Had a petrol engined one with 180,000 miles on it. When we sold it, my son remarked it was the only car we'd had that never broke down. And we had five Mercedes!

That's an incredible example, used to see these everywhere. Quite unremarkable at the time but definitely more reliable than their contemporaries.

She looks lovely especially with the black bumpers. My dad drove a Renault 21 in 1991 which he liked. He test drove various models to replace it. Cavalier 2.0 litre, Citroën BX diesel, Carina II 1.6, Honda Accord. Though he was impressed with the Carina, he thought the power steering was too light, the R21 had only manual steering. Never having owned anything Japanese, he bought a 1989 Toyota Camry 2.0 litre. To this day he has only owned Japanese. 2 Camrys and 2 Suzuki Grand Vitaras. His last Vitara since new in 2007.

I still drive a 1996 Toyota Carina E. We've had it in our family since 1999, and after 216k kms it's still on its original suspension, clutch, exhaust, and mostly of it's original parts. Exept of some minor repairs and usual maintenence, it has been an excellent car.

I saw one of these in red on an ‘98 S plate still being used as a minicab in Hemel Hempstead only 2/3 years ago. A testament to their reliability and durability.

My boss owned an old 1993 Carina E 2.0 diesel with no turbo and something like 400,000km (250k miles) on the clock that we sometimes used in an emergency for deliveries (this must've been around 2013). There were a few things wrong with it like the recirc switch would move on its own suddenly fogging up the entire cabin, but it drove quite beautiful on icy roads with neutral handling that would pivot the car around corners and the engine was fine with a linear powerband once you settled for the low power. I only drove it around town with speed limits below 45mph and with the limited grip on snow and ice I couldn't use more power if I had it. That experience helped me gain respect with my boss as I was able to drive around without GPS despite being new in town.

My Dad still has his Carina Xi from '93, brilliant engines in these!

beautiful car.....love to see these type of cars. please do more of the 90s please. they are more nostalgic

My '90 Carina has 250,000 miles on the clock and it's still going strong!

Best remembered as the default minicab back in the day.. beaded seat cover, pungent air freshener and a weird radio station! Still see a few about in my area today. I always thought the 'e' stood for economy because of the lean burn tech.. I won't argue with Mr T though! Now you need to track down a Nissan Primera P10. Same fleet car idea but with far, far superior handling.

These really were fantastic cars. My sister had a 1.6 XLi saloon for many years. That was an ex-company car she got very cheap with about 120,000 miles on it as it was tatty with pancake-flat solid red paint. She put just over another 100,000 miles on it over about 7 years without as much as a hiccup. Despite the state of the paint, it didn't have a speck of rust on it and the interior still looked like the inside of this one with 225,000 miles on it. When she first had it, I had a 1.4 litre, late model Citroen ZX with fuel injection and her, much larger Carina E with a bigger engine absolutely destroyed it in the economy stakes. Even driving around in London traffic, as she lived near Heathrow at the time, it would turn in 40 mpg and it would break 50 on a long, steady motorway run. Despite being a very lowly spec, it was still a very nice place to be on long motorway trips, quiet, comfortable and it rode incredibly well. I think most of these finished off their lives as minicabs in London, my ex-brother-in-law was a minicabber and just about every other minicabber he knew had one of these, which made his diesel Peugeot 405 estate a bit of a novelty. These were rather the back end of the era when Toyota made the most reliable cars in the world, and these things genuinely seemed to be unbreakable. There are still a few genuinely nice ones of these around, often the higher spec models, that have been in the hands of caring, mature owners for, practically, ever, most of them seem to be ex-demonstrator cars, and they can be bought for very little money, certainly below £2,000. Buy a really nice one and look after it and you could have a car that'll last you as long as you need. They're practical, economical and you'll probably never park next to another one in a car park...

There are still alot of these in Ireland. These and the E100 corolla have survived really well here and have a strong reputation for reliability.

I had the '98 Avensis 1.8 GLS hatchback and the fuel economy was amazing. I see a lot of the Carina in the Avensis. Long lasting cars. Great review.

Thanks for another great video! Keep the 90s Toyota reviews coming they’re fantastic

We had a Carina II for 13 years and covered nearly 200,000 miles. It was a 1.6 auto GL so had all the electric bits. Dull, but nothing, and I mean nothing, broke. Perfect daily transport.

