I got my Starlet Sportif a year and a half ago from an elderly family member who had kept the car garaged since it was new back in 1997, it had only 3500 miles on the clock!
Knowing absolutely nothing about these cars, or Toyotas in general, I did a bit of research on the internet and found a Toyota Owners Forum full of information on servicing parts, tuning and looking after you Starlet. It seems that this car has been the forgotten model that Toyota has made, and was more popular abroad due to higher sales and greater awareness of the Starlet model.
The last Starlet models (EP91) came with 1300cc 16v engines that give about 75bhp, that when compared to other manufactures equivalent models is a reasonable amount of power. The engines rev freely and my car still feels new as does the gear box (mileage is now 20,000).
As well as other base spec models, there is also a 1300cc Turbo version called the Glanza, which was only available to buy new in Japan, but you can still find imported models on the market today for a good price.
The light weight of these cars means that when you have got used to the way it drives, it actually feels as though it has a lot of grunt and makes overtaking in 2nd and even 3rd gears quite entertaining!
Build quality is typical Japanese, it really doesn't feel as though its going to break down or anything is going to fall off any time soon. My car has always started first time, and winter mornings are a breeze to get started and going.
Equipment levels in the Sportif model are minimal to say the least, no electric windows or mirrors, and no rear speakers (but they can be wired in as Toyota tucked away the cabling behind the rear quarter inner panel). Saftey wise it does have a drivers airbag, but nothing more exotic like seat pre-tensioners. The Key also has a basic transponder chip in it to active the electronic immobiliser. Toyota parts can still be ordred from main dealers for reasonable prices eg: a geniune headlamp unit will cost £50, and servicing cost are minimal too.
As funny as it sounds, I still enjoy driving this car and never get tired of the now rather dated looks! After all it has Toyota reliability and it has many thousand of miles ahead of it. If your thinking of buying a cheap older small car, don't over look the Starlets!
