Toyota Corolla 1.6 liftback

I freely admit that I am not one of Nature’s most gifted DIY experts. When it comes to cars, my expertise is even less trustworthy than my kitchen-shelf installations and whole teams of mechanics have made a good living trying to put right my incompetent tinkering. So when it came to replacing our very basic Ford Escort, my first criterion had to be reliability on the grounds that I would not feel tempted to dive beneath the bonnet to tinker with, or otherwise impair, the smooth running of the engine. (Actually, if you want the exact truth, the first thing I checked on all the cars I looked at ... more

having owned several corollas over the years, in various guises, i have allways found them good, hard wearing, reliable cars. this latest one, however, whilst being a vast update on the previous models, is still haunted by the fact that it's seen as the 'boring' option. in saying that, not everyone wants a high performance speed machine (especially with the cost of rip-off insurance) and for many the corolla is the ideal choice. let's face it, it has a good, economical (if slightly underpowered) engine, it's ergonomics are well thought out and it has all the creature comforts you are really ... more

I bought this car nearly 3 years ago, on a K plate (1993). It's a great car, I’ve only had to replace 2 parts in nearly 3 years which is pretty good going. It’s nice to drive and it’s not very difficult to keep it looking nice. And you can fit an enormous amount of stuff in it. The problems are that it needs servicing at embarrassingly regular intervals (6000 miles or 6 months) and when you do get it serviced the parts are very expensive. (I don't go to a toyota dealer so i don't know how expensive it would be that way). The other thing is that it is strangely high in the insurance group (12 ... more

Toyota is the greatest manufacturer in the World - is this so? Well they've certainly made some really good cars - that have sold VERY well indeed - with brilliant reliability - and service the company is one of the largest around. The Toyota Corolla is the WORLD'S best selling car - it has sold the most - through it's 10 + different model styles - all of which are Completely Average - the Best Average car in the world I say. The Corolla has even outsold the Beetle, the Mini and all other models! ... more