Really enjoyed seeing this! I remember my friend’s dad got a 1994 2.0 GLi estate and it was really rapid! Great cars, great video

Epic car. I had the 4AFE carina in 2012 for two years, cost me hardly anything to buy, brought me up and down the country for two years before i sold it to a farmer (who knew what the car was like reliability wise)...now i drive an Avensis.. I understand what your saying about the gearbox but I actually really liked it, it always clicked in. Mine had 170k miles and it was a 98. 90’s Toyota were unbelievable.

I can’t get over what beautiful condition that Toyota is in! I remember sitting in them in showrooms as my father was always looking at Toyota and Nissan - although he always bought Nissans from 1983

Back in the day I had a Carina II which I used for my work as a taxi, my passengers enjoyed the comfortable ride and overall it was a fabulous car

My then-gf had a 1993 Carina CS with 158bhp. That thing went off like a rocket at high rpms. I believe the chassis had lot in common with the Celica. What comes to mind today is the tinny feel of the car, road noise and the sport seats that made your head touch the roof even at the lowest setting. Besides that, very practical with the big hatch and of course everything just kept working. Thanks for the flashback Mr furiousdriving

I do wish the indicators were still on the right - it made sense especially on roundabouts where you could have one hand on the gear and another on the indicator.

It's more likely a german stereo unit than a translation error. Translating Sender in this context means Station (as in radio station).

Toyota and honda are the best reliable cars! Ask any mechanic because they rarely have to fix them!!😁 thanks for another great vid matt!!👍

You are a man after my own heart, gets into a new car and looks where to stash food :)

My old head master had a 1995 CDX model which was a big step up from a Vauxhall Nova. Great video as always.

Hi Matt,what a tidy example of a Carina E,looks new,I remember these back in the day.great video.

My dad had the 2.0 GLI estate when I was a kid. It was a nicely spec'd example with factory O.Z wheels. Huge nostalgia watching this!

Few years back, had high spec diesel - even had wood trim! Went everywhere in it. Had one big issue with it, but even then, it just kept going. It was never exciting, but it was comfy, quite quick, carry tons of stuff, and pretty good on fuel. Best I can say about it - worthy.

I have a 93 1.6 Carina e handed down to me by my father. Perfect car, never broke, still going strong. Only problem is that it doesn't have AC, otherwise i think i would keep it forever.

One of the most stolen cars in Greece. There are still many of them on the road here

When i was a children we had one as a family car, me, my 2 sisters and Brother in the backseat, and we fit there. Nu dad had 3 more as our second car (all 1.6), and drove them quit often as i just got my license then. Have a sweetspot for them and still dream of owning a GTi.

My uncle only ever drove these when I was younger remember them well Absolute Tanks

I have one as a daily driver, 535k km's original 1.6 4afe engine and chassis is sound considering mileage. Most reliable car I've had so far. Also have JZX100 Chaser and GRS182 Crown and now getting JZS171w Crown Estate for main daily driver. Only Toyota for me.

PLL stands for Phase Lock Loop and keeps the input and output Frequencies matched. Think they had not a lot to say about a basic tape player and thought that would do. May as well have written Clicky Buttons for all the good it did. :-)

Nice to see this car. I had one as a courtesy car once (the 2 litre version). As with most courtesy cars in the day you were given only a teaspoon of petrol but it was still a great car even though old and got me to work and back on my teaspoon full. It's funny the teaspoon issue where I was driving an ancient VW caddy as a "courtesy" car which broke down after a couple of miles because they forgot the teaspoon and I had to walk back to the garage and get a petrol can. It was a good excuse for being late for work. No one could invent that as a lie. Great times!

Oh thanks for this review! M665 WHE, 1.6 GS estate, 1995-2010 RIP Good solid cars, everything you said. Quite the alarming understeerer at modest speeds. Ours had the 4 electric windows, mirrors and sunroof. Big inside too, much more space than a Mondeo or Cavalier of the same period. I miss it!

My family used to have this back in the day...so many memories :')

Ah, this brings back memories. I had a Carina E as a company car, one I inherited from another guy who left to join another company.Up until I got the Toyota I had been driving a Rover 214SLi, I got a brand new one every three months one lease (changes so often because of the mlieage I was doing, 900 miles a week) and the Rover was a pretty well spec'd car so it was something of a shock to the system when I got in to the Carina. Sure, the "moonroof" was nice but I couldn't find the switches for the windows ... and then I found they were manual, which really did surprise me. I can even remember the number plate - L120 FRX - which was a blue 1.6.

My dad owned 2 both 1.8 hatchbacks the second one was a 1.8CD which never ever missed a beat and outlasted him in the end, he last drove it in February 2019 and it was stood until June 2019 and started 1st time and still ran beautifully.

