The Toyota Corolla has been one of the world’s best-selling nameplates for decades now. It has an enduring and well-earned reputation for quality and reliability. Anecdotally speaking, Corollas seem to be built to last because there are so bloody many old ones still around!
I speak especially of Corollas from the 1980s and 1990s. During those decades, there were plenty of other small cars that sold well. Good luck finding them in the same numbers as old Corollas.
This Seca CSX liftback was one of the pricier of the E80 generation; the Seca name debuted on this generation and has been used since then to denote a liftback (or later, hatchback) Corolla.
In Australia, the Corolla has long been a regular podium finisher in the sales race, duking it out for the top spot with the Mazda3 most months. While Mazdas sell like hotcakes now, enough to make them the number two brand in Australia in recent months, they have always been relatively popular. Despite this, 323s of the 1980s and 1990s are far less ubiquitous than their contemporaries from Toyota.
The 1982-86 Nissan Pulsar and its twin, the Holden Astra? Pretty much extinct. The following generation of Pulsar is also getting rare. Conversely, both the E80 and E90 generations of Corolla are daily sightings in Brisbane.
The 1988 Mitsubishi Lancer (Mirage)? Can’t find many of those around. Their predecessor in Australia, the 1982-89 Colt, has completely disappeared from our roads. They were assembled locally, just like the Corolla, but was the Toyota assembled with more care?
Ford’s Mazda 323-based Laser was a hot seller during the 1980s and early 1990s, but those 80s models are starting to disappear from our roads. The early 1990s model, almost identical to the contemporary US Escort, is still relatively common. You can’t go anywhere without spotting an early 1990s Corolla, though.
What is also striking is how few truly dilapidated Corollas seem to be around, with even 1980s examples generally featuring paint jobs that haven’t faded badly. This E90 sedan is a rare exception.
This is a common sight: a well-kept example with aftermarket plastic wheelcovers and naff pinstriping.
While the bulk of Corolla sales were lower trim levels, you can still spy uplevel models like this Seca CSX….
…and the occasional all-wheel-drive wagon.
A lot of Corollas were well-loved family cars that were passed down to children. Some of these Corollas may be on their third, fourth, maybe even fifth owners by now and are still providing faithful service. No, they may not have ever been the most exciting cars, but for people who value reliability and dependability, the Corolla has been a sensible choice for decades.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1991-95 Nissan Pulsar
I’ve been sitting out the discussion this week, having never owned a Toyota (nor has anyone in my immediate family), but your lead photo reminded me of having that very version Corolla as a rental car while working at Norfolk Naval Shipyard back around 1985 or so installing sensors and controls for a base-wide energy management and control system designed by the engineering firm I worked at to pay for college.
The main thing I remember was the pop-out rear quarter windows being cable-operated from levers in the center console. Other than that, and the AM radio not working in the tunnels under the nav channel, it got us around okay.
These cars are also hard to find in many parts of the U.S. A Corolla built prior to 1995 is a rarity, just like it’s “contemporaries”.
I visited a Toyota dealer about 7-10 years ago to “test drive” an early 90s Corolla. Having owned a 1989 Civic 4 door I was amazed that a similar sized car was so cramped behind the steering wheel. Toyota (stubbornly?) resisted lengthening the wheelbase beyond 95-96 inches for several generations of the Corolla, I think it was only in the most recent 2 generations that it got into the realm of 100 inches. To me, that relegates all Corollas to “womens cars”.
Honda Civic sedans since the 8th gen. have 106″ wheelbase, which used to be typical of Detroit compacts. No wonder it has good rear legroom compared to early Civics. The E170 Corolla & Mazda 3 have also reached that figure, so it must be the new std. for that vehicle class.
The version at the top, in both sedan and hatch, was also built and sold in the US as the Chevrolet Nova.
I had an ’85. Bought it for $500, drove it for 6 months, sold it for $500.
Sold as Holden Novas in Australia too the Camry 4 became the Holden Appollo, no such badge engineering in NZ but the range of Corollas is vast compared to Aussie supplemented by ship loads of ex JDM used examples, they are literally everywhere, I bought a 89 a couple of years ago it had been sitting in a friends driveway for 18months unused fresh charge in the battery and it started straight away and ran fine turned out to be a NZ assembly XL 5 door with stiffer suspension and wider tyres than Japanese and it handled really well 1300cc engine and 5 speed manual, no powerhouse but it kept up with traffic easily, sold it for a grand it kept its new owner mobile for 18 months or so before failed WOF inspection sidelined it.
