My dad has a 1990 Holden Nova/Corolla AE92 auto sedan, nothing has ever gone wrong with the thing. Don't think you can go wrong, but only problem is most cars of this age will have or be close to 200,000km's which can make them a little tired and possibly problematic just because of the wear from the km's. I think generally anything Japanese would be good. However perhaps a Hyundai isn't such a bad thing either, for the same price as an older Japanese make, you could get something newer which is something to consider. My friend got a 1 year old ex-rental Getz for 9k and for what he paid, it does the job quite well.