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-   -   Bought a pre-owned 2008 Toyota Corolla | Initial impressions (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/250056-bought-pre-owned-2008-toyota-corolla-initial-impressions.html)

Hi all,

I recently purchased a pre owned 2008 Toyota Corolla H5 and I will be sharing my initial experience with the car here. To the moderators, apologies if it is posted in the wrong part of the forum, please do move it to correct place if required.

Having already owned a 2003 Toyota Corolla, I bought the exact same car again due to only one reason, the lack of ABS and EBD in 2003 model.

As someone who drives a lot on highways, the absence of ABS has put me in a critical situations several times where wheels used to lock up and steering wheel became useless. The lack of EBD, made the car go momentarily out of control during heavy braking. Looking at these issues and brakes being a critical safety feature, I decided to get a car with ABS and EBD to reduce the chance of a crash in the future.

Now since the decision to buy a new car was taken very quickly, I had a very limited budget so expensive cars costing over 3 lakhs were immediately ruled out.

The 2003 Toyota Corolla that I still own has proved to be an extremely reliable car and it is very comfortable to drive on long journeys. So I decided to get the exact same car but with ABS.

I started looking up on OLX and there were hardly any well maintained post 2005 Corollas on sale. Those that were on sale were either ruined by CNG installation or by weird mods. It was a headache to find a clean car. Finally I managed to find a silver, September 2008 registered, second owner, Toyota Corolla H5 1.8E which was completely stock inside and out. I immediately went to the dealership to check out the car.

Initial good impression :
1) The car was repainted at most points so there were no scratches or dents. The car looked straight out of the showroom.
2) The bumpers were also repainted.
3) The frame and structure was sound with no rusting anywhere.
4) The engine sound was very clean and as I checked inside the oil filler cap, the engine was also very clean which indicated regular oil changes.
5) The interior was well maintained and the car had the OEM leather seats which were also in good condition.
6) All four struts were brand new, Monroe.
7) Clutch is super light and looks to have a decent amount of life left.

Not so good:
1) Tyres were garbage. Somehow still had the original tyres after 75000kms and they were converted to tube.
2) Link rods were torn.
3) Inner CV boot was torn.
4) Brake pads had 40% life left.

Overall the engine and gearbox were in excellent condition. All the electronics including the auto headlamps, auto folding ORVMs etc. were working fine. There were no trouble codes and live data was fine as checked by my BlueDriver scan tool.

After test driving the car for a while and finding no further issues after my thorough inspection, I decided to go ahead with this car.
Now came the hard part, the asking price was sky high and I would blame it to the inflation and other factors. In last two years, the price of used cars have sky rocketed not only in India but in most parts of the world, on an average the price of used cars have increased by approx. 1 lakh rupees in last 5 years.

So I started my negotiation and managed to come down to a fair price. Although it was still 40-50k more than the market rate but considering the current situation and recent experiences, it was pretty sure that no car can be had for the market rate, especially a well maintained 2008 Toyota Corolla top of the line variant. So I closed the deal.

The dealership that I bought car from is one of the best dealerships in the city and they got the torn CV axle boot replaced and also fixed the new link rods all in front of me at their very capable workshop free of cost. They gave me a warranty of 100 days as well on the engine, gearbox and AC compressor, the warranty also covers other non consumable parts too.

As I bought the car, I replaced all the fluids and filters in the car. This includes, engine oil (replaced with Amsoil singature 5W30), gearbox oil, power steering fluid, brake fluid, coolant, air filter and cabin filter. I replaced the tyres with my previous 2003 Corolla. Also the headlights were replaced with the nighteye LEDs from my previous car. I got the refrigerant topped up and got the condenser and evaporator coil cleaned, and the AC started blowing ice cold air.

Here are some pictures:









Very high quality leather seats.




High quality steering wheel with wood insert and steering mounted audio controls.


Very comfortable rear seats with rear sunshade.


New 10 spoke alloy rims.


Automatic headlamp sensor.


The indestructible Toyota's 1ZZ-FE engine. These things can last forever as long as oil changes are regular.

Coming to the car,

the post 2005,2006+ Toyota Corollas came with following new additions.

1) rear LED tail lamps
2) New front grille and bumper.
3) ABS with EBD (the most important addition for such a powerful car)
4) Automatic headlamps (top variant)
5) Lumbar support (top variant)
6) Wood insert steering with audio controls
7) Improved OBD2 support
8) Rear sunshade
9) Improved music system with MP3.
10) Headlight adjusters.
11) Cabin filter mesh.
12) Remote control door lock mechanism.
13) Security alarm (not sure)
14) printed antenna

There maybe more features that are added, so I will add them as I discover more.

About the car's pros and cons:

Pros :
- 1.8L 1ZZ engine is a gem. It is the benchmark engine when it comes to reliability. I've seen these engines last over a 800k miles and still go strong. Also the performance is very good, with 125 ps on tap, it can do some serious speeds. Highway driving is a breeze. Very good low end torque too. Someone has rightly said, there is no replacement for the displacement.

- C52 manual transmission is very smooth to shift and extremely reliable.

- Looks are understated. No fancy chrome or overdone parts. The car looks calm and composed.

- Very high quality parts including rubber hoses, plastics etc. This car is built to last and can take toughest of the toughest abuse.

- Excellent Toyota's service network. Parts can easily be sourced from scrapyard or the dealer

- Very nice and premium interiors. The new gen Altis is nowhere in terms of quality of parts used in the interior. Many soft touch materials used and high quality plastics used. Ver less to no hard plastics.

- All four disc brakes and excellent braking with ABS and EBD.

