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My trusty 2.0 Litre 1992 Corona that I've had for 14 years has blown a head gasket after 308,000 km and am looking to buy a newer/safer car.
Budget $8k - $12k.
Wanting a 4 door sedan/hatchback or wagon mid size car.
Prefer car with 60k-80k km, but will look at up to 100,000 km, depending on the model.
Prefer more than the 2 airbags, but with my budget/km range, looks like I can’t be too choosy.
Am now looking at 2005 – 2010 Toyota Corolla/Fielder 1.8 Litre with 4 speed auto
or
2006 – 2007 Toyota Blade (Corolla) with 2.4 Litre motor, but they come with a CVT auto.
Your AA Expert comments that I’ve read suggest that most CVT transmissions are not reliable, although the Toyota Corolla/Blade CVT auto has not been mentioned specifically.
Do you have any knowledge on whether the earlier 2006/7 Toyota CVTs are reliable?
If a belt breaks, do you have any idea of what sort of rough cost to fix? $2k-$3k? Or could it be even worse? Do they have a typical life after which they should be replaced? I appreciate that some of the faults could be electronic.

I'm also looking at Mazda 3/Mazda Axela 2 Litre auto (2005 – 2008), or
Mazda 6/Atenza 2 Litre auto 2005 – 2006 or newer.
Are the Mazda 6/Atenzas fairly reliable?

Hi there,
Toyota fileders, Mazda 3/Axela and Mazda 6/Atenza are great choices, all seem to be reliable without any expensive common faults.
I have not heard specifically of any faults in the Toyota Blade CVT, but I would imagine the 2.4 would not be terrily fuel economic.
If you are interested in a Blade, I recommend speakiing to a transmission specialist about the cvt and if they see any.

Thanks Cade.
Will do more homework on the Blade.