Choose a Toyota Twin-Cam: 1989 Toyota Corolla vs 2003 Pontiac Vibe

Toyota is a pretty buttoned-down car company. Most of its economy cars are designed to be user-friendly at the expense of fun, but there have been moments in its history when it let its hair down just a little. Today, we’re going to look at two such vehicles – even though one is disguised as a Pontiac.

Looking at yesterday’s results, as of this moment, we have a first – a legitimate 50-50 tie. Half of you prefer the rusty stoner van, and half of you want the funhouse Charger. I guess that means it falls to me to cast the tiebreaking vote.

I chose the Charger. I do appreciate a good old van, but if I were ever to get one, it would be older than this one and look less like an HVAC company’s cast-off. Besides, the smell of certain recreational substances turns my stomach, and I have a feeling such a smell would be unavoidable in that van. The Charger is very near my old stomping grounds, actually; I used to live just down the road in Little Canada. I’d stop in at my favorite hobby shop on the way.

When you think “Toyota Corolla,” you probably picture a four-door sedan, likely in silver or white or beige, with a sensible automatic transmission. They are excellent cars. They’re not much fun, though. You can get a fun Corolla, of course, and you could get one in days past as well. It’s just that most buyers didn’t go for them. Today, we’re going to look at a couple of older models that could be quite a bit more entertaining than the average rental-spec model.

1989 Toyota Corolla GT-S – $4,700

Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Fort Worth, TX

Odometer reading: 214,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

The seller of this car says he’s selling it for his daughter, “for safety reasons.” It took me a minute to understand that; it’s not that unsafe of a car – oh wait. He’s talking about Craigslist crazies. Yeah, that makes more sense. Then the question is, why is she selling it at all? It’s a pretty cool little car, and it appears to be in great shape. I guess people sell cars for all kinds of reasons. Oh well, her loss is someone else’s gain, even if it is a little pricey.

The AE92 Corolla GT-S is the sportiest version of the E90 era Corolla. It’s front-wheel-drive, unlike its famous predecessor, though it does have Toyota’s excellent 4A-GE twin-cam engine. This one has a five-speed manual, which is definitely a plus in my book. This car with an automatic is just another Corolla. It runs and drives “excellent,” the seller says, despite its advanced mileage. It also has four brand-new tires, so it should be ready to go.

Inside, the heavily-bolstered bucket seats and red stitching on the steering wheel and shift boot set it further apart from lesser Corollas. The round white shift knob isn’t stock, but it is cool. Everything looks to be in good condition, though I don’t know whether that dash cover is preventing sun damage or hiding it. The air conditioning works fine, which is a nice bonus on a car this old.

It’s pretty racy-looking outside for a Corolla, with its factory body kit and white decals. This is also the only way to get pop-up headlights on a Corolla this age, and pop-up headlights are still cool. It’s in good condition, but it looks like there’s a little red overspray around the headlights that might indicate some previous repairs. It’s worth asking about.

2003 Pontiac Vibe GT – $3,995

Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter DOHC inline 4, six-speed manual, FWD

Location: San Diego, CA

Odometer reading: 215,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. – NUMMI for short – was a former GM plant operated as a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota from 1984 to 2010. The site is now a Tesla factory, cranking out Model 3s and Ys in the same buildings that once churned out GTOs and Chevelles. In between, as NUMMI, the factory produced Toyota Corollas of several generations, and a bunch of GM-badged cars that were more or less Corollas, including the Chevy Nova, Geo Prizm, and this car, the Pontiac Vibe.

This is the sporty version of the Vibe, the GT model, which is powered by a Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine making 180 horsepower and sending it to the front wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. The seller says it runs and drives great, and has all new brakes. It has a lot of miles on it, but that’s not uncommon for these cars – though I’ve never seen one with 300,000 miles on it. (Nor has anyone; the odometers of these famously stop at 299,999.)

The Vibe’s interior is pretty much identical to the Toyota Matrix, only with Pontiac logos on it. It’s in good condition, especially for the mileage, and the seller says the air conditioning compressor was just replaced, so it stays nice and cool in there. Everything else works just fine, too.

The Vibe has just enough differences from the Matrix outside to make it its own thing. It’s unmistakable for anything but a Pontiac, and personally, I’ve always liked the Vibe’s styling better than the Matrix’s. This one is in decent shape, with just a little faded paint to show its age. Black isn’t the best color for these, but it does wear it well.

Admittedly, the prices on both of these are a little steep for cars with more than 200,000 miles on them. But we all know used car prices aren’t what they once were, and the ‘Toyota Tax” is definitely a thing. On the plus side, these are both cars that thread that difficult needle of being reliable but also fun to drive. The choice is yours: Do you prefer the flashy two-door coupe, or the handy hatchback?