My son just bought his first new car

[Ausfahrt]

My youngest son is now 28 and he's been driving the '03 Camry that we helped him buy eleven years ago when he was still in high school. It was not in great shape when he got it and I figured that he would trash it but here he is over a decade later with the same car.

So Junior was in the market for a new car but became frustrated with the prices of the pushy dealers in Florida. My wife and I had a relatively nice (we are talking about car dealers here so emphasis on relatively) experience with our local Toyota dealer here in New England so I sent Junior a link. He inquired and they responded immediately and he ended up buying a new Corolla.

I had been contemplating a trip to see my kids & grandkids anyway so I offered to drive his new car to Florida from Vermont and bought a one-way ticket to fly back home. The Corolla is the perfect practical car for him since he gets his hijinks out of his system on his motorcycle. He and his girlfriend want to get married soon and would like to eventually buy a home so a Corolla just makes sense.

My wife and I picked up his car yesterday and I will be leaving to drive it down to him on the 20th. He's obviously excited and can't wait to drive it and it had zero miles on it when we picked it up but racked up 21 on the way home. Here are a couple of pics from our driveway.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Congratulations to your son! Corollas served my family well in the 1990's.

 

[carviewsonic]

The Corolla is a good, reliable and sensibly priced car. Kudos to your son for being sensible. Perfect for a young couple starting out. A lot of young guys go straight for the loaded pickups, with the huge payments to match. Hard to get ahead that way.

 

[mclasser]

I like the color.

 

[Dave Hess]

I rented to same car in Texas last week and drove 700 miles so I’m very familiar with the 2023 Corolla and have my Hertz rental receipt so nobody thinks I’m BS ing.

Love the soft ride / suspension with higher profile tires. Excellent brakes and gas sipping economy. Lots of interior room and very quiet at highway speeds (80-90mph) great car for highway cruising. Great purchase decision.

I was considering doing a BITOG review on my Corolla rental but few might be interested.

*** Edit ***

The only Con:
The rear headrests can not be removed from the seat. It’s one piece and I needed to fold both rear seats (60/40) forward so I can see 100% of the road. I don’t want a motorcycle hidden behind the headrest.

 

[CKN]

Nice ride!

 

[JeffKeryk]

They sell a bazillion Corollas. There's a reason for it.

 

[skyactiv]

Just need all-weather floor mats.

 

[SatinSilver]

My mom bought a '21 a few years ago and only has 7k miles. For this year the 2 liter engine comes standard and the touch screen is larger. Both nice upgrades. But no more independent rear suspension on this trim.

 

[Zee09]

Congratulations !

 

[buster]

Congrats. Great cars.

 

[Hermann]

Congratulations on your son's purchase! Let us know how you think it drives.

 

[CarDoc66]

Can't go wrong with a Corolla, I leased my daughter a 2014 and then a 2016 for her in college. I took the 2016 one day, drove it like I hated it and I must say that car handled so well on broken pavement back roads I had to remind myself I was in a Corolla.....38 mpg too.
Good luck with it, my only caution is to change out the CVT fluid every 60K.

 

[buster]

Toyota Corolla was my first new car. 2001 with the 1.8L. Consumed 1/2qt at every 2.5-3k miles and ran like new when I got rid of with 180k on it.

 

[Ausfahrt]

I rented to same car in Texas last week and drove 700 miles so I’m very familiar with the 2023 Corolla and have my Hertz rental receipt so nobody thinks I’m BS ing.

Love the soft ride / suspension with higher profile tires. Excellent brakes and gas sipping economy. Lots of interior room and very quiet at highway speeds (80-90mph) great car for highway cruising. Great purchase decision.

I was considering doing a BITOG review on my Corolla rental but few might be interested.

*** Edit ***

The only Con:
The rear headrests can not be removed from the seat. It’s one piece and I needed to fold both rear seats (60/40) forward so I can see 100% of the road. I don’t want a motorcycle hidden behind the headrest.

The headrest thing is good to know. I tried to get him to buy the Corolla Hatchback but they were a bit more money and not available.

 

[MoneyJohn]

Congrats. Was this car in stock or had to be ordered.

A question about engine break-in. AFAIK, you are not supposed to drive at constant highway speeds for hours. How do you plan to do this? or take the train from Washington?

 

[Soft Cars]

Just need all-weather floor mats.

Yes, I was wondering where the floor mats were.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Congrats. Was this car in stock or had to be ordered.

A question about engine break-in. AFAIK, you are not supposed to drive at constant highway speeds for hours. How do you plan to do this? or take the train from Washington?

Amazingly, it was in transit and Junior apparently just lucked out and called when the car he wanted became available. He bought it for $400 below MSRP which doesn't sound good to us older guys but is not bad in todays world.

Regarding break in, there is really no good way to decelerate with a CVT transmission that I know of and I have about 100 miles of back roads and small towns before I get to the Interstate. I'm not really going to worry about it.

 

[Ausfahrt]

The Corolla is a good, reliable and sensibly priced car. Kudos to your son for being sensible. Perfect for a young couple starting out. A lot of young guys go straight for the loaded pickups, with the huge payments to match. Hard to get ahead that way.

He paid $23,218 plus TTT for the basic LE.

 

[SatinSilver]

I saw this one at the dealer this morning. The only Corolla in stock.