2008 Toyota Corolla Terra 1.4 Petrol

SK101

Hi Everyone,

I am considering buying a 2008 Corolla, as described in the title, as this would be a big investment for me I am just looking for some thoughts on the pro's and con's of the car.

I have driven a 1999 Corolla for a summer in the USA in 2009 and it was extremely reliable never had a problem with it. It was a 1.4 petrol as well. Just wondering have Toyota lost any of their reliability in the last few years and if parts for a 2008 Corolla are not too expensive and readily available?

Thanks!

bazz26

Terra is the basic model, aim for a Luna model if you must as at least it has alloy wheels and air conditioning as standard. They are as reliable as anything else out there but nowhere near head and shoulders above their rivals in the reliability stakes anymore. The interiors are also generally low rent with lots of cheap looking plastics.

If your main criteria is reliability then the Corolla should surfice but the likes of a Hyundai i30 and Kia Ceed are better packaged with more standard equipment and come with more comprehensive warranties.

colm_mcm

The corolla isn't that great as a car, if going toyota I'd get a 1.6 avensis instead. Mpg is similar as the exterior size. The corolla is very badly designed space wise, its big on the inside and small on the inside

Stinicker

Basic entry level Toyota's aren't worth dirt, they are not overly reliable and are built very light with poor to average road holding, they are just bad. It is hard to imagine but Toyota's still do not come with Electric Windows as standard and Air-Conditioning will not be found either.

Cheap Japanese garbage with a good reliability reputation from the 1990's.

MuppetCheck

They have electric front windows. I can't think of anything else on a Terra Toyota.

colm_mcm

Stinicker wrote: »

Basic entry level Toyota's aren't worth dirt, they are not overly reliable and are built very light with poor to average road holding, they are just bad. It is hard to imagine but Toyota's still do not come with Electric Windows as standard and Air-Conditioning will not be found either.

Cheap Japanese garbage with a good reliability reputation from the 1990's.

There is one car in the lineup which doesn't have electric windows, the aygo.

Stinicker

MuppetCheck wrote: »

They have electric front windows. I can't think of anything else on a Terra Toyota.

Pathetic by Toyota really.

Leonard Hofstadter

colm_mcm wrote: »

There is one car in the lineup which doesn't have electric windows, the aygo.

In fairness, you still have to go up as far as an Avensis before you'll find a Toyota that has a/c as standard on all models. Even the new Auris still doesn't come with air conditioning as standard, and it probably wouldn't have come with ESP as standard either only for the fact that it is now (thankfully) mandatory. You'll only get a/c in the Yaris if you go for the Sol model even though there's three models in the range.

Entry level Toyotas in Ireland are incredibly basic, even by Irish standards.

colm_mcm

People buy what they want though. Nobody goes out looking for a well equipped car and buys a base corolla because they can't afford extras,

solas111

I have had a 2001 Corolla for a good few years and it was probably the best car I ever had. Have had a few Toyotas in the past and they never let me down but I wanted to try something different from the Corolla this time. Considered buying an Auris and would not fault the basic Terra model but for a bit extra the Luna was much more impressive. The 2011 Luna that I had on trial has electric front and rear windows, air conditioning, 16 inch alloy wheels and plenty of other extras.

Many auto factor shops don’t carry a huge range of Toyota parts, simply because the Toyota models have been pretty reliable and parts don’t sell. However, getting parts should not be a problem. They are expensive though.

The 2011 1.33 petrol Auris Luna and 2012 1.4 diesel Hyundai i30 were about the €17,000 mark and tempting. A 2013 petrol Luna was €22,800 to buy straight from a Toyota dealer. However, a 2013 Hyundai 1.6 diesel worked out considerably cheaper than the new Luna and came out on top under just about every other heading that I had considered.

Needles73

So what Stinicker is a good car for the original poster ? I am a big toyota fan but i wouldnt buy a 08 corrolla. However comments like "Cheap Japanese garbage with a good reliability reputation from the 1990's." dont do them justice either.

SK101

Thanks for all the feedback its been really helpful! The corolla in question I would be buying from a family member and so would be getting a very good price, a quick look online puts them between €9k and €11k and I am hoping to get this corolla for €€7.5-8k. Also there is only 26,000 miles on the car. Given these other factors do people reckon it is still a good buy?

George Dalton

SK101 wrote: »

Given these other factors do people reckon it is still a good buy?

Depends what you want from a car. If you aren't into cars, aren't bothered by lack of air con or electric windows or other non essentials and just want a reliable "appliance" to get you from A to B then you won't go too far wrong.

solas111

I would say that you would be getting excellent value. You will know a bit about the history of the car, the price is good and at 26,000 miles it is almost as good as new. My 2001 Corolla has 166,000 miles on the clock and is running like a new car.

I don’t know much about the various technical problems that Toyota have had over recent years but I would not be too concerned about them. There was a design fault in the model that I have which led to the tappets not getting enough oil but Toyota put in a new engine block and piston rings at no cost when there was about 55,000 miles on the clock.

The main fault I would have with the Corolla is that it has changed very little over a long number of years but is still pretty expensive to buy, compared to the competition. However, the resale value is good and it is a very reliable car.

Go with your gut feeling.

bridgepeople

If you google 'whatcar reliability survey 2012' you'll see the top 5 manufacturers are all Japanese and 9 of the top 10 are Asian. Toyota is number 2 with a 17% failure rate. Ford has a 31% failure rate, VW is 39%, Audi 41% and Mercedes 45%, so I wouldn't say the reliability gap has narrowed all that much.

The Corolla is ranked top of its segment for reliability in the 2012 JD Power survey too.

A 2008 Corrolla isn't going to be the most exciting car you can drive, but at least it shouldn't give you too many problems.

Indricotherium

colm_mcm wrote: »

The corolla isn't that great as a car, if going toyota I'd get a 1.6 avensis instead. Mpg is similar as the exterior size. The corolla is very badly designed space wise, its big on the inside and small on the inside

This is just untrue, the 08 Corolla is cavernous inside.

Massive boot, room for three large humans in the back.

One complaint I would have is that it has so many storage nooks and crannies that I am always losing stuff.

The only complaints I would have about it is that it is a little lacking in power if you're not a fan of high revs, and the back window is a little on the hard to see out of side.

Massive side mirrors make up for the window, and there is plenty o power for normal drivn if you put the foo down an leave it in third.

Zubeneschamali

solas111 wrote: »

Considered buying an Auris and would not fault the basic Terra model

I had a hired Auris this summer, and it's the only car I've driven recently that was worse than the Dacia Sandero I had the previous summer, which was at least honestly cheap.

Ride, steering and interior were all just shockingly bad.

Stinicker

Indricotherium wrote: »

This is just untrue, the 08 Corolla is cavernous inside.

Massive boot, room for three large humans in the back.

One complaint I would have is that it has so many storage nooks and crannies that I am always losing stuff.

The only complaints I would have about it is that it is a little lacking in power if you're not a fan of high revs, and the back window is a little on the hard to see out of side.

Massive side mirrors make up for the window, and there is plenty o power for normal drivn if you put the foo down an leave it in third.

Oh dear god,