My last update indicated that my garage had gotten some new members, partly due to necessity and partly due to my seeming inability to keep cars for long. Well, the first of these was certainly driven by pure necessity, given the state of things in my country at the time. At this point in early 2022, things were looking problematic, especially when it came to the availability of fuel, as fuel stations were constantly running short, and lines were starting to get longer. When it seemed like the E30 had found a serious buyer, I started looking at options to ensure that my family would be mobile in a fuel shortage. The Mazda 2 needed premium fuel and while the Surf ran on regular petrol, it was pretty thirsty and anyway whether petrol would actually be available was looking like a concern. So I figured something diesel-powered, economical, and cheap would be the most useful. Part of the reasoning was that standard diesel, being used for public and goods transport, would probably be the fuel that would be available for the longest. A bit of looking around led to the conclusion that a diesel Toyota Corolla would be the best choice I could make in the circumstances. They had an excellent reputation as being capable of taking abuse and basically any shade tree mechanic could keep them going. Even CC seems to agree with this, with plenty of stories over the years confirming their good reputation.
So the day the E30 was collected, I took some of the proceeds with me and took a cab to see a likely candidate, this particular 1989 station wagon (or “van” if we use the JDM description of this particular spec). It wasn’t a minter by any means, with some visible surface rust, flat paint, and some fender benders that had been repaired but not painted. On the plus side, it seemed solid underneath and the test drive revealed nothing concerning. The owner needed funds in a hurry so he was open to negotiation and I got it for what I considered a decent price, but it was by no means a bargain because demand for cheap diesel cars was starting to increase due to what was in the wind (and I don’t mean their tailpipe emissions!)
The drive home was about 50 kilometres, and the car made it back without any issues, but I booked it into a workshop to have a thorough going over. The previous owner had used it as a daily driver and claimed he maintained it as best he could, but I assumed it would need at least a little bit of work. It took them a couple of days to be done with the inspection, which was concerning and the reason it took so long was revealed when the estimate arrived: it was quite a LOT. Corollas are renowned for their ability to keep running with deferred maintenance, and it appeared that quite a lot of maintenance on this car had indeed been deferred! It needed basically every suspension component, along with brake work, oil seals, wiring, a new radiator, and several other things besides. The good news was that the engine and transmission were in generally good health, and there didn’t appear to be any severe structural corrosion. So I gave them the go-ahead for repairs, which ended up costing about one-third the purchase price of the car, and within a couple of weeks, the Corolla was ready to roll.
Once it was out of the shop, I started getting acquainted with basic motoring, early 90s style. This car (which was christened “Roland the Rat ‘Rolla) is a JDM import and is about as basic as Corollas could get back then, which is to say a fair bit more spartan than even base model examples in the US. About the only thing that Roland has that could be considered a convenience is air conditioning (basically an essential fitment in our tropical climate). The windows are hand cranks, the mirrors need to be adjusted by hand, and it had no central locking (though I got a system fitted out of necessity), or even power steering! The only gauges in the instrument cluster are the speedometer and fuel and temperature dials, even a clock was only fitted to trim levels higher up than this “DX” (which apparently stands for deluxe, go figure!). Upper trim levels of this generation had padded vinyl door panels and nicely trimmed seats but in this case, it’s all painted metal and base level vinyl. It’s all extremely durable though, even with nearly 400,000 Km on the clock the interior trim is in basically the same shape it would have been in around 1994.
As you can see, I’m not kidding about it being spartan. Even the high-trim GL doesn’t really have anything much!
