05 Corrolla VVTi 1.6

theteal

I'm leaning towards buying one of the above (boring as hell but being nudged towards it with a focus on future reliability). It's got 56000 miles, full dealer service history and I've driven it and all seems perfectly fine. I did notice the alloy paint is bubbling and chipping on all wheels but I've since discovered that this is fairly common and not isolated to these cars.

I've done a bit of searching for potential issues and was wondering if anyone here can help shed some light? I've seen reports of oil burning issues but these seem to be on older models. Does is this still affect the 05 model?

I've read that the service intervals are 6 months or 5000 miles, seems an unusually short period.

Any other potential banana skins in there?

Cee-Jay-Cee

Very reliable with no known issues. The service intervals are 8k miles or 12 months AFAIK and even if it turns out to be shorter I'd still do it at 8k miles. The only thing that I have found with them is they they're quite sore on from tyres but saying that you'll still get 20k miles from a set of quality tyres.

Supergurrier

Decent power/economy for a 1.6 petrol

Very reliable.

Slightly boring

theteal

CJC999 wrote: »

Very reliable with no known issues. The service intervals are 8k miles or 12 months AFAIK and even if it turns out to be shorter I'd still do it at 8k miles. The only thing that I have found with them is they they're quite sore on from tyres but saying that you'll still get 20k miles from a set of quality tyres.

20k miles is nearly 3 years of driving for me at current rate, I can certainly live with that

theteal

Supergurrier wrote: »

Decent power/economy for a 1.6 petrol

Very reliable.

Slightly boring

I can live with that level of boring, it's not a beauty but it's certainly not ugly either. The old man was pushing a civic more but civics of that era are just unforgivably bland to me - i was actually a fan of the older ones as I'm sure many were.

joujoujou

Good choice!

theteal wrote: »

[...] I've seen reports of oil burning issues but these seem to be on older models. Does is this still affect the 05 model?

[...]

No.

Change oil every 10 000 km or once a year (whichever is sooner), decent fully synthetic (not HC) 5w30 A5/B5 A1/B1 oil. Preferrably Fuchs, Amsoil, Liqui Moly or Motul.

toyotaavensis

This is the engine in my avensis. It was older models which burnt oil so no worries there.
Toyota say that the service interval is every 9000 miles or 15000km in normal driving or 4500 miles or 7500km in severe driving.

Thats why i always get it done every 5000 miles.

theteal

toyotaavensis wrote: »

This is the engine in my avensis. It was older models which burnt oil so no worries there.
Toyota say that the service interval is every 9000 miles or 15000km in normal driving or 4500 miles or 7500km in severe driving.

Thats why i always get it done every 5000 miles.

good to know, it's actually done 8000 since last service - I smell a bargaining tool

tax is out at the end of the month too, it's only £200 a year over here so that's not the end of the world

toyotaavensis

If that is the case it will be needing a service soon.

FYI Every 6 years you will have to change the coolant. This should be done already. Brake fluid every 2 years. Air filter every 30K and plugs every 60K miles. Some of these might be needed.

Also worth having a look and seeing is there much meat left on the brakes as that could cost you another few quid. I get about 80000 miles from brakes but the little woman has a 1.4 corolla and is hard on the brakes. She gets about 30000 miles.

Goes without saying have a look at the tyres as if you have to replace them it will be over €300 for decent tyres.

If all these things are in good nick it is a great buy otherwise you will end up spending a good few quid after the purchase.

toyotaavensis

Also if the car has the original battery this will likely give up soon too. Probably not after 9 years.
Make sure you get this checked before buying the car.

If the battery is not good that will be €60-80 to replace.

Note these items wear out in all cars and the corolla is reliable. If this is a private sale then you can use these items to your advantage to knock down the price.

theteal

toyotaavensis wrote: »

If that is the case it will be needing a service soon.

FYI Every 6 years you will have to change the coolant. This should be done already. Brake fluid every 2 years. Air filter every 30K and plugs every 60K miles. Some of these might be needed.

you're a good man to know!

I'll get another gander at the service book before I decide but like I mentioned, it has a full dealer history so going by the check lists, these should already be covered.

Tyres are alright, about middle of their life, it might be interesting to keep an eye on longevity from here.

theteal

toyotaavensis wrote: »

Also if the car has the original battery this will likely give up soon too. Probably not after 9 years.
Make sure you get this checked before buying the car.

If the battery is not good that will be €60-80 to replace.

mmmmm, would a 03 1.6 fiesta battery be the same type by any chance?

toyotaavensis

Go to halfords website. Look up the battery for both cars and see if they are the same.

theteal

toyotaavensis wrote: »

Go to halfords website. Look up the battery for both cars and see if they are the same.

that was a brainfart moment. I looked up eurocarparts, not the same battery. Not to worry, shouldn't be an issue just yet anyway.

Cheers for all the info

JohnBoy26

Great car op and better than the civic of the same era. The oil change interval on these is 9k miles but I personally would do it at 7k miles for piece of mind

nd

joujoujou wrote: »

Good choice!

No.

Change oil every 10 000 km or once a year (whichever is sooner), decent fully synthetic (not HC) 5w30 A5/B5 A1/B1 oil. Preferrably Fuchs, Amsoil, Liqui Moly or Motul.

do you know does the corolla definitely take fully synthetic oil?

I was watching ETCG's video on synthetic v regular oil

and was thinking if it doesn't I might be better off using regular and changing it more often. But obviously if toyota say it needs synthetic that's what i'll use. I don't have the owners manual.

Thanks.

Ps. he has an interesting follow up to that video here (better video actually imo).

Cee-Jay-Cee

My wife had the 1.4 model fir 6 years. I serviced it myself once a year (roughly every 10k kms) and used regular 10/40w castrol GTX. It never burned a drop in that time.

JohnBoy26

nd wrote: »

do you know does the corolla definitely take fully synthetic oil?

I was watching ETCG's video on synthetic v regular oil

and was thinking if it doesn't I might be better off using regular and changing it more often. But obviously if toyota say it needs synthetic that's what i'll use. I don't have the owners manual.

Thanks.

The 1.4 takes 10w40 semi synthetic oil.

toyotaavensis

no it doesnt it takes 5w30 fully synthetic as joujoujou said

JohnBoy26

toyotaavensis wrote: »

no it doesnt it takes 5w30 fully synthetic as joujoujou said

Yes indeed you are correct. Its the 4e-fe I had in my head for some reason.