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Why Did You Buy A Corolla?

by muzak, April 29, 2006

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It's funny how I was at the Dodge dealer and almost made a deal on a new Caravan. I went to Toyota and fell in love with the colour and after a test drive....I was hooked. I guess having 3 Echos in the family didn't help much either. The main reason though...Dependability...and I'm very happy with the Toyota dealer having service open till 10pm at night and till 4 Saturday.

  • 1,424 posts

I bought my Corolla because I felt it was the best deal for the money. It also had lower insurance rates, better fuel economy, and was of higher quality than some of the other cars I looked at. I also bought it for reliability because I had just previously owned a Ford Contour that had some problems due to the prevous owner's abuse. My grandma had a 1992 Camry that went to 200k with only battery, tire and wiper replacements, and my Mom had a 2003 Rav4 L that went to 30k without even one rattle, so I figured Toyota was the way to go.

Became fed up with a lemon of a new 2000 Saturn LS (big Saturn model). Total POS with numerous design flaws.

Even though I worshipped with the dealer, he couldn't fix GM's total screw up. The Saturn L wasn't near good until 2003 model year.

At 21K miles, said hello to a new Corolla CE. Never regretted it.

I had an 1986 Camry that I bought used from my father when it only had 30,000 miles. He was going to trade in the Camry on another vehicle and I told him I would take it. I drove that Camry for 240,000 miles with only minor problems. It was still a tight well built when I donated it.

A frinds parents bought the my current 2004 Corolla new and they wanted to see because they were moving. They were going to sell it to the Toyota dealer and I told them I'd take it for what they offered. That was three weeks ago and I'm really glad I did. Gas prices have gone up steadily and the Corolla is averaging over 30+ MPG. It feels tight and well built just like my old Camry....only better.

Bikeman982

I bought one because it was cheap on e-Bay and it looked like a good car. I wanted reliability and good fuel economy. Since then I have bought four more because I think I can work on them fairly easily.

I didn't exactly buy one, but was in fact handed down one by my dad. It's a 1993 Geo Prizm LSi 5 Speed Manual approaching 141,000 miles (a.k.a Toyota Corolla), and I am glad it was my first car. I have no doubts that it will last me through college, and who knows maybe the next 5 - 8 years of my life. I take good care of it as many of you already know, and the ability to shift gears whenever I want puts the fun in driving! It’s cheap to run; cheap to maintain, and does everything I want.

it was $950 and i needed a car.

During the great gas shortage (when was it? The 70's?) my 1969 Plymouth Valliant was wrecked. I decided to spend the money I got from the other party's insurance company on a new car. I went to a car dealership (not paying much attention to what kind of cars they sold). I wanted a compact car. They said "No, we don't sell the Gremlin". The only compact car they had on the lot was a 1979 Corolla. So I bought it for about $3000. It went through an engine rebuild and was running fine into the 1980's.

But by 1983 I had moved to New Mexico and had to commute about 48 miles to work every day. My '79 had no AC. The vinyl seats were uncomfortable and I felt every pothole. In 1989 the 1979 Corolla was in need of another engine. So I decided to by a new car. I read the book "Don't Get Taken Every Time" by Remar Sutton. This warned me about all the tricks used by car salesmen. But I didn not feel confident that I knew how to negotiate for cars. I went to a local dealer and inquired about used cars. After I refusied to buy a new car , the saleman showed me a 1989 Nissan Sentra and a 1989 Toyota Corolla with 44k miles on it. He quoted me prices on each that were about $8500. I said "I'll give you $8000 for either car, your choice of which one". (It was the only negotiating tactic that came to my mind at that moment). The salesman seem excited and slightly confused and left the room to see the manager. He came back and said "You bought the Corolla". I still drive it to work. It has about 260,000 miles on the original engine and transmission. I have no idea of what kind of deal that was in 1989 but in the long run it has been a good deal.

After getting my brother's 1989 Corolla, I needed a newer car to commute more...since my dad would only offer to help finance on a cheap, but reliable car, he kinda boxed me into my current 1999 Corolla LE that he found on a tiny private lot...(The one w/3 old Benzes and my Corolla in it)

I will never go back to a base model ever again...

Last summer I decided I wanted a mid-90's foreign car to play/commute with. A friend's dad (who had bought it new) was selling a manual transmission 94 Corolla DX with 225,000 miles for $800. I couldn't refuse. The only things I've had to do to it since I bought it in August is replaced the clutch in January and replaced the alternator 3 days ago. It now has over 251,000 miles and runs very well.

Bikeman982

Is there anywhere that would give a list of average annual operating costs of cars? I have seen household appliances that post that information on them and think it would be good to know for Corollas. Imagine being able to see how much (on the average) it would cost you to purchase and operate a Corolla. I have kept accurate records on all my cars but I also include my gas and insurance costs and those vary per user. I suppose it could be broken down into cost per miles as well. Might be interesting.