Under the faded hood is a 1.8 litre, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder diesel (called the 1C-II by Toyota). When new it put 64 Bhp at 4700 rpm and 87 lb/ft at 2600 rpm to the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox. Even after all these miles under its wheels, the little diesel still doesn’t seem to have lost much of that small stable. Roland honestly feels a fair bit livelier than the on-paper figures would suggest, in fact. No doubt the fact that it weighs under a ton contributes, but the little Corolla does not feel particularly slow, especially at everyday speeds. The engine seems to be in good health overall, with not much smoke even under hard acceleration, and no vital fluids leaking or anything of the sort. The manual box is also fairly pleasant to use, with a short throw and precise action. The unassisted steering is direct and responsive when on the move, but a bit of a nightmare in tight places and when parking. The driving experience is not at all unpleasant, although it certainly isn’t particularly refined, with a lot of engine noise at all speeds and a fair amount of vibration.
I don’t particularly want to revisit the specifics of how we got through 2022, other than to say I’m grateful to have at least had the resources to keep my family fed, housed, and mobile, which is more than quite a lot of my fellow Sri Lankans could manage during that terrible year, but the Corolla certainly did everything that was asked of it and demanded nothing much in return. When driven gently, it can return astonishing fuel economy, routinely managing 15 or more kilometers per liter of diesel in the city. The ability to do 600 Kilometers or more on a full tank (42 Litres) was a lifesaver during times when we were lucky to get 15 litres of fuel after waiting in line for a full day, you can be sure. I was right in assuming that diesel would be available longer than petrol, but it too ran out and we had one entire month where there was no fuel in fuel stations country-wide! Thinking about it now, it honestly seems like a half-remembered nightmare, but it actually happened, and barely a year ago at that.
No matter how outsized the load, the little Corolla would somehow lug it!
Anyway, thanks to the intervention of friendly countries and the International Monetary Fund, things started to turn for the better towards the end of 2022, and by now we are back to some semblance of normalcy. Roland is still technically owned by me, but I haven’t had it in my physical possession for a couple of months as a friend of mine has been using it while his small fleet of older euro cars breaks down in interesting and creative ways. He likes it enough that he has made me an offer and will take it off my hands sometime soon. Basic it may be, but it certainly isn’t a penalty box, and it was definitely the right car to have on hand at a very difficult time. The only thing that prevented it from being absolutely perfect was the lack of power steering, because parking and tight spaces really can be a bit of a chore.
So thanks, Roland, long may you keep rolling on!
I always have enjoyed your posts, sir, in part perhaps – I say a bit sheepishly – because I know so little about your country, despite living in another one where there are many, many ex-patriate Sri Lankans (Australia, Melbourne specifically). I’m very glad to hear you and yours have got through the horror of 2022 more-or-less intact.
The stellar reputation of Toyotas is absolutely earned, but it must be said, it’s also a bit exaggerated. I’m not remotely surprised to hear of a diesel Corolla and its gearbox getting 400k (250K miles), but ANY car in ordinary service over such time will need the refurbishment of the type you describe here. Rubber is rubber, and the job of holding wheels onto a road is tough. If not done gradually over time, it will eventually need to be.
Toyotas are for sure quite excellent at coping with deferred maintenance because the maker long ago worked out how to build with quality for the same price as competitors, but nothing that bounces or jumps about or moves in space generally underneath is going to last forever. I suspect the previous owner of your car wasn’t even lying to you: it’s just that it’s not till things are closely looked at with the idea of making the car closer to as good as it can be that this sort of neglect shows up.
It happens here as well, when someone goes to sell their car, which needs a Roadworthy Certificate (same an UK MOT). My current 20 y.o. banger is perfectly safe and fine, but would need an uneconomical amount spent to get it to a Roadworthy.
+1 on Sri Lankans in Melbourne. I went through college with one.
Ah, the wonders of deferred maintanance and roadworthy inspections. When I went to sell my old car I found my local rural garage had two levels of maintenance: service as done for their regulars (moi), and service to roadworthy standard. They probably wouldn’t get away with that now. When you’ve been driving an old banger for years you don’t notice the gradual deterioration in bushings and such (well, I didn’t) as they hadn’t got to the point of making a noise. (Or, like the seat back, collapsing.) It was only when somebody else got in to drive it and commented that I realized anything was wrong. Or when they handed me a two page list of Things Gone Wrong.
