I gotta admit. After 2 years of driving my 98 corolla, I'm getting a little bored. I love the corolla for what it offers (ie, the practicallity aspect of it). However, being a 20 yr old CSUF student, something with more umph would be great! I just know that in the long run, maybe a few years, I'll regret it due to increased gas consumption.
I also gotta say that for a small gas miser vehicle, I'm still able to take on older corollas and majority of civics. In accelleration of course. The utility of the vehicle is almost surreal with what you can put in the corolla. The folding seats give near unprecedented space for storage, hell, your car is practically a little pickup truck. I've been able to fit my entire corner desk in there. I was able to fit a twin size mattress in there, plus space in the passenger seat and the foot space behind the passenger/driver seat.
All of my friends have a better car than I do. Like a passat or solara or an SUV (if you consider that better, but I dont). The passat was able to get 0-60 in 6.5s. That must be really fun and I can stay stimulated driving something like that for a few years. However, at 20-23mpg, my friend is not liking his passat anymore. What good is driving something if you cannot afford to drive it anywhere because it chugs gas?
With that said, all of my friends actually like my car better because its light, I can make a u-eee in 2.5 lanes<-awsome turn radius, and the pickup in first and second gear is decievingly quick. One of my other friends that drives a 97 maxima, same specs as the passat, kinda looks down on corollas. What many people don't realize is how quick the pickup is in the first few gears of the corolla. In fact nearly nobody that has driven a corolla knows how peppy it is at low speeds. Ever since I mentioned that I can get 0-60 in 8s, he listened. He respects it that much more because his impression of it was a pretty low standard to begin with. Mind you 0-60 in 8s is not that bad and realistically, that's all anybody really NEEDS. But everyone wants that number lower but that is a WANT.
I'm not really a racer, every once in a while its fun but, thats rare to about 1nce every month or 2. To me, the corolla has the most genius minds working behind it. To me, true engineering is how efficient you can make an engine and still keep the hp. Anybody can make more hp out of an engine, that part is simple. Its like sex, anybody can get sex, even the ugly guys can get sex. If one really wants sex, they'll just pay, either way, sex is always available. Sure sex is fun this that and the other. But what defines a true person isn't the sex, but its loyalty and care. Wow, this is a retarded analogy but it works. Likewise for a corolla, a true car through and through. Its quality in its class and some classes above it. I know, I would rather drive a corolla than a pontiac grand piece ** ****. Hell, I can out accellerate them and last longer.
My friend presented a website to me and I was comparing my gf's 94 grand piece to a 94 corolla. The Grand piece was falling apart at 150k miles (alternator broke, trans broke, pwr windows stopped, door handles didn't work, trunk was leaking, engine mounts needed r&r, starter needed r&r, 2 pages of crap) But it lives up to its name well, the grand piece. the 94 Corolla DX (r&r tranny at 350k, r&r alternator at 350k, change clutch, thats it) Even back in the 7th gen corollas, the guys at toyota knew what they were doing. I can only imagine how the 9th gen corollas could be. Toyota just refines their drive train and powertrain more and more.