I have -94 Carina E 1.6 , in daily use. There is 470 000km behind and it still works very well. Rust was little problem because previous owners silly rust repairs, but i wanted to save it so i welded its body well. Now i see it will run many years with no major problems.

The three blank panels behind the gear lever are for heater seats switches for the executive version :)

I loved these cars my dad had one with just under 100k miles in 2006 and sold it in 2009 and he had the 2.0 petrol with 4 speed automatic but it was smoth and had soft velour seats with saftey and electric windows. It was a good car and it had only one old owner my dad was 2nd owner the car was clean as it came out of showroom and had service history. Wish my dad hasn't sold that car as I don't see these cars much more very rare to see. This was alot better then new cars that toyota are making today.

When I was a kid we had two of this in the family. White saloon and blue estate both 1.6 gl models. Loved them and wished we had the gti model

Imagine a beauty like this being re introduced as a budget model.

PLL = phase locked loop, keeps radio in tune basically

I love your channel. And this review is again a great trip down memory lane. Many thanks for that.

I have owned a 1995 Carina e 2.0 gli sportswagon for the past 21 years, it is used daily and still drives well.

Got a 96 Carina E 7.5 years ago, still going strong at 194k kms. The only issues are cosmetic stuff, the rear foglights get on on their own and some cracks on the dashboard. These are still very common in Greece, but they get stolen or broken into most of the time

Looks like a Scottish one originally on an Edinburgh reg. Betting it came from either Abercromby Toyota, (them of the multi franchise sites), Weir Toyota in Sighthill or perhaps Square Deal Motors in Falkirk. Great seeing one again

Had one for ten years brilliant ,reliable ,quick enough , and economical in the 1.8 form .Had the cdx model all the toys.

I enjoyed my 1990 Carina 1.6. Auto. With button overdrive. Probably underpowered but it would and did cruise Yorkshire to the Black Forest in 18 hours.

Very popular car in New Zealand, in sedan, wagon, and lift-back body styles. There's still heaps of them on the road. The diesel engined version is pretty common over here too. We also got an AWD wagon version which I think was Toyota's attempt to compete with the Subaru Legacy wagon, which was very popular here. We also got the JDM version called the Sprinter, which has more bulbous body styling.

Own a 1984 Carina that still drives wonderfully. I may once buy the E-model to accompany it. Superb quality.

I bought my 1995 Carina E 1.8 CDX at a car auction in 2004 (as a student). It was the last car that went through the auction and I was desperate (otherwise I would be taking the bus home). It cost 550 pounds. That was 16 years ago. 80k miles later (total 170k) and it has been fantastic. It has never let me down, all I've done is service it carefully. There are no rattles or knocks and the interior is amazing. There is no rust above or underneath, i live at the seaside and the car is not garaged. All I did was spray the rear cross member with wax. Alas last month it failed its MOT on emissions, I'm pretty sure the 25 year old valve seals need replacing. The scrap yard phoned today and said it is not being scrapped, it is being exported to Africa where im sure it will do another 5 years at least. They are paying £150 for it so total cost of ownership has been very low. Toyota, what an achievement. In 16 years I've watched my friends go through 2 or 3 cars in the time I've owned this, some with huge bills. Thank you Toyota for building a car that let me spend money on a mortgage and not on garage bills. Now I am no longer a student I have purchased a Lexus.

I have one, 95' made in japan, 1,6 xli, love it, cheers from Hungary

Although I've already suggested it, I'm waiting for the review on the Nissan Sunny N13 if possible! Your rewiews are just awesome and informative

I had one on a p reg. it was a hand me down from my parents and I hated it at first. I grew to love it as it was indestructible,when I thought it had a strange noise and a fault on the way it even seemed to heal itself. The only problem I can remember was I couldn’t open the bonnet one day as hardly ever got opened. Two years ago the clutch went and it wasn’t worth getting it repaired. Was gutted when I scrapped it!

Brilliant car... Bullet proof. Still like the design. Thanks for the vid. See if you can find a Camry '96-'01 one day. Don't know how many there are out there in the UK. Getting rare over here. Love my '01... Tenth year of ownership, still drives live new, just regular services and MOT's. Love old skool Toyota' s Kind Regards from the Netherlands.

I've had one for about 6 months. N reg. 4 electric windows, power sunroof, factory immobilizer, power mirrors and airbag so fairly well equipped. The 1.8 7A-FE engine is bullet proof! Hope for many more miles of trouble free motoring.

the car aged well! still looks 'modern'

Fantastic video and a great car! My great uncle had a Carina E as a mini cab, it just racked up the miles and kept going

Now on my second carina. First one clocked almost 300,000 miles when I sold it. Bought an Avensis to replace it. The carina never broke. The Avensis needed a new engine and steering rack after 40,000. I paid 675 pounds for my second carina now worth 2k. It's totally mint with 25 service stamps in the book and done under 130,000. Love it.

