The Neon was pushing towards 130,000 miles and beginning to show its age. The head gasket and paint had been replaced mostly on Chrysler’s dime, but I was beginning to get some failures in ancillary systems like air conditioning and other “minor” things. (Somehow the driver’s side rearview mirror experienced a failure that caused it to vibrate, making it practically useless. Never did figure that out.)
Anyway, a very nice couple who were good friends with my parents came into an unexpected inheritance and decided to upgrade from their pair of early 90s Toyotas to a pair of new Mercedes-Benzs. A friend of our family took their white Camry, and I thought their 1992 Corolla SE sedan would be a good, practical choice for me. It had 40,000 miles on the clock, had always been serviced at the dealer, gently driven (the owner had never even used the cruise control) and parked indoors. It had alloy wheels, the factory AM/FM/Cassette sound system and a sunroof. He’d sold the Camry for $3,700 and even though I pointed out that the value of the Corolla was much higher he refused to take any more than that amount for it.
It was, to use an old expression, a “creampuff.” It did, however, signify a shift in direction for me as it would be the first car I ever purchased exclusively for my use with an automatic transmission. (Yes, pun intended.) I sold the Neon as-is to a kid who wanted a solid car to build into a street racer and took possession of the Toyota.
This was the last year in the U. S. for the sixth generation Corolla and while it was my first experience with a Japanese car, it was now the fourth in a line of transverse mounted front-engine, front wheel drive compact cars, continuing in the spirit of my “Live large, drive small” mantra. Although to be honest, I wasn’t living very large at the time.
A digression; it’s not that I had any issues with Japanese cars, per se. My very first up close experience was with the extremely weird and memorable (at least to me) Subaru 360 at the local “all kinds of foreign car” dealer that was a short bicycle ride from our home. When I was around ten, another dealer that was a short bike ride away, Barton Pontiac, began carrying Toyotas. Of course I thought the Land Rover was a cool variation on the theme of the Land Rover, and the Celica a unique take on a 2+2 coupe. One of my good friends in high school, later my brother-in-law, had a 1972 Datsun 510, which compared to my 1966 Beetle was practically a race car. But by 1976, it actually had rusted perforations around the wheel wells. By the time the Corolla came into my hands it was around six years old, and already the “tin worm” had begun its work. There was visible light rust around the front right wheel well, along a body/bumper seam in the rear, and somewhat strangely at the edge of the sunroof panel.
Rust never sleeps
But the interior was spotless, appearing to be nearly brand new.
A clean and highly functional interior
Mine did have the tachometer
A relatively large backseat, especially when the passengers are children
Compared to the previous cars I’d owned, as far as drivability was concerned the Corolla would have ranked fourth on the list of four. The handling was tight and only required a light touch, but the suspension and 13” tires just didn’t have the grip to deliver decent lateral acceleration. Not that the linear acceleration was all that great either. That year’s model was equipped with a 1.6 liter four, and with fuel injection it was capable of delivering slightly over 100 hp. But it lacked the low-end torque that the GTI and Neon had managed to produce. (To be fair, the Neon I had just sold had nearly a third more horsepower and was coupled with a nicely ratioed five-speed manual.) Overall it seemed tinny and buzzy. However, it was smooth. I used to joke that it was as smooth as a sewing machine and almost as powerful.
That said, it had a crisp shifting four-speed automatic transmission, a spacious interior and the car drove as if it had just been taken off the “new inventory” lot. (I’d had a lot of experience driving late 80s to mid 90s Toyotas beginning in the late 80s when I would regularly rent the lowest priced cars at LAX from Bob Leech Rental Cars.)
I wonder what ever happened to Bob Leech Autorental?
I think they exclusively rented Toyotas and some had over 40,000 miles on them. Quite a tribute in and of itself regarding Toyota’s reliability and durability (where there was no salt added).
