T Sport Buyers Guide?

[Sky Insurance]

Hi all,

I test drove a 02' plate T Sport yesterday and was very impressed. I am looking at two more today with a view to buying in the next few days. Budget is £4k.

I have done a search for buyers guides but found nothing.

Does anyone have any buying tips? Things to look out for, common faults etc.. The one I tried yesterday was good, no obvious faults but the paintwork was tatty in a few places.

After the test drive yesterday I have decided that a T sport is perfect for me as a daily driver.. I loved the 6 speed 'box and would quote happily drive it below 6200rpm most of the time, safe in the knowledge that the power is there if needed.

Any help is appreciated!

Ollie

Sky Insurance

[nrgizerbunny]

nothing really breaks on the car, just a few things that i thought of

1. make sure you get lift at 6.2k otherwise the bolts might be toast.

2. Clutch is a bit of a weakness, see how high the travel is otherwise it might need replacing.

3. The brakes are generally cack so if it feels like it isn't going to stop then i wouldn't worry.

4. just check around for scratches and stuff on the dash and interior, plastics scratch easily.

5. check for door gaps, the cars were well made and the panel gaps were all very even, if you've got some discrepency it could be accident damage.

6. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK FOR ALL WARNING LIGHTS AT STARTUP, you should get VSC, Airbag, Check Engine then they should go out after about 3seconds.

7. check for mayonaise under the oil filler, it should be clean even if it has done a lot of miles as it was designed to run on fully synthetic oil. also check the service history to see how often the oil has been changed. i do mine at 6 month intervals but the manual suggests 10k/12months intervals i think.

thats about all i can think of, hopefully someone can come along and add to it.

[robtheman]

overall solid reliable cars!

watch out earlier examples the stero unit seems to come out of the dash slightly (not big problem).

had a bit of uneven wear on my brake pads, so get some decent speed up and see if it pulls to one side.

take it on the motorway see if you can live with the engine at 4k rpm at 80mph (not really a fault)

apart from that be prepared to wipe smiles of unsuspecting faces thinking you drive a standard corolla!

[Sky Insurance]

nothing really breaks on the car, just a few things that i thought of

1. make sure you get lift at 6.2k otherwise the bolts might be toast.

Check!

2. Clutch is a bit of a weakness, see how high the travel is otherwise it might need replacing.

recent clutch change on the one I drove yesterday

3. The brakes are generally cack so if it feels like it isn't going to stop then i wouldn't worry.

That's cleared that up.. yes I was surprised at the lack of braking!

4. just check around for scratches and stuff on the dash and interior, plastics scratch easily.

Ok, will have a look

5. check for door gaps, the cars were well made and the panel gaps were all very even, if you've got some discrepency it could be accident damage.

The car yesterday was very straight apart from the odd scratch and curbing on the wheels

6. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK FOR ALL WARNING LIGHTS AT STARTUP, you should get VSC, Airbag, Check Engine then they should go out after about 3seconds.

Thanks, I will check this

7. check for mayonaise under the oil filler, it should be clean even if it has done a lot of miles as it was designed to run on fully synthetic oil. also check the service history to see how often the oil has been changed. i do mine at 6 month intervals but the manual suggests 10k/12months intervals i think.

Yes, I checked this.. seems fine. Oil looked very clean. Last service stamp was in summer 2007 at 37k, car is now on 47k but must have had an oil change judging by how clean the oil was.

thats about all i can think of, hopefully someone can come along and add to it.

Thanks you very much indeed, very useful.

last question.. Cambelt.. when does this need doing and is it a opig to do on this engine?

Thanks again

Ollie

[Sky Insurance]

apart from that be prepared to wipe smiles of unsuspecting faces thinking you drive a standard corolla!

Cheers, yes I was pleasantly surprised when I got up to the magical 6200rpm :D

[Sky Insurance]

Ps, thanks again for answering my questions.

[nrgizerbunny]

its a polychain not a belt so no issue with that.

[FoxX]

If you get chance, check that you get plenty of heat from the heater system with the climate control set to "hot".

I've got a 52 plate and had to flush the heater core out to fix a luke warm heater, if you have to replace the core it costs quite a bit. I know one of you guys on the forums have had to do it already with a similar aged T-Sport.

If its had a recent clutch change they may have changed the master cyclinder as well, there was a fault with a squeaky clutch pedal that a lot of us have that is fixed on later versions. It doesnt cause any problems but its really annoying.

By the way, its REALLY NOISY on the motorway if you do a lot of that sort of driving because of the high RPM. Other than that, its a really solid car - its certainly the first car I've had where the doors go "thunk" instead of "tink" :) Has anyone actually ever seen a Corolla on the side of the road?

[cabcurtains]

If you can get one thats been lowered already then that will save you £300! As you will do it in the end as the 4x4 look & body roll isn't the best.

Finding a good one with a mature owner and full history shouldn't be an issue with £4k, nrgizerbunny's comments sum things up nicely.

There an excellent, reliable & practical Q car.

[johnyboy1976]

Excllent topic as was a few things i needed to know.

Hopefully be the owner of a nice red or black face lift T sport in next couple of months.