Built between 1983-1987

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A DOHC 16-valve engine, designated 4A-GE, was added in 1983 on the rear-drive cars. As a 1587 cc inline-four it produced 124 PS, turning the  Corolla Twin Cam Coupé (Europe) into a sports hatch.

Arguably the reason the Twin Cam did not prove as popular as some rivals was its rear wheel drive at a time rival manufacturers were pushing front wheel drive.

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My drive and opinion of a 1986 Toyota Corolla Twin Cam

In its day a great little car the twin cam engine was bullet proof , great going and revved well. Great fun to drive with all the excitement you'd expect from Rear Wheel Drive (RWD). You could have a lot of the smile on your face factor especially on loose stones in a carpark or on a dusting of snow.

The interior finish was decent enough with everything to hand. Not a bad place to be.

To enjoy the engine you had to give it the revs and yet if you wanted to use it just as a routine daily driver keeping the revs low and saving fuel it obliged. On the down side it would be much easier to drive if it had power steering, which it desperately lacks.

Also, back in the eighties it had some decent competition like the GTi Golf, XR3, RS1600i , Renault 5 Turbo and Peugeot 205 GTi . All were nippy and had a big following. After all who didn't want the word Turbo or GTi on their car, while twin-cam lacked the same kind of street cred. The eighties brought some nice sporty cars on offer to the general public . I think there were just too many and sometimes some good ones got lost in the crowd. Today we're seeing a revival in older cars and I believe among them all the little Twin-Cam will stand out. We know that good examples of eighties cars are fetching a premium. The Twin-Cam with its RWD for the hardened Petrol Head should prove enough reason to put a smile on your face and, if you're thinking of buying an '80s motor. Toyota has something for you.

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Trevor Ferguson  2 October 2022