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After owning an older Mercedes as a spare vehicle for a short while I quickly learned that my tolerance for lighting money on fire is pretty low. I think it's decent advice when people say to lease most Euro cars. Or, even better, just use something like Turo and go rent one for a few days...

I've owned an early w211 - with AirMatic. Enough said, lol. Your 2011 BMW 3 is probably worth about double the OP's $4k budget? Buying a $4k BMW today isn't going to get you very far compared to a $4k Corolla. What's OP's budget for annual repair / maintenance?

If you're going to suggest $4000 VW's why not take it further and suggest an old w211 E class, or even worse an S class. Or an old BMW 3 series? You can get them in running condition for sub $4000. But they won't be running for long without needing work ($$)!

Do you really need to bother with the block drain? Radiator drain + fill not sufficient? (especially on a 2019)

FWIW if anyone wants more information on 1ZZ piston/ring iterations there's a thread here (from ToyotaNation) with more info. Per the thread: "there were several update improvements to the rings/pistons on these 1zzfe engines. The final improvements were made with a build date of May of 2005...

9th generation Corolla or Matrix (2005/2006-2008) with the 5 speed manual. More reliable than anything on your list and dead simple to work on. And fun to drive with good handling that gets even better with mods if your into that sort of thing. The 1ZZ has an excellent, usable torque curve...

Interesting, I didn't know the issue made it into some 06 models. I always thought 05+ models were safe as the 05-08 model years are the ones always recommended to buy. My Corolla's door placard has a manufacture date of 04/06. No idea on the engine production date though. Hopefully I made...

FWIW - I've owned my 1ZZ-FE Corolla for about 16 years. It's a 2006 CE with the 5 speed manual. I still drive it regularly and enjoy it every time. Lots of local, shorter trips these days. This car is a fantastic in-town errand runner. Anyways, over the 16+ years of owning my Corolla I've...