Bangernomics, Toyota carina e
Discussion
Got fed up with the daily grind adding miles/wear/dirt so decided to buy something cheap and bullet proof.
Always remember a guy in work running one of these to 400k with no expense, and he's very hard on a car, this one popped up with 66k and an unbelievable 19 main dealer stamps. Who does that?
No central locking/ac/electric Windows/sunroof or anything unwanted. Original Toyota CD player and overmats still in place tho.
Drives remarkably well, probable more so now than 20 years ago as its secret ability of being indestructible gives a certain pleasure while punting along. Mot this afternoon then it will be pressed into 30k per year, mpg and reliability report to come.
Now off to the classifieds to find a toy for the garage.....
I
Always remember a guy in work running one of these to 400k with no expense, and he's very hard on a car, this one popped up with 66k and an unbelievable 19 main dealer stamps. Who does that?
No central locking/ac/electric Windows/sunroof or anything unwanted. Original Toyota CD player and overmats still in place tho.
Drives remarkably well, probable more so now than 20 years ago as its secret ability of being indestructible gives a certain pleasure while punting along. Mot this afternoon then it will be pressed into 30k per year, mpg and reliability report to come.
Now off to the classifieds to find a toy for the garage.....
I Thats all fine and well, but 30k a year.....in that!
It will happily consume your soul and come back for more
I think it must be boredom that kills these. People get so fed up with them just never breaking that they scrap them out of sheer frustration at not being able to justify their replacement any other way
It will happily consume your soul and come back for more
I think it must be boredom that kills these. People get so fed up with them just never breaking that they scrap them out of sheer frustration at not being able to justify their replacement any other way
I seem to remember that these were popular minicabs back in the late 90s... and were also on the grid around the (IMO) golden era of British Touring Cars too.
This is a great car to load miles on for minimal outlay, it should take 30k a year without any hassle at all!! I don't know what you're used to doing the miles in, but it will be interesting to see how long you last with the Carina.
Cheers,
Grant
This is a great car to load miles on for minimal outlay, it should take 30k a year without any hassle at all!! I don't know what you're used to doing the miles in, but it will be interesting to see how long you last with the Carina.
Cheers,
Grant
Excellent bangernomics there. And with a service history like that it'll go forever.
Many years ago I bought its predecessor. A Carina II Executive (iirc) for £1 with 200,000 miles on it.
We proceeded to race it round a farm for several summers including all sorts of jumps and driving through things. Bar the suspension it never ever failed. Amazing things.
Many years ago I bought its predecessor. A Carina II Executive (iirc) for £1 with 200,000 miles on it.
We proceeded to race it round a farm for several summers including all sorts of jumps and driving through things. Bar the suspension it never ever failed. Amazing things.
It's a cliche but these really are just about the toughest cars ever made I think. I was working at my stepfathers garage 10 years ago when an old guy turned up in one running on three cylinders and so hot you could smell it from 20 feet away. It had burst a hose and dumped it's coolant, but he couldn't be arsed to get recovered so just drove it the 4/5 miles to us with no coolant in it. We thought it'd be f
ked for good, but once it cooled down, had a new hose and was filled with fresh coolant it ran fine.
We bought it off him for next to nothing and then used it as the garage car for running pickups, borrowing when any one of us needed it and so on. It was thrashed mercillesly and never missed a beat, and after a few years of being run without servicing went to a cousin of mine. He ran it for another 2/3 years at about 15k a year with next to no servicing, until it was written off in a shunt.
ked for good, but once it cooled down, had a new hose and was filled with fresh coolant it ran fine. We bought it off him for next to nothing and then used it as the garage car for running pickups, borrowing when any one of us needed it and so on. It was thrashed mercillesly and never missed a beat, and after a few years of being run without servicing went to a cousin of mine. He ran it for another 2/3 years at about 15k a year with next to no servicing, until it was written off in a shunt.
The old girl is in such superb shape I decided to spend a bit of money. 4 new shocks to tighten up the handling, and 4 plugs, 4 ht leads, distributer cap and rotor arm. All for the princely sum of £134.
Hope to have them all fitted this week. I know spending money defeats the purpose of bangernomics, but If I'm for the miles I'm doing I want it to be right!
Hope to have them all fitted this week. I know spending money defeats the purpose of bangernomics, but If I'm for the miles I'm doing I want it to be right!
I did 130,00 miles in the 2.0 3FSE engined version. No it didn't break down but apart from consumables it needed a few things in that time, 2 recon radiators a new waterpump £300 inc fitting, new front calipers, ball joints, rear shock absorbers, handbrakes cables which were pretty expensive, I didn't find that any of the parts were particularly cheap other than plugs, filters etc. Mine got pretty rusty despite being well looked after and when I part ex'd it the sump cover was almost paper thin so wasn't long for this world, mind you this was before cheapo internet car part sites so maybe things have changed, but at the time Toyota bits were very pricey. I noticed on the MOT site it made it to 230,000 miles before expiring.
First service done over the weekend. 7k miles done in the first 3/4 months with absolutely no trouble whatsoever!
I don't miss modern cars at all draining £300 every month, sits at motorway speeds with zero issues, and still have 2 classics in the garage to satisfy the petrol head in me.
One thing I do notice is that I get let out of roads easily and have had no road rage. People probably think poor sod hasn't done well in life.
Interior after a spruce up on Saturday!
I don't miss modern cars at all draining £300 every month, sits at motorway speeds with zero issues, and still have 2 classics in the garage to satisfy the petrol head in me.
One thing I do notice is that I get let out of roads easily and have had no road rage. People probably think poor sod hasn't done well in life.
Interior after a spruce up on Saturday!
I'm currently piloting my old shed - 1997 Peugeot 406 with 227km on the clock. Cheap motoring at it's finest and it doesn't get lost in a sea of Golfs/Corollas etc in the carpark.
Also, the 90s were a crook time for interiors. Mine has the wood grain combo with a seat fabric which is similar to that of your Carina. It probably looked awesome 19 years back, but today its borderline laughable!
In shed we trust.
Also, the 90s were a crook time for interiors. Mine has the wood grain combo with a seat fabric which is similar to that of your Carina. It probably looked awesome 19 years back, but today its borderline laughable!
In shed we trust.
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