What's Good
A much improved Toyota Carina E.
Same range of lean-burn engines. 1.8 litre the most frugal (40-45 mpg) and fitted with Michelin Energy tyres as standard.
Much better looking than Carina E with all-new panels which hide its slab sides and high waist.
Three proper lap and diagonal rear seatbelts.
New 16v common rail direct injected 2.0 litre belt cam diesel, called 'D-4D' for 2000 MY, more economical than lean-burn petrol engine.
Launch advertising campaign left impression of a high-quality car.
Range includes a useful estate.
Has a 3-year manufacturer warranty, and 5-year extended warranty on expensive Lambda probe.
Nice unaggressive 'smiley face' cheers up other drivers.
Lean burn 108bhp 1,762cc engine replaced by 127bhp 1,794cc VVTi as part of late 2001 facelift.
IMPRESSIVE RELIABILITY HISTORY:
In June 2001 Toyota was rated by Motor Warranty Direct as Britain's 3rd most claim-free used marque. Second most reliable car in 2001 Fleet News Survey of 620,000 fleet cars mostly under 3 years old. BMW, Toyota and Ford jointly suffered the fewest breakdowns attended by German ADAC during 2001. 14th from top of 100 models for reliability in Auto Express 2002 survey. Toyota had fourth lowest average cost in warranty claims for cars up to 10 years old in 2002 Warranty Direct index. Joint 2nd top make in 2002 'Which?' reliability survey cars 2000 - 2002; 3rd for cars 1997 - 1999. 3rd top family car, 16th overall in 2003 What Car? J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Survey. Toyota generally 10th lowest average warranty repair costs in 2003 Warranty Direct Reliability index (index 74.95 v/s lowest 31.93) Link:- www.reliabilityindex.co.uk
1998-2000 models had fewest breakdowns, average problems and faults; 2001-2003 models had average breakdowns, problems and faults in 2003 Which survey. Which? used best buy up to £5,000 2004. Came 19th from top in 2005 JD Power/What Car Survey of 23,000 cars reg Sep 2002 to Aug 2003 with satisfaction score of 82.2%.
Very Low 2 out of 9 point death rate from accidents in this model.
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