Buying a second hand corolla...tips?

Bakharwaldog

Hey, Im thinking of buying a second hand Corolla...lookin at a few diiferent ones mostly 1999's or 98's...they all seem to be in pretty decent shape is der anything i should look out for when buying this type of car? what kind of mileage is too much for a 10 year old corolla?

cheers.

Sqaull20

Dont know what to look out for in Corolla's besides the obvious like visible signs of damage, wear and tear inside and outside the car matches milage, wipers and all other equipment working properly, checking that there is a decent amount of oil in the car and that the oil is clean.

Checking that it has a spare wheel and listening out to squeaks/noises when you take the car for a test drive over a decent distance, on different road surfaces (country road, in-town, motorway etc, very important as many cars are noise free on smooth roads, but going through country roads )

Make sure you are insured to do this before setting off. ( nothing worse )

Ask a mechanic or a friend who is handy to come with you.

Its your money and its almost impossibile to sell anything so take your time, take 2 or 3 test drives and wait a bit if you have to.If your having second thoughts seriously consider walking away, as you have a huge selection now :pac:

I wouldnt be paying anything over €2000 for a Corolla of 98-00 no matter how clean it looks, so many other greats cars at those prices.

Esel

Look for service history, especially when the timing belt was changed. Average mileage is reckoned as 10,000 miles per year, so you could see cars with 120,000 miles on them. You should wait to find a peach - low miles, service history, one owner, pristine condition etc. - they are out there!

JackFrosty

Good choice, they are a great car, as was said all ready, go for one with service history and look at a few, its a buyers market.

Martron

there was a fleet of corrolla vans in work all around the 00 mark. anyway i would say 25% were struck with same problem. the ball joint on the front suspension( i think thats what the part was called) it produced a knocking when driving. nothing too serious from what i can remebr but annoying none the less

bazz26

OP try and get one of the facelifted models from 2000 onwards. It was kinder to the eye than the previous frog eyed model and the VTTi engines were also introduced then.

Buffman

bazz26 wrote: »

OP try and get one of the facelifted models from 2000 onwards. It was kinder to the eye than the previous frog eyed model and the VTTi engines were also introduced then.

Yep, the frog eyed model had notoriously bad headlights, which prompted a facelift after only 2-3 years...

Don't be afraid to go for the older model either, some quality 95-97 ones out there for no money at all.

It's just the usual suspects to watch out for, timing, water pumps, cv joints.

colm_mcm

bazz26 wrote: »

OP try and get one of the facelifted models from 2000 onwards. It was kinder to the eye than the previous frog eyed model and the VTTi engines were also introduced then.

The 1.3 engine is more old tech than the 1.4 VVT-i, neither really give trouble, but I'd stick with the frogeye for a number of reasons.
On the other hand, the 1.3 has a timing belt, 1.4 is a chain. try and get one with the belt done reasonably recently


1.4 models can give problems with stereos not working, and rattly inlet manifolds. just something to look out for rather than reasons not to buy.

sonicthebadger*

My sister has had a 97 one for the last 5 years and it's practically immortal. She even had the timing belt go on it about a year ago while she was driving down the road at 100kph. Mechanic tried sticking a new one on just to see what would happen and it's been driving away good as new ever since.

Cars are not not not not selling at the moment though so find a model you like and shop around till you find someone who needs to sell then make them the lowest offer you can manage to keep a straight face for.

Arcee

Bought a 98 corrolla just over a year ago - love it! it's pretty much bombproof has over 140,000 miles on the clock but runs great and never fails to start even on freezing mornings when I haven't driven it for 2 weeks.

Martron wrote: »

there was a fleet of corrolla vans in work all around the 00 mark. anyway i would say 25% were struck with same problem. the ball joint on the front suspension( i think thats what the part was called) it produced a knocking when driving. nothing too serious from what i can remebr but annoying none the less

It did have this problem when I went to look at it but the mechanic fixed it before I bought it and haven't had any issues since. The one thing I would say is to check small stuff like that the windows roll down all the way and the seatbelts buckle correctly. They're not huge issues but can be a pain to fix.

Oh, and make sure it has a Padre Pio window sticker. I don't think I've ever seen a corolla without one

CJhaughey

One thing to check with the 1.4 VVti engine is Toyota had problems with excessive oil consumption in some of these engines and replaced a lot of the blocks under a recall scheme that was kept fairly quiet.
We have a 00 estate with the 1.4 VVTi and while not a glamour car is certainly practical for kids.
Saying that the indicators failed recently and it took a long time to trace the fault which turned out to be a broken wire!
Other than that it has been stone cold reliable.
There is a kind of knock on rough roads (all of Cork) and I had an idea it could be the anti-roll linkage, but will check the ball joints.
I find the economy good somewhere around 6.5l/100km.

Bearcat

as per all above....makesure the timing belt is done.....they are un breakable