Two old Toyota’s Starlet on the bridge – From the Old Box

When you think of the Toyota Starlet, you may immediately think of the generations from the second half of the 1980s (P7) and early 1990s (P8). Not surprising, because those were the most popular Starlets in our country. Yet Toyota also managed to sell quite a few of them earlier. We took a close look at the first generation Starlet, the P6, exactly 30 years ago. We brought in two: the primal Starlet and a facelift copy from five years later. Cars with not much experience yet, 95,000 to 61,000 km, but with 15 and 10 years behind them respectively, everything but new.

Although the third generation of the Starlet, later so popular on the second-hand market, was still for sale new at the time, we already knew in 1993 that the Starlet was an interesting cheap used car. That also applied to the first Starlet. These two copies would prove that reputation. To start with the strongest point of the Starlet: the technique. “Starting, running, everything sounds perfectly healthy. Oil consumption is negligible even with the oldest of the two Japanese. The four-speed gearbox couldn’t be better. Very precise and light enough, I go ‘click-click’ through the shift pattern.” A more thorough inspection of the engine diagnostics device followed: no problems. A compression test on both Starlets also showed nothing to worry about. “Even a lot of short driving apparently didn’t hurt them.”

Then the usually lesser side of the Starlet: the bodywork. That also turned out to be quite okay with these two Starlets. Especially given its age, we didn’t think the Starlet from 1978 was crazy about that area at all. We sometimes saw it worse and it turned out: this copy had had the necessary love to still be so hard. “Every year I get under the car and touch up the weak spots myself. The front and rear wheel arches are also weak spots and the bottom at the level of the pedals is not too strong either,” said the owner. Despite being keen on the weak spots, we discovered a wheel arch that had rusted through in some places on the bridge. The 83’er was still devoid of attention-requiring rust spots, so it received a big compliment in that respect.

The only thing that was necessary to repair on both copies was the brakes and some other small maintenance-sensitive matters. Nothing too expensive or worrying, as we actually expected in advance. Our conclusion was therefore: “If you are looking for a small, cheap, reliable car, the Starlet is highly recommended. Because whoever has the bodywork under control, hardly has to worry about anything.”