I have 182000 miles on this car. I bought it new, have done regular maintenance. Have had no problems, a lot of original equipment is still on it. It is a 2004 and I am wondering if I should get a newer car or keep this one until I start to have problems. Have never kept a car this long.
Drive it until it dies. The insurance is cheaper and there is no car payment. Put the saved car payment in the bank and when you buy a new one, pay cash.
Corollas are very long lived! My neighbor across the street has a 2001 which she faithfully drives every day. Their other cars are a Cadillac and a Chevy Suburban.
My sister still drives her 2002 Corolla, but aside form a little rust the car performs perfectly.
A 2004 Corolla, properly maintained, should go at least 300,000 miles. without major breakdowns. However, we would recommend the transmission fluid and filter be changed by either the dealer or a competent independent shop every 50,000 miles at least. Other maintenance should be followed to the letter as per the owners manual, not what the dealer wouldrecommend`.
Other posters will have similar stories of long lived Corollas.
The longest life Corolla I ever rode in was a diesel taxi in Malaysia; it had gone 1.4 MILLION kilometers (875,000 miles) on the original engine.
In summary, I think your best miles are still ahead of you.
Drive on if you still like the car. It could last another 5 years or more, especially in your dry climate. I assum that the “az” in your username means you are from Arizona.
A young student here paid $2,000 for a high mileage 2005 Corolla and drove it through college and it now has 300,000 miles and running great. She’s sees no need to trade it in since it has no trade in value so she intends to drive it “till the wheels fall off,” as they say, while saving to pay cash for another Corolla. And, FWIW, the young lady and the cars first owner had all service work done at the dealership and were apparently pleased.
Jeeze, my Scion tC has over 226,000 miles and it’s still running great. I’ve had to change the alternator, and I’m about to do the valvecover gasket when I get a round tuit, and I just changed a caliper that had become sticky, but other than that it still runs great.
My '89 Toyota pickup had 338,000 on it when my daughter got hit in it, and it still ran great.
Keep on truckin’. Expect a peripheral component (alternator, serp belt tensioner, whatever) to need changing every now and then once you get over 200,000 miles, but other than that it’ll likely last indefinitely if you take care of it.