Great review! I have a 1994 Nissan Sunny 1.4i 3dr and that has indicators on the left! My 2001 CRV also has indicators on the left. I guess Toyota didn't adopt this idea in the 90's.

I bought one to sell on back in late 2018, and owned it again briefly back in July. It drove like s Honda I thought, was only the 1.6 GS estate, but it was so smooth and quiet. Attracts the usual ‘worthy but dull’ rhetoric, but I’d have another. Very nice to drive.

As a child of about 8 I remember going with my father to look for a new car. We had a Montego at the time that was pretty past it. We looked at a Passat, Carina E and the newly released (at the time) Mondeo Mk1. The Mondeo felt like it was from a different generation. He chose the Mondeo and it served us very well indeed. I did like the Carina E though, not what one would call exciting though I must say.

What a remarkable example in truly splendid condition. Where have they all gone? Many thanks Matt.

Wow thats in fantastic shape all round,I like the seats in it i wish some of today's cars would come with those type of seats again instead of the boring black.

Had an L reg NA diesel. One of the most comfortable/spacious cars I'd driven. Love my 90s Toyota cars, especially the Camry.

Here in NZ these were a Toyota Corona 1800 probably one made cars Toyota EVER built still see them around i know of one with over 600 000+++ kms on the original engine, it went for inspection WOF ( Warrant of Fitness ) or MOT in UK, at the testing station, known for being tough but fair, they could NOT find a thing wrong with it amazing, in such good condition it is still a Good looking car most here were 1800!

1:12 That E looks like mirrored 3. Clever! 9:05 Two of those are propably for heated seat switches.

Ive worked at at Burnaston for the past 20 years.And quality is drilled into you from the first day you start.Continuas improvement is also another popular slogan at Toyota.

Great review, mate! Love these 90’s Carina’s because of the sublime reliability and the oily smooth lines at the exterior and interior. Can you do a review of a Daewoo Espero? They are a decent rival to this. Bertone styled body, Mk2 Cavalier mechanicals.

Great channel, great review!!!!!

A very direct competitor to my own K-reg 1.6 base Mondeo. Fantastic.

My Grandfather had one for over 10 years bulletproof reliability and always did what was asked of it

I had a 2.0 diesel one 18 years ago, very good car!

Godamn! Where did you find this Carina model in a condition like this??? I love this car. Very good engine too and so spacious it was. Revolutionary car for the '90s mainstream market.

Was there no storage (little draws) under the drivers and passengers seat.?? Mine had them, then again mine was a GLi.

Wow great video as always..

9:18 those blank spaces on central tunnel were provided for 2level seat heating, and security light. Cars in higher trim level has different driver side door card, longer elbowrest and it contains space for main power window and central locking switch. Its a very very basic version :o

Fun fact about why it's called Toyota Carina. The story goes that a high ranking Toyota director was visiting Denmark and at a restaurant was served an immensely sweet waitress named Carina.

Excellent vehicle, a question what is the designation code of the turbo diesel engine

Oh and our car had heated FRONT and REAR windows, fully fitted alarm system with automatic locking etc. We did have ONE incident where the ignition key would NOT start the car BUT once we found the solution that strangely never happened again.. you had to hold the button on the key fob (that armed or disarmed the alarm) for about ten seconds and the car would start the moment you turned the key.. 👀

I'm astonished to see a so low specced example. I know that when it came out that I liked the styling of it, much better and modern looking then its predecessor. I tried to talk my father into having a look at it, he bought a Mazda 626 in the end, 1992 when the 'rounded' model was just released. I have never seen a single Carine E without rev counter or color coded bumpers here in the Netherlands. I looked it up and it turns out that all cars over here had indeed color coded bumpers, but there was a "1.6i" model below the XLi which indeed did not have a rev counter.

i had a 1.8 economy . Fantastic fuel consumption if used lightly . I had it stolen whilst on the beach near Benidorm

