04 corolla 1.4 petrol with big miles

gooner99

Hi.I checked out a 04 corolla hatch with a 1.4 vvti engine.It has 170k miles on the clock.I followed the buying guide from here.

Sold by a small dealer.taken as a trade in.all his other stock were newer cars

Bodywork very clean for its age with no signs of damage or rust. Panels all nice and straight and aligned. Also no sign of rust on cills or arches.

No sign of damage in engine bay or new wings. again no sign of damage in boot and spare and tools present.

Interior in very good shape as well for its age.looks like the car was minded. No lights staying on and everything working.

Oil in good shape with the correct qty. He said that they can burn some as we know,but he serviced it for the last 5 years and it wasn't burning.I know we can all say that.anyway there were no signs of oil spills around the filler and engine cover which I guess is a good sign. No rattles from the chain or engine, seemed to run smooth.

Took it for a good long spin.started no probs from cold.driving nice and smooth with no cabin rattles.gear change nice and smooth and reving well through the gears.braking in a nice straight line.restarted no problem when heated up.

My only worry is the miles.on one hand you could say they are high,but on the other you could say they are average for its age. Should I be worried or could it possibly be taken as a sign that the engine has been treated pretty well to make it that far and may not have suffered from oil starvation or overfill.maybe the oil burning problem wasn't as bad on that vintage vvti.what do you guys with knowledge think?

gooner99

Forgot to mention, I checked the change of ownership website and it showed up that there were none.

MarkR

gooner99 wrote: »

Forgot to mention, I checked the change of ownership website and it showed up that there were none.

Is there a service history? Wife has a 06 one. Very reliable.

Toyotafanboi

I just recently sold my 04 1.4 petrol with 155k miles on it. They take wear very well, genuinely it drove better than cars with half that mileage. Although most say the vvti isn't as good as its predecessors, it's still a very decent engine and if you keep it serviced, there's no reason why you couldn't do that mileage again in it. Using a good quality oil in mine and i never had to top it up between 5k mile oil changes.

nagel

driving an late 02 with 240k miles using about 1/2 litre oil between changes,
if i keep sons out of it, 44mpg. original clutch changed at 230k

bazz26

MarkR wrote: »

Is there a service history? Wife has a 06 one. Very reliable.

Very unlikely you will find an 11 year old car in this country with a full service history, partial at best I'd say.

gooner99

Thanks for the replies.

sounds like a decent engine once given a bit of care.I'd not be afraid of it myself as i have a gofl with the so called soft 1.4 in it approaching 170k miles and never missed a beat engine wise.again serviced at the correct intervals with the right oil.

155k and 240k miles sounds impressive.still on the original chain?

bazz26

Chains in theory are designed to last the lifetime of the engine.

gooner99

bazz26 wrote: »

Very unlikely you will find an 11 year old car in this country with a full service history, partial at best I'd say.

Dont think there is any of note.may be some early history as she is a uk car,must check.there are the usual stickers under the bonnet of different age/wear.this guy serviced it for the last 5 or so years.as Bazz says its probably the best you can hope for.

gooner99

bazz26 wrote: »

Chains in theory are designed to last the lifetime of the engine.

True but I've seem to read that many either need to be changed or are being changed for peace of mind on a lot of modern cars.i take it these are rare failures on the vvti's?

bazz26

They are not known for chain failure but it's more likely on a car that hasn't been serviced properly over the years.

allthedoyles

One of our cars is a '00 toyota Corolla 1.3 and it is so reliable that we want to keep it forever .

Virtually maintenmance free , with a regular service .

Over 200k on the clock

Toyotafanboi

i'd echo that mpg too, mine would easily see 40mpg or a little more on a run. Mid 30's around town.

gooner99

Mpg sounds good.

Yeah i know those 1.3's.had one myself before.only for eu emmision rules they'd possibly still be making them.

ourheritage

Just googled high mileage Toyota Corolla's, and there is a guy in Jacksonville that clocked up a whopping 603,500 on his Corolla in the space of five years.

gooner99

ourheritage wrote: »

Just googled high mileage Toyota Corolla's, and there is a guy in Jacksonville that clocked up a whopping 603,500 on his Corolla in the space of five years.

Impressive.but id say that wont be a 1.3 or a 1.4 vvti.