One of YouTube’s most popular used car personalities has shared an incredibly reliable hatchback that he was able to buy for just £400.
Matt Goodwin is a used car dealer and host of the YouTube channel High Peak Autos, in which he regularly shows viewers his latest cars and offers tips to help other motorists save money.
In a recent video, Matt looks around a 2002 Toyota Corolla 1.6 Automatic, which was not in perfect condition but still offered good value for money at £400.
He explained: “Right, there’s a dent on the driver’s door, but for this age and value, it doesn’t really matter. It’s very grubby too, look at all the algae and green stuff on it. It will clean up though, I am convinced.
“It’s got alloys, metallic paint. The paintwork looks quite dull, so it’s been parked up for a while. You can see that someone has painted this because there is a definite line there and it feels a bit rough.”
First introduced in 1966, more than 50 million Toyota Corollas have been sold throughout the world, with the model gaining a solid reputation for build quality and dependability.
Currently, the cheapest models on the used market are the ninth-generation examples, built from 2000 to 2007, which are available as a hatchback, saloon or estate.
Whilst the styling is relatively dated by modern standards, the Corolla has a very impressive range of reliable engines, spanning from an economical 1.4 to a supercharged 1.8 that produced 215bhp in the limited-edition TTE Compressor model.
Later in the video, Matt inspected the engine, stating that, with basic maintenance, Toyota Corollas very rarely go wrong.
He continued: “I don’t really know why I’m showing you under the bonnet of these because, if you own one, you very rarely need to look here.
“They can burn a bit of oil but they’re very reliable. They’re about as reliable as you can get. This one has only done 77,000 miles, and that’s nothing really.”
Taking to the roads, the YouTuber highlighted that, despite needing some new brake pads, the Corolla was still pleasant to drive and worked nicely for a 22-year-old car.
He added: “I know I’ve only driven it for two minutes, but this feels alright. The brakes are a bit squeaky, so it might want new discs and pads, but there’s a bit of life left in this. It changes gear nicely, everything seems to work.
“You might think that I’ve lost the plot completely, but just give me a little bit of credit, time and money; I’ll get this looking nice. This era of Corolla, if you’re just after a car, they’re alright.”