  • 1,424 posts
Is there anywhere that would give a list of average annual operating costs of cars? I have seen household appliances that post that information on them and think it would be good to know for Corollas. Imagine being able to see how much (on the average) it would cost you to purchase and operate a Corolla. I have kept accurate records on all my cars but I also include my gas and insurance costs and those vary per user. I suppose it could be broken down into cost per miles as well. Might be interesting.

If you go to edmunds.com, you can look up a vehicle and somewhere it will have a true cost to own for a five year period. This includes taxes, insurance, gas, repairs, maintenance, etc. I assume dividing this by 5 would give you an average annual cost to own.

I made my parents buy Corollas because an '82 they randomly fell into the ownership of was reliable throughout 16 years while the Ford, Chevrolet, and Nissan we owned at various times during those 16 years all required frequent and expensive trips to the mechanic!

Another unique thing was the 1982 Corolla was not maintained regularly by my father. He'd wait for a year and a half before oil changes, etc... So it'll be Corollas for me forever! I must reward its loyalty.

My fiancee has a 2001 and, despite her driving it like Mario Andretti, it runs like new. I figured any car that can deal with that abuse can't be all that bad! :-) Plus, I needed a gas thrifty car that looks nice and wasn't over $12,000. So, I bought a 2003 LE with 30,000 miles and it's only needed a wheel bearing which was covered under warranty. With 90,000 miles on it now and only basic maintenance, it's still running like new!

-Mike

Max

After driving nothing but (Toyota) Celicas since the late 1970s, I was ready for four doors, great fuel economy, and a smoother ride, and it had to be a Toyota. Hello, Corolla.

I bought mine for two reasons.

1. I needed something I could fit people in other than my regular cab truck.

2. That regular cab truck was a 2003 Dodge Ram with a gas guzzling Hemi.

I used to spend $50 and not even get a full tank of gas in the truck. That would last me about a week and a half of doing nothing more than driving back and fourth from work. I bought the Corolla and spend less than half of what I did on the truck and can go a full two weeks before I need to gas up. that was all back when gas was $2.00 a gallon. I love my car and tell everyone I know that they should consider one if they're in the market.

It's kind of sad/funny how I wish I could find $2.00 gas. Gas went down to $2.85 here today, down from $3.05 yesterday and I actually had a huge grin on my face. I never in a million years would have thought I would be excited about paying $2.85 for a gallon of gas.

Bikeman982

I bought mine for two reasons.

1. I needed something I could fit people in other than my regular cab truck.

2. That regular cab truck was a 2003 Dodge Ram with a gas guzzling Hemi.

I used to spend $50 and not even get a full tank of gas in the truck. That would last me about a week and a half of doing nothing more than driving back and fourth from work. I bought the Corolla and spend less than half of what I did on the truck and can go a full two weeks before I need to gas up. that was all back when gas was $2.00 a gallon. I love my car and tell everyone I know that they should consider one if they're in the market.

It's kind of sad/funny how I wish I could find $2.00 gas. Gas went down to $2.85 here today, down from $3.05 yesterday and I actually had a huge grin on my face. I never in a million years would have thought I would be excited about paying $2.85 for a gallon of gas.

Gas has just gone over $3.00 a gallon today at my favorite station. Even with my pretty efficient Corolla I am not pleased with the price of gas. I pity the big truck and SUV owner's, especially if they have any kind of commute and they use it as their daily transport. If gas gets more expensive I will have to quite my job and go on welfare, because I won't be able to afford the cost of gas to get me to work. Anyone else think gas is getting too expensive to be funny??

 

 

Do not complain about gas prices. Here the caltex servo near my house costs A$1.399 a litre. In American that is about $4.12 a gallon. Not suprisingly the big aussie 6 section of the market is waning, having experience non-stop negative growth since 2002.

However, at time of writing, oil is at $73.70 a barrel.... in April 1980 it got up to an inflation adjusted monthly average of $97 a barrel. I beleive gas could go up to US$3.60 a gallon, but hopefully by then the speculative bubble that has drivien these prices will have popped and we are all paying $2 a gallon again....

Bikeman982

Do not complain about gas prices. Here the caltex servo near my house costs A$1.399 a litre. In American that is about $4.12 a gallon. Not suprisingly the big aussie 6 section of the market is waning, having experience non-stop negative growth since 2002.

However, at time of writing, oil is at $73.70 a barrel.... in April 1980 it got up to an inflation adjusted monthly average of $97 a barrel. I beleive gas could go up to US$3.60 a gallon, but hopefully by then the speculative bubble that has drivien these prices will have popped and we are all paying $2 a gallon again....

Have you ever seen the gas prices go down, after people have adjusted to a new high??- it goes down, but never to the original amount. It is a psychological ploy to raise the price and then drop it to half the amount it was raised. It gives people a false sense of relief.

 

 

I bought my Toyota Corolla because of it's outstanding fuel consumption rating, perceived reliability, high resale, perceived quality of construction, 130HP I4 with decent torque, lots of room, comfortable and low maintenance costs.

