I went through a similar exercise about 4 years ago and ended up with a 1992 Corolla. Toyota designation E100.

1992 was the first year of this model and it ran to 1997. It was the first fuel injected Corolla and regarded by many as Toyota at their absolute best. The same engines were used in the replacement model until 2001. I manage 45 mpg in combined cycle and mid-60s on the motorway. Good to drive, comfy and being analogue, one gets loads of feedback on what's going on underneath.

Easy to work on, although nothing ever needs doing. Only issue to look out for with cars of this age is rust. Finding a rustless example is hard.

Or you could go for the model before it. Model E90. These were carburettor but we're equally as robust.

I have mechanic friend who runs one as second car and is looking to sell. His is H reg and a 5 door hatchback. 90k miles but been meticulously maintained. He's also a qualified MOT tester and has just passed it with 12m warranty. There was a small area of rust on the sill by the rear wheel arch and he sorted this prior to the MOT. Car is very clean and solid underneath.

This isn't a sales pitch and I have nothing to gain but if interested let me know and I can get the pics to you by email.

Then there's also Toyota Starlet, having found a 1.3 1994 model for cheap and even a 1.0 80s Starlet for under 1k.

We still have our early 90s Starlet 1 litre in Amman, (Jordan) it is being used by an impoverished family friend,

It is absolutely amazing the availabilty of used (and some) new parts for the car, and the ability of the "repairers" to fix things. Drive shafts and front hubs recently reconned.. gaiters new available,, we even had it resprayed about 3 years ago!

My best memory of this car was youngrovergitl failing to brake early enough at a military checkpoint and stopping with me next to the soldier. ( I was sitting in the backseat behind her as mum was in the front)

Soldier looked displeased until I smile and shrugged my shoulders and apologised.

I think that car has been owned by yrg for nearly 20 years..

Many many happy memories. Can also remember driving from Amman down t the Dead sea and struggling slowly back up the hills.. Also the driveway from the Garage under the house is very steep and nowadays only one in the car when driving up the slope.

Nissan Sunny B11 (I think, there are a lot of Sunny models) hatchback is probably the best car I've had, bought with (300 quid of) my own money.

Lived in it while doing a Masters course at Aberdeen University. Always started, even when coverted in sheet ice, and even after I disabled the autochoke, which broke and made the car undrivable.

Other problems at MOT time: Rusty brake disks (The Other Scottish Disease), roll bar linkage rusted solid. Rust hole in rear wheel arch requiring 40 quid of joke-quality-MOT-welding to plate it. Emission test showed it running "perhaps a bit lean" which is how I like them.

Cam chain engine though probably interference, dont remember.

Gave it to friends in Windsor (a taxi ride from Heathrow) when I went to Taiwan, and they scrapped it when the tax ran out :(

Could still see it for a year or two on Google Earth, but its gone now.

Its not small, but a house around here has a white Toyota Tercel 4WD parked in the front - F-reg. A sort of boxy, but short estate, with 4WD. There's a whiff of the Simca Matra Rancho about it. It looks like a car you can depend on.

As well as judging mechanical condition rust is the killer of many of these cars - some have been galvanised that obviously really helps but with age a persistent water trap will still rust badly eventually. Where body parts are spot welded to each other can be a fatal source of rust - eg suspension mounts spot welded to floor pan. Also beware crossmembers, subframes etc that are not rust proofed in the same way and I've found on some makes of cars that things like sumps can rust through!

If they do need repairing these cars can be a welding nightmare as the metal can be very thin indeed. I saw a mention of a Datsun 120y further up the thread - lovely engine / gearbox but a common fail was the steering box detaching because of rust! The Nissan Micras, Cherrys, Almeras all mechanically reliable but rust is enemy - beware the front crossmember that self destructs after a few years.

The Toyota Starlet seems to be rather long lived.

For 80's cars condition is all - sometime it is luck of the draw with the quality of the metal actually used when manufactured which could vary year by year. The good thing is if you find one that is still in really good condition after 30-40 years then you might have found a good one by default as the others have long since vanished.

Edited by Big John on 25/07/2020 at 11:11