Corolla 89 imported?

**DonCamote** · July 8th, 2004 02:40 PM

I have a 1989 Corolla 1.3 XL 4speed. Bought this third hand 7 years ago from a lady owner and it's still running quite well. Medyo na-intriga lang ako kasi when I brought this for a water pump replacement sa casa, one technician commented that my car seems to be the earliest releases of corolla when they returned in 88-89 and he suspects na imported CBU daw ito, as opposed to it being assembled locally. He told me na ingatan ko daw dahil matitibay daw yung mga CBU. Don't know if he's just pulling my leg.

One thing I notice is it does not have that gauge to tell RPM (tachometer baga yun?) compared to other 89's I see around.

Does anyone here still own such model and would you know how to identify whether it's locally assembled or imported? What would be the more noticeable differences.

Salamat po sa inyong opinion.

**eidref2004** · July 8th, 2004 03:03 PM

I used to own an 89 XL before and a 91 XL-5 ....... both don't have tachometers .

AFAIK, the XL variants don't have tachometers .... only the 1.6 GL 16 valve corollas . ;-)

**ssaloon** · July 8th, 2004 03:21 PM

yup CBU's yung early batches ng AE92 corollas. owned a 1.6 GL before. damn, i miss that car. lakas ng hatak for its time! and yes, may tach sila (GL only)

**the_wildthing** · July 8th, 2004 03:25 PM

If I'm not mistaken, ang ceiling mo matigas, hindi felt, tama ba? Ito yata ang isa sa mga differences ng CBU sa dito binuo (SKD ba yon?).

**pajerokid** · July 8th, 2004 03:26 PM

Yung CBU's afaik, yung wala pang paint ang bumpers. That's the time when Toyota just reentered the philippine market and have not yet established their plant.

On the claim na mas matibay, well, its a big maybe. Kung wala kayong bilib sa local toyota then that's probably true.

**DonCamote** · July 8th, 2004 03:42 PM

the_wildthing, no it's not felt. matigas nga. Marami ka na pala contribution dito kapatid. Take a guess who is this :-) I know you used to own one of the same color.

pajerokid, not sure if it's just painted black ang bumper or ganoon na talaga. I'm sure though that it is not painted the same as body color-white.

**the_wildthing** · July 8th, 2004 04:07 PM

I only know one guy who owns a 3rd-owned white XL4 and he married a dentist. Are you the same person?

**DonCamote** · July 8th, 2004 04:34 PM

the_wildthing, You got that right bro.

Cheers :-)

Am just doing a bit of research on my old reliable kasi matagal ko na gusto malaman yan.

Was your car of the same model year?

**the_wildthing** · July 8th, 2004 05:03 PM

Nope. 90XL4 it was. Very reliable until nagkaron ng singaw sa piston ring nagsimulang kumain ng langis at mag-overheat. Sold it in Lucena City. New owner replaced the engine with a 3E and it's still running to this day.