Bit worried about the age, and about the safety rating. But my budget is 10k and cant seem to find anything else that doesnt have 100k+ miles on it. My next option would be a heavily used rav4 for closer to 10k. Any tips? Thanks. For the record, this is to be my daily driver for short commutes. No longer than an hour every once in a while.
It only has 40k miles.
When you are talking about cars that are 20+ years old miles is far from the most important factor. Sitting unused often means corrosive fluids were left in place for years because who changes the oil on a car they havent driven? Oil becomes more corrosive with time even if its not being driven. And where it isnt becoming corrosive its drying out potentially gumming up the works. And rubber seals get brittle and shrivel up so once you put the vehicle back into daily driving all sorts of little things end up cracking, compared to if a vehicle had been in active usage they would have hopefully* been doing maintenance and repairs over time instead of you paying a premium for the car and then within 6 months its sprung 3 different kinds of leaks and blown a shock absorber.
I always have a strong preference for a car that has obviously been used regularly and repaired as needed over a car that was sitting unused for any significant length of time.
And also, its a just a late 90’s corolla. There are 60 of them right now on craigslist for cheaper than that within 100 miles of the city I live. Plenty of them are at least 2005 or newer, which gets you better fuel economy and more power and more reliable engines with the same budget.