“I bought a new Corolla during a “bad engine year”. With the constant topping off of the oil”
Us, too, only it was a Sienna minivan that we bought brand new from a reputable dealer. HORRIBLE experience. You could have used that car to lay down a battlefield blue smoke screen thick enough to cover a battalion.
Engine was FILLED with sludge. We sold it at a deep discount and a few months later the buyer had transmission failure. They called us and asked why the VIN on the transmission didn’t match the VIN on engine and car body. We never had any transmission work done and only took it to the dealer for service. That remained a mystery. Fortunately we didn’t get sued and the issue faded away, but, to this day, I cannot image how that happened.
VW Passat or Jetta had sludge engine issues, but never were forced to replace engines unless you could produce oil change records for the time you owned it.