I have a coworker who’s looking to sell his car, a 1989 Toyota Corolla. I know the basics of looking after a car, but a car that old is almost foreign to me, because I’m from a state where cars rust out.
I figure Toyotas are pretty reliable and so is the 4AG engine, but I don’t want to end up with another money pit. What should I look out for, or should I just avoid it altogether?
How much has the car been driven recently? Did they just pull it out of storage, got it running and put less than 100 miles on it?
There’s a lot of age related problems that are going to start showing up rapidly if that’s the case. But if the car has been driven on and off every month or so then I would expect an avalanche of issues to show up at once.
I’d personally find something newer as a daily driver. Keep in mind just how hard finding parts for such an old car will be.