I’d long had a reputation as a car guy and had many cars that started conversations, but having this Corolla was like becoming invisible. Even car people really couldn’t crack the code. Was it a Mazda? Nissan? Chevy? (At this point there was a joint venture with Chevrolet selling re-badged Toyotas.) I surprisingly enjoyed the distinctive anonymity it bestowed upon me. And while it lacked the performance I usually sought int a car, in a way, it was exactly the kind of car people who don’t really like to drive would like to drive. It didn’t take much effort at all to get you from point A to point B (which despite our obsessions really is the point) and it was easy to park when you reached your destination (although as I have always done and continue to do with any vehicle I always sought out the furthest and/or most protected parking space). I nicknamed it the “urban assault vehicle” as it was pretty much theft proof. (You could probably have left the key in the steering lock and no thief would have given the car a close enough look to spot it) and had you committed a crime with it there’s be a 90% chance no one could even describe the make, much less the model or year.
The alloy wheels, and a well proportioned body, but a longer wheelbase would have helped the ride. But seriously, even under oath, could you identify this car?
And being a Toyota, it was relatively bulletproof. One of my co-workers at the time had actually been an amateur racer and was even more of gearhead than me. His commuter car was a late 80s Toyota Tercel. Turns out he had a buddy who owned a messenger service and had bought it used from him with over 200,000 miles on it. At the time we worked together he had over 300,000 miles on it and it was still doing its job without fail.
I did have one very bizarre malfunction when the starter solenoid failed in the engaged position and after shutting off the engine one day at work the starter continued to crank a “dead” engine until I was able to remove the positive battery cable connection. Ironically in the bottom feeding part supplies I was utilizing at the time a new starter/solenoid combination was cheaper than just the solenoid.
I more than doubled the miles on it, and having landed a new job went on to purchase a new Chrysler PT Cruiser. True to form I cleaned it up and sold it at asking price ($3,200) to the first person who showed up with the deposit. As mentioned in the title, I did notice a high percentage of Corollas at that time with the lighted logos of various pizza chains mounted on their roofs. I like to think it’s still out there somewhere, delivering a relatively warm, mediocre pizza to someone. However it’s just as likely in these climes that the rust may have claimed it.
The interior material quality and assembly of this specimin looks vastly superior to todays cars.
Your Corolla is in the category I call a car of opportunity. Like a crime of opportunity, it is the one you wouldn’t go out of your way for, but when it plops itself into your path, well, there it is, so let’s do this.
Your comparison with the GTI is interesting – we were all excited in the early 80s with the idea of a 100 horsepower four. By the early 90s we were yawning at them. It would be interesting to find a period road test and compare hard numbers between the two. When I married the 88 Accord, I recall doing this and found that the Accord either met or exceeded almost every performance statistic of my 85 GTI, yet provided so little of the seat-of-the-pants driving thrill that the VW offered.
I wonder if the car might have endeared itself more to you had it been a stick shift.
I sure miss the days when sedans (especially from Toyota) were nice, clean, simple, purposeful designs. Now we get Corollas that look like a squinting catfish with a gaping maw.
My wife’s family had one like this, but from the beginning of this generation, likely a 1988 in white with blue interior, automatic as well. Each of the girls drove it for a while in high school and college and then we picked it up in Seattle after ferrying it up there three years earlier and kept it at our place before taking it back to SoCal eventually where I think it got sold. So for about two or three months I was able to use it for the murderous SF Bay commute I had at the time. As you said it did what it was supposed to, without fuss or any need whatsoever. This was after three years of serious neglect by one college girl, street parked in Seattle and a couple more before that by another in California. It’s doubtful the oil got changed very often, and it was treated as a complete appliance. And just like a good appliance it did its job quietly and in the background. Simply a great car, you wouldn’t think it’d be a difficult formula to crack, but for some makers it clearly is.
