Hey Scotty my name is Elias and I'm thinking of buying an Ex-service/commercially used (1995-2000) Toyota Carina/(corona?) E 1.6 XLI 1995 Manual privately with 90k miles on the clock, 63k of which were from the first five years. I'm gonna go have a look at the car this Tuesday and I wanna know what I need to look out for with this car if anything.
To detail everything I know about the vehicle:
I'm from Norway and I found a listing of this Carina for about 2650 American dollars, which to me sounds like more money than my local currency, but nevertheless, I found that the milage clock had been tampered with back in 2000 by a Toyota dealership according to the sellers who I asked. This was because it was initially a commercial vehicle and the clock was reset before selling it for private use. Whether that means it was a taxi or something else I don't know, but the lady who bought it and has owned it to this day was made aware of this fact when she bought it. With this in mind it has gone a total of 90000 miles but deceptively shows 27500 miles on the mileage clock meaning 62500 miles was from its first five years. It hasn't been used for the last 7 years by its owner, but loaned to their family from time to time and serviced as far as oil changes and such which is as much as I know about that. It's been parked in a garage which is such a bonus in Norway.
I'd be happy to hear from anyone who wants to weigh in!
My best regards from Norway,
Elias.
Are you able to deal with the needs of a car that old?
Depends on what the needs of a car that old is, which I'd be happy to know. Financially I think I could cover anything that I won't be able to repair myself. I know it's old but my friend has a Carina II from 1987 that hasn't failed him so that's where I derive my confidence in the car from. That and Scotty's confidence in Toyotas in general.
Mainly deterioration in rubber parts (fuel system, brakes, seals) and general wear and tear over the decades. You can certainly drive a car that old and older (I do) but for most people it's not going to work out well, especially if they need to run to a mechanic ever time something goes wrong.
I'm from Norway
Why not something like an old tank, err, I meant Volvo?