Peter, you raise an interesting point about how we can gradually get used to stuff that is wrong with our cars, until we just forget about them. For those of us who like cars and pay attention, we can usually catch issues and fix them, but for the average user, they might not even notice until something actually breaks.
This can be a real headache for a later owner who tries to go through the car and get stuff fixed, as I found out with a later COAL.
Australia certainly has a pretty large share of my countrymen, and that share seems to increase every year. I’m told some parts of Melbourne and Sydney are so thick with them that they have practically become suburbs of Colombo!
Thank you for the good wishes, we were much more blessed than most families.
On the subject of Corollas, they are basically a cultural touchstone over here, being the default family car for many and the obvious choice for the vast majority of the population. Unfortunately the vast majority also tend to ignore basic maintenance and benefit from the Corolla’s ability to tolerate this. For most of them it isn’t even malicious, just pure ignorance.
I wish we had roadworthy inspections, that would make the car market a lot better in the long run.
Glad to hear things are returning (towards) normal in SL. A friend and I were just discussing the advantages of a cheap used car vs a new car and while there are many it’s rare that the cheap used car doesn’t need anything and just provides the same level of carefree motoring, often rather displaying as a constant and time consiuming drip, drip, drip of things to be addressed sooner or later or just taken care of in one large fell swoop as you did. Either way, they aren’t perpetual motion machines.
That being said, a Corolla diesel wagon would seem to be one of the better choices in the low cost/high reliability/longevity trifecta. We here had the opposite, there was a bit of diesel shortage last year that has mostly gone by the wayside with current diesel prices often lower than gasoline prices (which is not the historical norm here). My wife had the gasser sedan version of this Corolla in high school and I drove it several times after those years as it was passed down to her sister. It left an impression of durability and some kind of charm on me to the point that I *still* look at Corollas fondly today and keep getting ever closer to owning one myself. And I positively swoon over the current not-sold-in-North-America wagon hybrid version, it seems some sort of automotive perfection. Especially in the metallic brown.
Anyway, carry on, and hopefully things keep on improving like the Corolla seems to, generation after generation.
Thanks Jim, things are certainly a lot better now, so much so in fact that this time last year seems more like a badly remembered dream at times.
Since new cars are not an option over here, we’re pretty much stuck with used, so keeping them fixed is big business. I tend to take the “fix everything” approach to my old cars, but this can end up getting quite expensive, as I found out with a couple of COALs that are to come.
Late 1980s and early ’90s basic cars hold a lot of appeal for this very reason – they’re modern enough to be suitable for daily transportation, but they’re simple enough to be the last thing running in difficult times. My wife and I occasionally talk about her parents’ mid-1990s Jeep Wrangler in the same regard, that even if things end up going very badly, that Jeep will still be able to provide transportation.
I’m glad you were able to find this car. Even with all of the repairs, it seems that the Corolla more than paid for itself.
And I love those JDM brochure images that show a half-dozen or more trim variations for the same car. Here in the US, we’re lucky if we get two or three trim levels.
You’re right Eric, I would suggest that cars made upto the mid 2000’s should also qualify as they are still relatively uncomplicated while making significant leaps in safety and emissions etc.
Japanese trim levels are worthy of several articles unto themselves. It honestly boggles the mind that so many were available for every car model.
Good choice for the job at hand.
I used to tell myself that if my life fell totally apart and I lost everything, I’d look for an old Corolla wagon to get me through. The ironic thing is that my xB is now just about 20 years old, so I’m driving one already!
Regarding the work you had to have done for inspections: since we don’t have any, the old Corollas here just get driven until something actually fails, which of course is on average less often than most other cars, hence their popularity for this type of use.
Glad you and your family got through the difficult period reasonably well.
Thanks Paul. You really can’t go too far wrong with a Corolla wagon, honestly.
