Yeah, I'm not personally a big fan of the styling of the 7th gen either, especially with the silly bodykits they could come with. IMO the 5th gen has the best styling of all the modern Celicas. But the chassis and drivetrain are just so much better on the 7th gen (provided it's the 2ZZ of course).
My Corolla hasn't had any issues as of yet, but it's a low mileage example with a full service history, so I wouldn't be expecting any issues to be honest. After owning the Group A Celica, in which I was constantly chasing my tail diagnosing and fixing problems as they constantly popped up, the Corolla in comparison is bulletproof.
As
@GDII says, the only real weak points of the 2ZZ are the oil pump and lift bolts. The oil pump is only a weak point if the engine is severely over revved, which can only be achieved if you shift down at redline, which pushes the revs to something crazy like 11k. I've seen stock engines, with nothing but bolt ons and a Power FC, safely revving to 9,500rpm with no problems. The factory rev limit is 8,200, so as long as you are careful to learn the box properly before trying to quick shift at 8k, you wouldn't run into any problems with the oil pump. As for the lift bolts, they wear out in practically every 2ZZ as far as I'm aware. You can buy much stronger aftermarket ones to replace the stock ones, and if the stock ones do break, 9 times out of 10 the only problem it causes is the engine won't go onto lift.
Stock, the 2ZZ is a pretty well sorted out piece of kit to be honest. I was shocked the first time I got under the Corolla and saw the stock exhaust on it is a 2.25 inch mandrel bent system, with a cat so big it looks like it's off a 6 cylinder, and the stock exhaust manifold is a set of tuned length 4 into 1 extractors! There's not huge gains to be made with bolt-ons because of how well sorted the setup is from the factory. With even the best sports exhaust, extractors, and intake, which cost a lot, you'll only gain about 25 - 30hp at the wheels. Where the big potential is in the 2ZZ is turbocharging. The little 1.8 responds incredibly well to being force fed, much like the Honda Vtec engines. Even a small turbo will be capable of boosting the power to as much as 350hp, and the most powerful 2ZZ I've heard of is the old MWR Celica, that pumps out a massive 823hp!!!
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Also had some 'room/space' (what is the correct word for this?) on my stabilizers so changed them too. No more banging sound while driving over potholes etc. 