Close. The E90 and E100 series Corolla were also rebadged as Holden Novas, but there was no Holden-badged E80 as Holden instead rebadged the Nissan Pulsar to create the Astra, using Holden engines.
Your right about the Nissan Astra preceding the Toyota Novas but Holden only designed the grille they had Nissan engines just a pure rebadge no GMH imput at all.
Incorrect, Bryce. From 1987-89, the Astra (and even the Aussie-market Pulsar) used the Family II 1.6 and 1.8 four-cylinder engines.
The ’84-87 Astra and Pulsar did, however, use Nissan engines.
Tin worm has claimed the 1988-92 era in the past 6 years, here in Capital of Rustland, therw were quite a few til then.
The 1998-2002, with the spacey tailights are hanging in there, but many getting banged up in hard use. To me these were last ones to have “character”, the 2003-now Corollas are like computers, just point and click.
“for people who value reliability and dependability, the Corolla has been a sensible choice for decades.”
Fully agreed.
We had an ’89 Geo Prizm 4 door hatch back, same as Corolla. We bought it used and had it for 7 years or so, mostly doing local trips. We had only minor things go wrong until the end. After selling it in 2006 it went at least another year. Then I lost sight of it.
My brother in Germany had the 2 door hatch back also for a long time and at high km readings, that included autobahn duty. He then bought another Corolla, this time the 4 door station wagon.
I myself drive 10 year old permutation of the Corolla. It’s a Pontiac Vibe. It looks great and runs like new. It even has a little bit of personality.
A friend of mine deals with used cars and he said he can’t keep Corolla, Matrix and Vibe on the lot. They sell right away.
Ive been asked on facebook a few times by people who know nothing about cars, what should they buy? The answer is always pick a Toyota you like the look of drive it and if thats ok buy one, Its hard to pick a truly bad model. Ugly yep especially amongst the ex JDM weirdly named cars we have now but they all seem to function reliably.
Old Corollas are dirt cheap down here. It’s got to the point where even the AE100 are below $1K.
Finding an AE80 nowadays is hard. They mostly have 300K+ kms. Finding one like the first picture with M/T and 16V is even harder. Slightly less with the little hatch.
But yes, there are still plenty of them being used as run around cars. Where I live, there’s a gentleman that a couple of days per week brings a mint CSX AE82.
There’s still one these ol’ 90s Corolla down the road from me in a burgundy color. I remember when I used to see these everywhere in Toronto, Canada but the Winter salt and age probably got to them. My friend has an ’09 Corolla S that he had bought new and my dad currently owns an ’05 Corolla CE that was purchased used last year. I drove them both but wasn’t too impressed with the 132hp and 130hp engines.
Some things were broken, missing or wore out on the used ’05 such as worn door checks that really shouldn’t allow the front doors to open too wide, retaining clips that fell out from the fender liner and engine splash shield, and the broken center console. The newer cars are also plagued with Toyota hubcaps that keep falling off. Used Corolla prices are still high. Despite the minor things it seems to run ok and has great mileage.
Thanks for the tour. I don’t think I’ve seen any of this generation Corolla (pictured) during Toyota week. I had not seen one for years until spotting this example three weeks ago. I had it pegged as a ’76, now thinking ’75…Toyota called so many different models “Corolla” in this era that I could never keep track of them, even though I drove a ’76 myself; maybe someone here can nail the year.
I bought this ’76 E-5 Hardtop in 1981. It was the very first car I ever bought, other than the ’70 Olds 98 I bought from my dad. Loved the car, but it gave up the ghost early at 93K.
The ’90’s vintage Corollas are still common even here in Toronto with our heavily salted roads. Even when they rust out, they’re still mechanically sound and their drivetrains live on when the rest of the car is finished.
My cousin has had a couple of E90 Corolla hatchbacks in between stints overseas; good cheap and reliable transport and good for inner-city parking.
Back when they were new I a friend had a Seca CSX like the light-blue car pictured, he originally wanted the 100kW 4AGE-powered SX but there would have been a wait of many months to get one. Also I remember the 4-speed auto cruising on the highway at quite a low rpm figure for such a small car, not typical for the class at the time.
There are a decent number of earlier Corollas still getting around in the hands of their original owners too, this is a 1975.