Still driving my ‘99 Toyota Corolla. Cannot afford a newer car but don’t need one. It starts every time and haven’t had any problems whatsoever with it. Toyotas rock.
From my own personal and professional experience (I work in automobile remarketing), I’m willing to bet these older cars are in fact non-union Japanese manufactored vehicles.
GM, Ford and Chrysler vehicles just don’t even measure up to the “imports”.
I do not own any car/truck with less than 100,000 miles on it.
The Corolla is well over 200,000.
“Clunker”???
What the heck is a “clunker”??? If any of them were poorly functioning, I would replace them.
I’ve got a 1994 Chevy Geo Tracker that hasn’t given me a lick of trouble since I bought it 2 years ago (it had sat in his driveway for about 6 years).
It’s saving grace? The engine is made by Suzuki!
I bought a 1990 Toyota Corolla off the transporter with 6 miles on it. I traded it in on a 2000 Corolla after 198,000 miles, and the original clutch went out as I was driving it into the dealership. No rust, still got 35mpg on the highway, and it burned about 1/2 quart of oil between 3000 mi changes. But it didn't make sense to spend nearly $5,000 to bring it back to spec (it needed a new clutch, timing belt, exhaust system, brakes, shocks (and new springs, really), struts, front end, and tires.
So I traded it for a brand new 2000 Corolla, which I drove until December, 2009, with 178,000 miles.
Frankly, due to arthritis, I can no longer get in and out of such a low car. I needed something new, but that was right during the whole "Toyota recalls" incident, so rather than a Rav4, I bought a Kia Sportage, and I'm fairly happy with it, with the exception of the crappy mileage from the V6 (16mpg city, 22mpg hwy).
Great cars!
Mark