With $4000 to spend, I'd go to the closest junk yard, hang around the crusher and make an offer before they do the deed.  Or better yet, see if you can find Salvation Army or Goodwill car sales that people have donated to them.

Find something on Craigslist for $2000 and use the other $2000 to make it roadworthy

Look for cosmetic damage that doesn’t affect the safety and stability of the car (think hail damage). But avoid salvage titles and flood cars unless you REALLY know what you’re doing (in which case, you wouldn’t be asking here).

$4000....probably not going to get you either. If anything, a seriously worn out and abused Corolla that, like @Doc said, is probably crusher-bound.

Double that to $8000 and you MAY find something. But in this market, with $4k....no.

Emmm nothing that I’d suggest buying.

What I’ve been doing previously and what has been working out for me is finding relatively low mileage MK2/MK3 focus with a DuraTec HE and a MANUAL they’re not terrible and are relatively cheap (but in today’s market? Prices on those also might have also went up) - still better than a 25 year old non-roadworthy car.

but as far as Toyotas… I don’t think you’ll fine one for that cheap that’s roadworthy.

Working within a $4k budget is very difficult right now.

If that's all I had to work with, I would first start off by using the advanced search on the following site:

https://www.autotempest.com/

Using the advanced search engine and a $4k maximum budget for a Corolla, you can see the vehicles that are currently being sold in that price range.

I see a lot of cars with over 200,000 miles available for that price.

I would suggest staying away from all dealerships, and concentrate on private party sales only.

You may also need to expand your search distance from your location for a wider selection of available vehicles, and be willing to travel a bit to find a car that fits your needs.

i just sold a 2005 Corolla for $4000

bought it for 2000, cost me 1800 to make it safe to drive, and still needed some work lol

you can still find a fair deal, but you have to know what you want and be quick