After 4 years of ownership, there is still a few traits that have remained. The ones that haven't remained is the quality of construction. With Toyota showcasing a site like this, http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WW...t141000e%2ehtml I figured this car will be bolted together correctly. *sigh*, but alas I was just a beta tester for the 9th generation Corolla. Like an idiot I bought one of the 1st cars from the assembly line. Not very smart! That's what I get for wanting to be on the bleeding edge. At least no one knew what the was car for a little while and for almost 6 months I never did see another 9th Generation Corolla on the road.

As for fuel prices, it's very dissapointing that the extra $$$ I pay at the pump is lining the executives at oil companies with money. I guess if I was to cash on the high price of oil, I just might be that greedy. Nah, instead of 400 Million like that CEO got, I would be perfectly happy with a paltry 40 Million. Hard to not feel violated everytime I fill up at the gas pumps.

I bought my used 98 Prism because I drive about 25k miles a year, and the Explorer just wasn't cutting it with the fuel prices. I did a little homework and compared the 17mpg avg I got with the explorer versus the 37mpg avg I get with the Prism = saved about $2250 in gas over the last year.

I'm still hoping the Prism will burst into flames some day so I can justify getting rid of it. It's a great running little car, but I do a lot of hwy driving and it isn't very comfortable. If it died, I could justify buying my 07 Camry.

Why don't you sell your 98 Prizm? I'm sure a student would gladly take it off your hands...or a recent grad...

That is how I got my car.. default_smile

Bikeman982

I bought my used 98 Prism because I drive about 25k miles a year, and the Explorer just wasn't cutting it with the fuel prices. I did a little homework and compared the 17mpg avg I got with the explorer versus the 37mpg avg I get with the Prism = saved about $2250 in gas over the last year.

I'm still hoping the Prism will burst into flames some day so I can justify getting rid of it. It's a great running little car, but I do a lot of hwy driving and it isn't very comfortable. If it died, I could justify buying my 07 Camry.

I think you should sell it and get a real Corolla!!

 

 

Do not complain about gas prices. Here the caltex servo near my house costs A$1.399 a litre. In American that is about $4.12 a gallon. Not suprisingly the big aussie 6 section of the market is waning, having experience non-stop negative growth since 2002.

However, at time of writing, oil is at $73.70 a barrel.... in April 1980 it got up to an inflation adjusted monthly average of $97 a barrel. I beleive gas could go up to US$3.60 a gallon, but hopefully by then the speculative bubble that has drivien these prices will have popped and we are all paying $2 a gallon again....

Have you ever seen the gas prices go down, after people have adjusted to a new high??- it goes down, but never to the original amount. It is a psychological ploy to raise the price and then drop it to half the amount it was raised. It gives people a false sense of relief.

 

 

In Sydney last spring, after katrina the price of petrol went to $1.40 a litre. However, by december crude oil price had fallen from $70 to $55 a barrel, and on tuesday nights in sydney I paid $1.05.

It should be noted that service stations and not even oil companies set petrol prices. The growth in fuel costs we have seen since '02 is due to speculative trading in crude oil. The oil supply/demand relationship today is the same as it was in '02 when oil was $25 a barrel. Its not peak oil, its not oil companies profiteering, its not even opec screwing us over. It is just a speculative bubble - one that will burst, ending in tears for many speculators.

Bikeman982

Do not complain about gas prices. Here the caltex servo near my house costs A$1.399 a litre. In American that is about $4.12 a gallon. Not suprisingly the big aussie 6 section of the market is waning, having experience non-stop negative growth since 2002.

However, at time of writing, oil is at $73.70 a barrel.... in April 1980 it got up to an inflation adjusted monthly average of $97 a barrel. I beleive gas could go up to US$3.60 a gallon, but hopefully by then the speculative bubble that has drivien these prices will have popped and we are all paying $2 a gallon again....

Have you ever seen the gas prices go down, after people have adjusted to a new high??- it goes down, but never to the original amount. It is a psychological ploy to raise the price and then drop it to half the amount it was raised. It gives people a false sense of relief.

 

 

In Sydney last spring, after katrina the price of petrol went to $1.40 a litre. However, by december crude oil price had fallen from $70 to $55 a barrel, and on tuesday nights in sydney I paid $1.05.

It should be noted that service stations and not even oil companies set petrol prices. The growth in fuel costs we have seen since '02 is due to speculative trading in crude oil. The oil supply/demand relationship today is the same as it was in '02 when oil was $25 a barrel. Its not peak oil, its not oil companies profiteering, its not even opec screwing us over. It is just a speculative bubble - one that will burst, ending in tears for many speculators.

I think the day that crude oil is gone should come as soon as possible. That way the inevitable will be completed. I hope the people that are getting rich at our expensive end up getting what they deserve. When the bubble bursts I can only hope that a better alternative made oil obsolete anyway. Let's stop thinking that we have to have the oil and start looking for something else to power our cars that is economical and available to everyone.

 

 



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