Decent, Reliable, Cheap Daily?

[R32_GTR_GODZILLA]

im with every one that said corollas im a mechanic work on them all the time never have major dramas just minor one sometimes

i owed 1990 corolla first car me and my brother drove it for 150xxx never change oil coolant nothing lol and it did many of good rollback skids great cars and cheap

[Galois]

I'm a fan of corollas and camrys for reliability and being generally decent cars, but I'm a bit picky. The gf is still on her L's (ie really inexperienced) so I'm very keen on a car with abs and airbags, and the camrys and corollas in the price range with those are very few. We commute between Sydney and Newcastle regularly due to families and friends, work and uni being all over the place, so she'll no doubt be doing long stints early on on her P's.

A bit pedantic, but I remember what a tool I was on my P's in the parents camry. I also needed the abs in my r34 to avoid some fools on the road in pouring rain last week, which was a really keen reminder of why they're so useful.

What's your opinion on magnas mate? The 1996-2003 ones actually have a better ancap rating than the more recent ones (random), that's beside the point tho.

Also after your opinion mad: how's it on fuel? Did you run it on e10?

Are the spark plugs as much of a pain to change as people say? I'm guessing oil is plain old 20w50?

Thanks, appreciate it

Edited August 8, 2010 by Galois

[pipster11]

couple of my mates had magnas with the 3.5 v6 (one auto 'sports" and one manual 'vrx')

think they used to average between 10-12 and about 8 on the highway

if your gonna get a corolla aim for one from 2002 onwards

my mum drives an 03 one, had it from brand new and not a problem with it yet (touch wood)

manual ones will be about $8k now, great cars but the auto is a bit gutless at speed

[mad082]

I'm a fan of corollas and camrys for reliability and being generally decent cars, but I'm a bit picky. The gf is still on her L's (ie really inexperienced) so I'm very keen on a car with abs and airbags, and the camrys and corollas in the price range with those are very few. We commute between Sydney and Newcastle regularly due to families and friends, work and uni being all over the place, so she'll no doubt be doing long stints early on on her P's.

A bit pedantic, but I remember what a tool I was on my P's in the parents camry. I also needed the abs in my r34 to avoid some fools on the road in pouring rain last week, which was a really keen reminder of why they're so useful.

What's your opinion on magnas mate? The 1996-2003 ones actually have a better ancap rating than the more recent ones (random), that's beside the point tho.

Also after your opinion mad: how's it on fuel? Did you run it on e10?

Are the spark plugs as much of a pain to change as people say? I'm guessing oil is plain old 20w50?

Thanks, appreciate it

ran the second one on e10 with no problems. as far as fuel economy goes, depends on how you drive. when i went to the drags (about a 550km round trip) i averaged under 10L/100kms (was about 9.4 i think). could get about 8.9 on trips if i drive sensibly and sat on the speed limit. even just 5km/h over on the highway would bump it up a bit. round town was a different story. if i took it sensibly then it was usually mid 12's to low 13's, if i fanged it then it was in the 15's to 16's. i should point out though that most of my driving is short trips (generally all less than 5kms), so even driving like a grandma i'll still get worse economy than someone who drives further because by the time i get to where i'm going the car is only just starting to come off cold start enrichment.

as for the spark plugs, the rears are platinums or idiriums and generally only need to be changed at the 100,000km service or something like that (might be 50,000kms, can't remember). the plenum isn't that hard to take off to do the rear plugs. i was able to take the plenum off and change both rocker cover gaskets in under 3 hours, which involved a bit of dicking around. i think that just to do the plugs would probably only take an hour, probably less.

for oil you can use whatever you want really. i think the recommended oil weight is similar to that of a skyline (and most other modern cars) of 7.5w30. so you can use 5w30 or 10w40 or anything like that.

[mad082]

couple of my mates had magnas with the 3.5 v6 (one auto 'sports" and one manual 'vrx')

think they used to average between 10-12 and about 8 on the highway

if your gonna get a corolla aim for one from 2002 onwards

my mum drives an 03 one, had it from brand new and not a problem with it yet (touch wood)

manual ones will be about $8k now, great cars but the auto is a bit gutless at speed

my sister has an 06 corolla and it's an auto and i'm pleasantly suprised with how well it goes. my mother has a 2000 model corolla manual and it's a nice car as well. i prefer the missus SSS to drive than both of them though. ride is much better, as are the seats, as is the performance.

[slicktop]

All I'll say is stay away from Celicas - more of a costly nightmare to work on than you care imagine!