The materials quality in this car is remarkable compared with what is in a corolla now, 30 years later. Some automakers like Chrysler have dramatically improved interior material quality over the daimler and Cerberus periods as my Pacifica is FAR nicer than its predecessors, but most automakers have sharpened their pencils and cheapened materials quality and removed minor details like labeling and lights for interior switches to keep costs down. The last camry I was in, a 2019 rental, had a really dour and cheap daimler Chrysler style Interior. . . BUT the camry is bigger, more powerful, more economical, longer lasting, and less expensive in real terms than it’s ever been. Not to mention that the days of “because it’s a toyota, we can add $450 wheel locks and a $300 stripe and you’ll pay it cos there are 5 people lined up after you to buy this toyota” are over and toyota dealers have to negotiate.
People steal cars I would not expect; bland, elderly, invisible sedans get stolen. I had a coworker in the early 90s have a 8 year old Sundance stolen and I had a four cylinder caravan get stolen 3 times.
Thanks for the interesting write up!
It makes sense that bland vehicles would get routinely stolen since the demand for replacement parts of high-volume vehicles, no matter how boring and mundane they might otherwise be, would be exponentially higher than expensive, low-volume niche vehicles.
Not to mention that selling a stolen, low-profile vehicle, particularly in another country, would likely be easier, too.
I’ve had many Corollas as rentals over the years, and while they’re not the most exciting ride, I’m happy to get one because they have plenty of room for my wife and I, they’re dead-reliable, and they get us where we want to go with no fuss or drama. And they don’t use a lot of gas in the process. Even here in Ontario it’s not unusual to see a Corolla of that vintage still on the road and running fine.
The live large drive small comment hit home. Our “family” car in the early ‘90’s was a ten year old BMW 528i which I had purchased used as our first (and as it turns out only) premium car. After multiple issues with the car, and with a second child making it tough to squeeze into a tow truck cab, my wife said we were getting a new car, Japanese, and as small as possible to meet our needs. So we bought a new ‘93 Corolla wagon, first of the next generation after this. With 1.8 and 5 speed it never felt underpowered; an apples-to-oranges comparison, I know, but it was much peppier in the mountains than the 4.5 liter six cylinder Land Cruiser that came along later to supplement the Corolla. Similar to my earlier 1500 (carb’ed) Civic, the Corolla may not have had much low end torque, but the fueling and flexibility were excellent and it could pull smoothly at low rpms even at 8000’ above sea level. And deliver great mpg doing so. A car we probably shouldn’t have sold, but replaced it and the LC with a Prius and Forester so the Corolla had to go.
That model Corolla were good cars long lived and mostly reliable, I bought a 90 model to flip a while ago 1300cc with 5 speed and a NZ new XL trim model that drove like a gocart local assembly suspension apparently and far better that what came direct from Japan, There are still some this model on the road here I even saw one in a used car lot some weeks ago and it was tidy with life left in it for some kid or budget commuter. better cars than small Chryslers could ever be.
According to records available online, the rental company was incorporated in 1976 as “Bob Leech’s $4 Autorental, LAX, Inc.” At some point it merged with another company. The Inglewood address is currently occupied by a vehicle smog device testing service called “LAX Smog.”
Rental Toyota Corollas induced in me a long standing admiration for the car. I own a relatively new one. Corolla has qualities seemingly only admired by those who drive them. And they are never quick.
I got started on Corollas (and the twin Chevrolet Nova/Geo Prizm) in the ’80s as my preferred rental car for the one or two days I needed a car at an airport. I’d have reservations for the cheapest thing I could get from Hertz or Avis and always ask for a Corolla or Nova/Prizm. The penalty box was an Omni or Sundance or worse even a Chevette but the day would be a good one if I could get a Corolla.
And one time when I needed a car in LA for about ten days (around 1989) I did rent from Bob Leech, just a bit east of LAX. For that length of time it was cheaper than Hertz.
The Corolla may be the Honda Super Cub of the automotive world.
Funny thing when the Neon landed in OZ the motoring press compared it to the segment market leader which was the Corolla, the Neon did not compare well, it was a gas hungry poor handling waste of money in their opinion and now Im back in NZ where the Neon was also sold I cant remember when I last saw one but old Corollas are still around
I want to know the price of Toyota corolla 1992 model . My phone number is 0796644184