1990 Toyota Corolla
102K Miles, AC, Stereo w/ Cass (no CD), 20-25 mpg (sucks, but I can’t figure out why it is so bad), New Tires, Runs great (sort of makes a pinging sound, but otherwise NO problems with it). Timing belt needs to be replaced soon.
1994 Ford Taurus
115K miles, AC, Power locks, power seats, stereo w/ Cass (no CD), 20-25 mpg, 3.8L engine, newer tires, runs pretty good except for 1) the windshield wipers turn off when the right hand turn signal is on 2) sort of hesitates under heavy acceleration, 3) one window tends to stick every once in a while. Has had a few problems, but overall it has been a decent car (ignition key needed to be replaced, AC/Heater short in steering column, Ford recalled the heads a while ago.) Timing belt is about 50k, so will need to be replaced soon. Strange smell emanating from the engine occasionally after being run, but nothing is dripping.
My take:
Taurus is a bigger/more valuable car. I’m not selling either one, as I’ll be giving one away. But I think the Toyota might be more reliable in the long run. It certainly seems a little better right now.
So I don’t know. The Ford would be nice to have more room and a bigger/more powerful engine, but it is hard to ignore Toyota reliability and the lower miles.
If you have power windows on the Taurus and they’re sticking, I’d say ditch that puppy. I had a car that did that, and no matter how many times I got it “fixed” the problem kept coming back.
Keep the Carolla. I think it will be less headaches in the long run.
I miss my Corolla. It was a 1984, and it died about 3 years ago. Rusted to hell due to having spent much of its life in a parking lot right next to the St. Lawrence. When it died (the body essentially fell off), it only had 94000 Kilometeres! Good car, that Crapmobile I have a Tercel now, and I love it.
Keep the Corolla, IMHO. It’ll be a lot better in the long run, and you can literally run it into the ground, while something stupid will more likely conk out on the Taurus. And in my experinece, Toyota service is generally good, if you still go to the dealership for repairs.
I would keep the Carolla. If the timing belt is due for replacement, it may have jumped a tooth, causing the car to be out of time and causing your pinging sound.
The 3.8 V6 engine was notoriuos for problems. I think it has a timing chain instead of a belt which isn’t normally replaced.
Just getting a Taurus I am a little disappointed on how many votes the toyota gets even though it’s several years older (but less milage).
My take on it would be on several items (not ness. in order):
1 - rust - This has caused a majority of failures on all of my cars (living a few blocks from the ocean can’t have anything to do with that can it?) If one has a good deal of rust I would tend to get rid of that one.
2 - Feel - Do you feel safe driving the cars? Do you feel safer in one then the other.
3 - (somewaht ashamed at this one) Looks - I often have to meet people at job sites - well not often but occationally. At which time I used to have to coordinate with my wife to use our one good car which she normally drives (I can’t justify billing as much as I do showing up in a PoS car). Now with this taurus It isn’t so much of an issue anymore.
4 - repair record and expected repairs - both are at the point that anything * could * go but have to give the toyota the edge here.
5 - Size - do you need to haul more people then one car has room for?
6 - Saftey/weight - Does either have ABS or airbags? with all the big SUV’s running around and people driving them like little sports cars I want as heavy a car as I can get - but that’s just me - just remember momentum = mass X speed.
I’m sure there’s more but some of these could be the decidign factor. Hopefully whatever way you go you will get many years of service out of it.
My car has this exact same problem, right now. I’ve had the windows fixed twice but they keep sticking. My passanger window is currently stuck with a 1 inch gap at the top, but I’ve not bothered to fix it yet.
Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I have to say, my first reaction was to dump the corolla because it is older and the gas mileage problem has me worried that something else is wrong in the engine that will soon be a bigger problem. However, after having driven the Taurus around a bit more lately, I’m much more inclined to stick with the Corolla now.
The reason why I’d prefer the Taurus is that it is bigger and we have a third child due in June. There is little chance we can fit three kids in the back of the Corolla, but we will be able to fit everyone in the Taurus. We will have a minivan by then (which is why one car needs to go), so we won’t really be stuck, but I’d like to use the minivan for as little as possible and not for in-town stuff.
I suppose a few things to mention:
The corolla isn’t rusted, but there is almost nothing left to the paint. It has not been garaged and it is oxided pretty badly. I’m not worried about how it looks, just how long until it starts to rust. I might need to get it painted.
The taurus looks like it needs a new thermostat. Not a big deal, as I can do that myself. This is likely also the problem with the smell I talked about earlier.
Everyday my gut feeling swings back and forth. Argh.
I don’t like the sound of the gas mileage thing, which tells me to dump the Corolla. Incidentally, CarTalk is on right now, with a caller who has a '95 Corolla and a '95 Ford Contour, and wants to know which one to ditch. They say ditch both and buy something different, or keep the Corolla. Theirs had fewer miles, and no gas mileage problem, though.
I’m not thrilled about the gas milage thing but there are many low cost reasons why this may be happining. It could be a sensor, slipped timing belt, bad compression, bad plugs, so many to name.
If you are going with the toyota I would hunt this one down first.
I have a Tercel now, and I love it.