Toyota Corona review: what is left of Camry's ancestor on Bahrain's roads
2.6/5motorssouq Editorial Team
The Corona is not a car to shop for; it is a car you already own or are about to inherit, and on those terms it is honest, simple transport with a 2.0-litre engine that a workshop from the era can still turn a wrench on. It is not a car to invest in beyond basic running repairs — parts are increasingly a matter of luck, resale value is essentially scrap-plus-nostalgia, and thirty-plus years of Gulf sun and salt air have already taken whatever toll they were going to take. Keep it running cheaply or let it go; do not spend real money restoring it.
Pros
- 3S-FE engine is simple, tough and still serviceable by an old-school workshop
- Purchase price is essentially nominal given the car's age and rarity of demand
- Straightforward mechanicals with none of a modern car's electronics to fail
- A genuine slice of pre-Camry Toyota history still usable as daily transport
Cons
- Interior plastics and trim rarely survive thirty Gulf summers intact
- Replacement trim and body parts are essentially unobtainable through official channels
- Rust at sills and wheel arches is common on coastal-exposed examples
- Resale value is negligible; this is not a car that holds or gains money
Before the Camry became Toyota's default mid-size sedan worldwide, the Corona held that job, and the T190 generation covered here was one of the last to reach Gulf roads before the Camry name took over entirely. Finding one for sale in Bahrain today usually means finding a car that has been in one family for most of its life, because nobody is importing or restoring these for profit.
What is actually left to drive
The 2.0-litre 3S-FE four-cylinder is a simple, fuel-injected engine of its era — unremarkable on paper and genuinely tough in practice, which is exactly why any surviving examples are still running rather than scrapped. Power delivery is unhurried and the four-speed automatic, where fitted, shifts with none of the urgency modern drivers expect, but the basic experience of driving one is closer to a modern car than the styling suggests.
What has not survived as well is everything around the drivetrain. Interior plastics from this era were never built to withstand thirty summers of 45 °C heat and UV, and dashboards, door cards and seat foam on a Bahraini example are almost always cracked, faded or sagging even on a mechanically sound car.
The honest ownership case
Treat a Corona as disposable transport, not a project. Rust at the sills and wheel arches is common on any example that spent years near the coast, replacement trim pieces are essentially unobtainable through official channels, and the used-parts network depends entirely on other Coronas being broken for spares. If the engine and gearbox are sound and the price reflects the car's age honestly, it will get you around Bahrain reliably and cheaply for as long as you are willing to accept it looking every one of its years.