[mad082]

aaaaaaahahaha, that's going to go down well on this forum.....

[Galois]

On the magna front, looking at test driving some this week. Is the auto in the magnas ok? There aren't exactly heaps of manuals around. I do want to test drive both though, but any advice is always good

[Longz]

toyota starlet very good very cheap very reliable !

[GTR-N1]

The gf is still on her L's (ie really inexperienced) so I'm very keen on a car with abs and airbags, and the camrys and corollas in the price range with those are very few. We commute between Sydney and Newcastle regularly due to families and friends, work and uni being all over the place, so she'll no doubt be doing long stints early on on her P's.

What's your opinion on magnas mate? The 1996-2003 ones actually have a better ancap rating than the more recent ones (random), that's beside the point tho.

You get a lot of safety gear in a Magna, and you can get Magnas very cheaply second-hand.

I'd compare it to the Maxima though, because they depreciate a lot too and have all the safety gear.

See howsafeisyourcar.com.au ANCAP for '06 Maxima is 4/5

Auto trans. seems to be good on both of above.

[Galois]

Yeah, but they don't come with abs and airbags, not much really does below 5k, apart from magnas lol. Seeing as my partner will drive it most and she's not yet on her red p's i want her in a safe car. Abs has helped me out quite a few times over the years.

[GTR-N1]

My mother's '97 Maxima GV has airbags and abs. She's going to keep it, because it only has 65000kms on odo. It's worth less than $5K.

Some other elderly people might want to offload theirs. Engine is better than a Magna's

[pipster11]

magna auto boxes are ok

my mate has a "sports" v6 with the 5 speed tiptronic

he says its starting to feel a but sloppy tho, but he's been saying that for the last few years

his has been doing him well for ages now (it was his first car and he is about 21 now) gets pretty good fuel consumption for a 3.5 v6 too

[mad082]

the 4 speed autos are a pretty tall geared car, so they are no racer in the traffic light grand prix, but they aren't too bad.

[Grey89Godzilla]

I just wrote off our diahatsu Terrios. Done 200k and never had a single problem with it. We gave it a very hard life, bush bashing, be lucky if we changed the oil every 40k - Even towed a caravan 2000 kilometers. It was unkillable (well almost)

[Willis]

Airbags and ABS is over-rated IMO, and reduces the selection of budget cars significantly. I'm not saying they don't work by the way, it's just how often do you crash? And when you do, how often would an airbag have helped .. now-days seatbelts prevent your head destroying the wheel providing you don't drive with your seat too far foward?

Just my 2c, lower your standards and you'll find something epic.

+1 corolla..

[Mayuri Krab]

Corolla.

[Ten Four]

Have not gone through thread but sisters sr20de auto s13 cost 2.5k, probly spent up to 3.5k on it doing major service, new tyres and etc - never put a foot wrong. 9l/100km anywhere and everywhere - 10l if you hurt it

[Galois]

Airbags and ABS is over-rated IMO, and reduces the selection of budget cars significantly. I'm not saying they don't work by the way, it's just how often do you crash? And when you do, how often would an airbag have helped .. now-days seatbelts prevent your head destroying the wheel providing you don't drive with your seat too far foward?

ABS and airbags only have to save you once to be worth it. As I said above, the reason I want these is because my L plater gf will be driving the car most of the time, and she'll be doing long drives early on.

Corolla would def be the way to go if I could find a cheap and safe one.

There are heaps of 3L magnas around with abs and airbags for less than 3k.

[iamhe77]

ABS and airbags only have to save you once to be worth it. As I said above, the reason I want these is because my L plater gf will be driving the car most of the time, and she'll be doing long drives early on.

Corolla would def be the way to go if I could find a cheap and safe one.

There are heaps of 3L magnas around with abs and airbags for less than 3k.

Go the 3.5L V6 Magna. They are effortless to drive and are very happy cruising, but are equally good in stop-start.

My wife has the 4-speed tiptronic TJ and it handles the daily grind with ease (she drives 30mins highway to and from work each day).

They are very, very easy to service (I use Mobil 1 4w40 and Nulon 100% synthetic ATF) and are very reliable - although the head unit in our froze, but is very, very easy to replace.

Plugs are pretty easy to replace as Mad said. I just chucking a set of iridiums in both banks so set-and-forget for about 120,000kms or so.

Only negative is that they have considerable understeer at speed.

Edited September 20, 2010 by iamhe77