modern classic' stuff, I officially confer upon you a phd in bangernomics.

overdriver

Good man!
A banger man like myself. Let all the fools sneer with their car-loans. I hope you're going to keep it up and not fall prey to the new car scam again?

TigerTim

Yep, hope to keep it going for a while, Overdriver. The classic was said with "Tongue in Cheek" but some clown didn't appreciate it.

Mercmad - sentence is spelled SENTENCE !!

Silvera

Nice thread!

Good to hear about older motors still earning their keep!

If possible why not post a pic(s) of your reliable Corolla......I bet people will be buying them and bringing them to classic car shows in 10 years time !!

overdriver

People ar often mistaken about what cars become head-turners. My little Herald was, in it's day, the most ordinary car imagineable, as it's not even a convertible!
But being out in it on the road today is like being in the Popemobile. I swear, I get tired of waving!!"

The Corolla is just as ordinary, just as workaday, but in years to come, many people who will have been ferried around by parents in one, will come to shows and be astounded to see one there.


I saw an absolutely immaculate Sunny from 1989 the other day, and it was bearing up really well.