2005 Corolla with better body

[JeffKeryk]

So I ended up with this 2005 Corolla S with 131K. Perfect interior. $6,500; I paid too much but I wanted a clean car. It seems to be professionally maintained.
All the fluids looked really good.
I serviced the oil and trans, dropped in a set of plugs. These hafta be the originals; tight tight tight. Set the SO flex head 3/8 to 13 lb/ft.
Wheel lugs are tight; need to reset torque properly.

In 5K I will service the oil again, antifreeze, inspect clean and lube the brakes. Has good Michelin rubber.
One wheel is scratched pretty bad, rest are 20 year old car OK.

My niece will be over later this evening to pick it up, I believe. She will surprise the younger twin girls.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Nice car

 

[JeffKeryk]

Nice car

I wanted a 2015+ Mazda 3 or similar, but they start at $15K and go way up from there. This was a decent compromise. Plenty good for new drivers... Crunch time!

 

[simple_gifts]

Ya, nice. Not paying too much since 6-7K for a car that will last another 150K easily.

Always like the gen the best, especially with those aero accents.

The consumption issue had been solved by then IIRC.

 

[Pepperjunkie]

I have the same car but it's an 03 LE trim. I got it from my father who got it from my great aunt when her license was taken away due to dementia.
It has 262k miles on it right now with no major repairs, it even has the original starter and alternator. They are great cars and I treasure mine.

 

[fantastic]

glad you didn't get the other car. Nice find & 6,500 isn't too bad. Good mileage & decent shape for the age. Cheaper insurance for the kiddo... Let us know her reaction!

 

[supton]

Nice find, better than I did. Hope it goes well!

 

[JeffKeryk]

I have the same car but it's an 03 LE trim. I got it from my father who got it from my great aunt when her license was taken away due to dementia.
It has 262k miles on it right now with no major repairs, it even has the original starter and alternator. They are great cars and I treasure mine.

Wow! That's great to know. I just wanted to get this done; to get them another car. Rag is like $5.20 or more around here. Her Oddy was killing her.
Thanks for the good news. If we get anywhere near 100K outta this one, it will be $$ well spent.

 

[SC Maintenance]

That seems to be a good price. It wouldn't last around here at that price. Its not 2016 anymore. I think you did well.

If I may ask, how did you go about finding it. I am in need to do something like this, but haven't bought used in 15 years?

 

[JeffKeryk]

That seems to be a good price. It wouldn't last around here at that price. Its not 2016 anymore. I think you did well.

If I may ask, how did you go about finding it. I am in need to do something like this, but haven't bought used in 15 years?

There are a lotta scam stories around Craigslist, but it popped up and I gave the guy a call. In CA we drive a lot, so finding a decent, reasonable mileage car is difficult.
My rationale was to stick to cars in better areas and hope for the best. Hope is a lousy strategy, but what's a poor boy to do?
I thought $6K was more than fair, but they wouldn't budge. It's still a seller's market. This was a $3K - $4K car before the pandemic.

 

[SC Maintenance]

This was a $3K - $4K car before the pandemic

My house needs painting. I got three quotes and they were crazy. I called a friend, he has 3 rental houses plus his own. He told me everything is double prior to the pandemic. Its not just cars.

 

[Timmastertech]

So I ended up with this 2005 Corolla S with 131K. Perfect interior. $6,500; I paid too much but I wanted a clean car. It seems to be professionally maintained.
All the fluids looked really good.
I serviced the oil and trans, dropped in a set of plugs. These hafta be the originals; tight tight tight. Set the SO flex head 3/8 to 13 lb/ft.
Wheel lugs are tight; need to reset torque properly.

In 5K I will service the oil again, antifreeze, inspect clean and lube the brakes. Has good Michelin rubber.
One wheel is scratched pretty bad, rest are 20 year old car OK.

My niece will be over later this evening to pick it up, I believe. She will surprise the younger twin girls.
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Those plugs are replacements, original would have been Denso plugs.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Those plugs are replacements, original would have been Denso plugs.

Really. I put Densos back in. Funny thing; our 2006 Acura TSX came from the factory with 2 Denso and 2 NGK plugs.
These plugs had miles on them.The new plugs smoothed out the jerky low rpm take off.

 

[AZjeff]

That’s a good car to start with. I’ll bet the girls will try to take better care of this than that demo derby future entry.

 

[meep]

You did not overpay. Around here that car with those miles would be over 7. I’ve seen corollas here with 300k sell for more.

 

[The Critic]

This is what I put into my sister’s 05:

Bought a 2005 Toyota Corolla

What happens to the injectors on these? They tend to clog up for some unknown reason. It’s bad enough that my local dealer keeps 4 in stock.

bobistheoilguy.com

@JeffKeryk you can easily turn this into an $8k creampuff.

 

[earlyre]

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Ahhhh.. C'mon Uncle Jeff!... you could have given that wheel a quick rattle can Refurbish!.....

in all seriousness, nice find and "Good on ya!"

I've got a friend who would Love that car... he recently totaled his '03 Vibe, which he paid $5k for in 2010, with 120k mi, and was obviously slapped back together after a prior front end collision in an "ehh...that'll do" manner.
he ALMOST made it to the 299,999 mi mark where the ODO stops on those cars... only issues it gave him were from the GM components, The Toyota parts were flawless... aside from liking to eat Starters...( I can think of at least 3 reman replacements in his 13 years/160k mi )

but... he walked away from it... (luckily for him he DID finallyget the airbag recall done within the last couple years....)

double luckily for him... the vibe had already been demoted to backup car status...his DD is a 2012 mazda 3, that his mom found 2-3 years ago, with only 20k mi at the time...(now around 75k mi)

 

[JeffKeryk]

Ahhhh.. C'mon Uncle Jeff!... you could have given that wheel a quick rattle can Refurbish!.....

in all seriousness, nice find and "Good on ya!"

The wheel bugs the you-know-what outta me. I sorta-fixed the wheels on our GS350 when a neighbor brought it back with a little road rash with O'Reilly wheel touch up paint. When Wendy gets the car, I doubt there will be much slack time...

Plus I ain't got a clue. Anyways, this is a better 20' car than a 10' car. All good. But that wheel really draws your eye...
As others have said, the twins will put their mark on it soon enough.

 

[Nick1994]

Nice car. Anything is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. I say $6,500 for something clean and giving you a good peace of mind is definitely worth it.

 

[silversport]

for my sister's car, I found this resource invaluable...from How To's to what parts work well and what parts might not...good luck with yours

Corolla 9th Gen/1st Gen Matrix (2003-2008)

9th generation Corolla and 1st generation Matrix discussion.

www.toyotanation.com

Bill