Toyota Carina E

Would you believe that Toyota's Carina E has been around since 1992? It has. And the excellent impression it made then hasn't worn off in that time. The Carina was the top-seller in its class for more years than many care to remember. It’s the car all the other major manufactures envied; the reason is probably because as an all-rounder, there's not much that could be done to improve the Carina. There are lots of “toys” for the driver coupled with reliability and economy. In 1996 they introduced a 1.8-litre version of the famed lean-burn engine to the range. And they did a slight nose job, this is the model I ...

A run-of-the-mill car that can be bought for a bargain price but also offering plenty of toys and loads of room. That was my criteria when looking for a used car having just become a father for the first time. It had to be large, powerful, luxurious, quick yet economical and the Carina E (E for Europe)satisfies all of these. Its main let down are refinement and handling which are both rather poor. I bought a top-of-the-range 2.0 Executive model which also has ABS so its safe as well. Being japanese (well, it's actually built in Derbeyshire) there are no reliability issues to contend with and parts are readily available from dealers or the multitude ...

Now these are all fairly big Toyota selling cars, but I can't quite work out why they insist (or used to anyway) on naming them after bits of flowers. Carina - The bit where two petals unite Corona - The crown shaped bit of petals (like a daffodil) Corolla - The petals considered as a group Go figure. Anyhoo... I've recently acquired a Carina E XLi 1.6, but it's been in the family for a while. In fact, dad bought it with 7000 miles and only one month old. Since then it's done us pretty good service now standing at 85000 miles odd. Please bear in mind that I'm not exactly a car fanatic, nor have I driven loads and ...