Used Toyota for $3000 ?

Depends on where you live. Look at the older Corollas.

Houston , Texas.

1994 Corollas should be about $3K.

Yes. Okay , this might be a far fetched question . But do you think the price of this vehicle is good for the specifications listed here ? Also what specific things should i look out for when i actually get my hands on the car ?

1995 Toyota Corolla Sedan 4D LE, Black, Automatic, good condition, new tires. This vehicle includes: - Power Steering - Air Conditioning - Tilt Steering Wheel - Rear defogger - AM/FM Radio - Cassette player - Driver and Passenger Air Bags - Clean title - Full size spare - 128K miles

Price -- $ 2950

Thanks ..

Sounds about right to me. You should ask if the timing belt has been replaced (the answer is yes, twice at 60K miles each). Also ask to see the maintenance records and check for regular oil changes, etc. If the vehicle has been (Toyota) dealer maintained then any Toyota dealer can pull up the maintenance records. I suggest you have an independent mechanic look it over as well.

For any Toyota you might consider, go to Edmunds.com, click the "Tips and Advice" tab, then "Maintenance Costs" or "Maintenance Guide." Fill in the web form for make, model, year, etc., and in seconds, you'll get a detailed list of the maintenance any used car should have received.

It's great. Travis is right on when he said the timing belt should have been replaced at 60k and 120k. I checked. Of course, I'm sure he knew it by heart.

Toyota does not maintain a central database of vehicle maintenance performed at dealerships like Honda does. A dealership will only have maintenance records for work that was performed at that dealership.

Thanks, Ray - that was news to me. I guess I just assumed that it was a centralized system and that all dealers had accces to the records.

Oh well.

Sounds good. Check the "full size spare". Its probably false advertising.

Another alternative is to look at the Geo/Chevy Prism which is 98% Toyota Corolla but depreciates more like a GM car.

A centralized database would make sense but there is a wide variety of dealership IT systems in use, and Toyota does not force its dealers to use its system for accounting and recordkeeping.

Doesn't Lexus use a centralized system? You'd think there would be great economies of scale if Toyota and Lexus shared the same system and all the dealers used it. OTOH there is something to be said for decentralized systems (and decentralized management) too.