Cons :

- Design looks dated in 2022.
- Fuel efficiency comes to around 9-10 kmpl in city and 15-16 kmpl on highway with AC on. Can't really complain owing to a big 1.8L engine.
- No AUX or bluetooth. I use FM transmitter to play the music.

With that, I'll wrap up this post. To conclude, if you are in a used car market and looking to purchase a reliable, decently powerful sedan and have limited budget, the facelift Toyota Corolla happens to be a very strong contender.

Good choice there buddy! Toyota Corolla is an amazing vehicle. I own the 10th gen Altis Sports variant that was launched in 2009 and luckily this came with 1ZZ-FE too. Later gen had the non tuner friendly engine. Nothing special about it.

These cars have great build quality which I notice these days cars are lacking especially the newer gens. The prices have gone up and quality has gone down for some reason.

Hope you enjoy your ride for many years to come. It has a good tuning potentially as well if you ever wish to go down that route. Cheers!

Yes that's true. 1ZZ is a gem of an engine. I will keep my Corollas for as long as government let's me keep em. Pretty hard to find a new car built to such high standards in this budget.

Congrats on the 2nd Corolla, wishing you thousands of happy miles ahead. These machines are built to last with bare minimum maintenance / care.

Comeon, you should move it to 'Pros'

Thank you for your wishes.

Yes indeed 15-16 kmpl is decent on highway but I get that figure only if I drive with light foot, sometimes even 17 kmpl. With heavy foot, the fuel efficiency drops to 10-11.

I get the same figures

Yes those are very similar figures to my Corollas. As long as you drive sedately, the car does quite well with regards o fuel efficiency despite having a big engine.

Hello. Congratulations on your second purchase. This car has its own charm. 16kmph with 1.8 L engine is just superb mileage if you ask me. Pl do keep updating the thread with your experiences and expenses.

Have good times with your new possession.

Cheers.

Wow ! That's truly amazing value and bang for the buck at 3L.

I always start feeling afraid I'll get stuck with a lemon and end up buying lower model/category but new cars.

Although when I was a kid we would buy a lot if pre owned ones but in those days we could open up every single part of the engine and get a good idea when n what is gonna conk off. I think after the entry of Japs the cars become just too reliable and even filing wiper fluid is rare ! And half the stuff is sealed and modular so the max I do now is look at Torque or any ECU obd2 app occasionally.

Are there any really reliable pre-owned dealerships that you can recommend ?

Maybe Team-BHP should have a Curated Pre-owned cars section where people good at this can recommend specific deals.

Hey, congratulations on your purchase!

I have a few questions -
1. What was the odometer reading when you got it?
2. How long do you plan to keep it? (kms/years)

Asking because I am myself contemplating buying a preowned car under 3L and wondering if a 12+ years old car makes sense if I intend to keep it for 3-4 years at least.

Your post brought back fond memories of my identical car, although with automatic transmission. It was such a pleasure to drive and so comfortable for all passengers. I regret selling it after 11 long years of trouble free use, however, space had to be made for a new arrival. I’m sure she’s keeping her new owner happy, wherever she is.

Congratulations! It is certainly a sensible upgrade from the earlier Corolla for the right reasons, safety, and fair for the price one is getting them at. Naturally one can say the newest and latest vehicles will be better, but they are also 20-25L more than what we pay for a well-maintained Corolla.

I'm still using a 2006 Corolla with the same specs, 1.8L H5 E with ABS, EBD and all the leather, wood trim. Have done 1,91,000+ km, and have not found a reason to sell/junk it at all. It is spacious enough, comfortable enough, gives decent mileage, and spares and service is easy with the right dealer and independent garage support.

At 180,000km got the entire car looked at mechanically and cosmetically, and replaced all that was needed. Now with 5 new Yokohamas, fitness and green tax updated, it is ready for the next 5 years of comfortable, stealthy commuting.

With the depreciated prices, probably as low as one can get for a C segment car like this, it is a no-brainer.

Hi,

I bought it for 2.5L which honestly is little on the higher side . The market value lies around 2L for this car. But considering its a Toyota and this H5 model doesn't come a lot on sale, I went ahead with 2.5L.

There are many reliable dealerships, entirely depends on the city. Usually stay away from those which sell car with unusually low odometer readings.

1) Odometer reading was 75k , 2nd owner and 2.5L selling price. As I already discussed, the price is higher than the market value due to inflation and rarity of the car. For a Toyota , 75k is nothing, it's not even broken in yet.

2) I'll keep it as long as I can. I didn't have any plan to buy another Corolla , only did it because of lack of ABS and EBD in my previous car otherwise would have just kept my old one.

The 2005-2008 Corollas are tanks. These can literally last forever or atleast outlive a human.

You will never find a reason to sell your car unless you get bored of it / you need to upgrade a certain feature.

Congrats on buying the corolla.I've owned these for over 6 years. The first one was a 2006 H2 MT, then a 2004 H4 AT and then a 2007 H4 AT. These things just go on and on and on.

I clocked over a lac kms cumulatively on these, and each of them was over a lac kms when I sold them.

The best part about the ICE in these cars is the in-dash 6 CD changer. I miss the 6 CD Changer in my car!

Enjoy many many miles on this car.



Cheers,
Yogesh.

Congratulations Buddy :Cheering: !!. Looking beautiful. I too own a 2004 Corolla since 2017 and no plan to change in near future. It's a fantastic car. It is favourite for everybody in my Family, and friends love it.
A great Highway cruiser, just munches miles with ease keeping occupants cocooned in comfort, even if it is 5 onboard + luggage. Overtaking is effortless no matter city or highway. It is a car having fantastic capabilities, capable of doing all things, which you will experience only if you own it.