I fear I might not have been clear on this; we don’t actually have inspections here in SL, which means most cars are run until something breaks, and usually run some more even with that thing broken too! But whenever I buy a car I like to have it taken to a shop and given a full inspection so that I have a decent idea of whether it is hiding anything. This has mostly helped me make good buying decisions, but sometimes even that isn’t quite enough.
What a great choice in your circumstances! The one thing that surprised me a little is your fuel mileage – I calculated it at about 35 US miles per gallon. Years ago my sister owned a couple of diesel VWs and they were good for up to 45 mpg (86 Golf) or even 50 mpg (81 Rabbit). But then again, they had not racked up the number of miles that are on your Toyota, and they also did not have air conditioning. With air and the miles/kms on your car, that mileage is actually pretty good the longer I think about it.
There is a freedom that comes with driving an old beater like this Toyota. My 07 Honda Fit (Jazz elsewhere) is teetering on the brink of that status. Not caring about bumps and scrapes is a real luxury. And if/when the apocalypse arrives, it won’t matter how good your car looks if it doesn’t start and run every single time without a lot of bother.
I’ve always wondered why fuel figures we get and those in other countries vary so wildly. My theory is that most driving here is low speed, stop-start with a lot of idling, and of course with air conditioning on basically all the time. This probably is the reason our cars do less on fuel than the same car would in the US or Europe.
You’re spot on about the freedom an old beater brings too. It’s really nice not have to worry about cosmetics and just go ahead and get the job done.
Fun to read a perspective on Corolla wagons from the other side of the world. We had a ‘93, the subsequent generation, and gasoline/petrol as we’re in the US. Purchased new and without A/C which we added. The roll down windows and non-central locking were interesting. Some our kids’ friends had never seen window cranks and didn’t know how to use them (this in the late ‘90’s). And when I took my colleagues out to lunch, they would just leave the car without locking their door, assuming I would just touch a button. We didn’t get a car with a remote fob until 2 years later.
I always figured that an old Corolla wagon would be the ultimate tool, but I had no idea I would end up liking it as much as I do. Not going to lie, the basic-ness took some getting used to, but it has charm to it. The only thing I’d do differently is probably get one with power steering, if I had to do it again. Also the generation after this one is a significantly more refined car, and feels quite modern even today.
I enjoyed this one. For somewhat similar reasons i replaced my car with a very different 80s diesel. Incredibly simple and durable like the Corolla but my 85 300D is a bit more on the bougie spectrum.
That said, the lack of central locking confuses many of my passengers. Even many basic economy cars have had that standard for a while now. And the manual driver’s mirror is also seldom seen now.
Picture didn’t attach
That’s a lovely car you’ve got there. I very much like the W123 and W124 myself!
Glad to hear you made ot through 2022 alright .
This is an interesting car and one that I think would be very popular here now in So. Cal. with the old Japanese car enthusiasts .
-Nate
Thanks Nate, managed to get through it relatively unscathed, so I’m very thankful for that.
It really is an interesting car, basic transport at its finest.
Sometimes I regret trading in my 1993 Corolla wagon, which I bought new and drove for 28 years. While my current 2022 Subaru Forester meets my transportation needs, has ample driving aids and safety features, and is pleasant to drive, I miss the simplicity of the Corolla – not to mention the manual transmission which is no longer available on the Forester.
It’s interesting that you mention the Subaru Forester, because one of those will feature in this series soon, albeit a much older one than yours.
Coronas came in that basic trim but with power steering on the diesels and a 2C engine I had one it just kept going in quite terrible condition Toyota used Bosch injector pumps on a licence agreement when that ran out they cloned it with a couple of changes, I had my one apart to fix some seals it was raining diesel when warm and the offending seals could not be reached with it in the car that and a cambelt and front engineseal are about all I did to it oh and the L/H CV joint but the car was in a damaged/endof life vehicle auction so I wasnt expecting much for my $300.
Sounds like you got your money’s worth with the old Corona. “End of Life” is not a concept that exists over here, cars will keep going until they literally fall to pieces, and then those pieces will probably be used to keep other cars going!