I did not know these were built in the UK. My family had a turquoise Carina E estate when I was young, probably '94 model year or so. I remember my father was up hunting elk in northern Sweden with his friends. When he had an massive accident with the car. He was driving way to fast on a gravel road when the road separeted in a Y form to the left and right. He hit the brakes but the ABS just skid on the loose gravel. So he went into a tree between these roads. The airbag had not deployed in the crash and the mobile phone had no reception in the remote wilderness. Luckily in about an hour or so, another car passing by took him to the nearest village for a health checkup. In the village he could call back home in the middle of the night. I remember it so well because my mother was absolutely devastated. It was the same day or the day after her idol, princess Diana had the fatal car accident in France. I had to take care of her and a few days later my father took the train back to us in Stockholm. The car was actually mended in northern Sweden for two months or so and my father went back there to pick it up. They had replaced the ordinary grille with an aftermarket grille with integrated auxiliary full beam lights. Which my father thought looked really cool. We had the car until 2001 when my father bought a new Ford Mondeo '01 estate. Which was absolute shi.. I learned to drive in it, but that's another story. Last time I saw an Carina E was when I was working on project in northern Sweden 2017. It was an early model '92 or '93. It probably lost control and hit the snow bank and landed on it's roof. It was there upsidedown for two months or so before it was towed. Generally Corolla and Camry are more common in Sweden, Carina has become rare. So I just rambled some stuff about a probably underrated car. Great channel!

The mother of a friend of my had a carina E dark blue in the netherlands in the mid 90s I’m from 1987 so i was a young kid. My mom and dad had a mazda 626 from the 90s but i allways found that the carina looks more modern than the mazda 626

I was offered one as a company car when I worked for toyota.it was better than a Sierra imho.they were everywhere.we were selling 20 plus a week.i still love the styling now.

I remember when I was working at an MG Rover dealer in the late 90s / early 2000s, and one of these came in on part exchange against a Rover 75. It had 300k miles on it, was a little faded, but everything worked and nothing rattled. It had half a tank of fuel in it so I used it for a few days whilst my demo was out with a customer. It drove perfectly, handled as it should, didn't smoke and never failed to start. Never let me down either. I came away from the experience with a massive amount of respect for Toyota. They certainly know how to put a car together. A Modern Classic I'd quite like to own today if the right one ever comes along.

Man I remembered my old friend rolling in this car (called the Corona in Indonesia) before the Camry rolled out in the late 90s.

The number plate made me chuckle 'ffs' 😂

My mother had one in dark red second hand from i think 1999 til around mid-2003. She ended up changing it for a first generation corolla verso when i broke the locks on the carina E a few months earlier.

The 1.6L 4afe has plenty of life compared to plenty of cars from the early 00's. I had a 2001 Ford Focus 2.0 petrol and was racing a mate in a 1996 Carina E 1.6. It was practically neck on neck with the focus only barely coming ahead. I had bought the focus to use its engine for a conversion but lost all heart in it when I found out its performance was comparable to a 1.6 carina.

nice review. Can you tell me what your camera clamp is...that big chunky one on the windscreen?

Toyota carina look like toyota camry but smaller. Can some parts like motor or transmition from carina can be put in toyota camry or from camry to carina .J m not mehanic where can j find this information

as you say really reliable daily driver but as stimulating as a fridge - if you want a daily that gives thrills and interest there are loads that do it in spades - think Morris Minor Travellor for family fun - think FIAT Uno for a bit of low power brio - think early MK1 Scenic for ultimate family wagon - there are numerous cars that can be a daily like this but make you WANT to drive them

Hello! 你好！ First, my English is not good. Hope my words can bring my thought for you. I live in Taiwan. I had drove 1.6 MT (AT 171) of Carina II before, about two years for them. We call it CORONA SALOON for Carina II here. Now, I have this Carina E, made in 1997, about two years and drive it everyday. Also 4AFE 1.6 engine and 5 speed manual gearbox. We call "TOYOTA CORONA EXSIOR" for Carina E. Mine is GLi that I guess, so it has electric windows, the more advanced meter, the buttons of the air condition controller. But, no ABS, no fog light, no roof window, no traction control...and else. The later production of GLXi type may be with ABS. It had been produced just two types engine for it here. 4A-FE 1.6 (AT 191) and 3S-FE 2.0 (ST 191) gasoline engine, XLi GLi, GLXi (2.0). Both with 5 speed manual or automatic gearbox could be chosen. In conclusion, I like this car, or I have to say I like the car of the CORONA series, although they're getting old now. I miss my AT 171 MT because that is my first own car from my friend. Lots of memories with it to me and him. And the next owner takes good care of it, I'm glad to see that. I'm so happy to see this video you making to introduce it! NICE!

Will you look at that interior , just.. beautiful. I noticed your jumper matches the seats and door cards fabric 😅😅

The heating controls etc are a lot simpler to control on this car. The new ones have so much buttons, so it is hard to control them while driving.

Great video!