Same here, they've turned back into the Hyundai of the 90s.
Went looking at new Corolla's with/for a buddy. Nope, not happening.
- Thread starter wemay
- Start date
Same here, they've turned back into the Hyundai of the 90s.
Mazda has some really great interiors. I don't know why it didn't come to mind here. I didn't even think of it.
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2024
- Messages
- 167
Buy a low miles, depreciated BMW. Easy to find a garaged, dealer maintained example.
Some of the $$$ you save will go to extra maintenance and repairs. If you drive a limited number of miles per year, a luxury European car can pencil out in you favor.
Some of the $$$ you save will go to extra maintenance and repairs. If you drive a limited number of miles per year, a luxury European car can pencil out in you favor.
My neighbor bought one, a 330. He's always coming over here asking if I'm willing to fix some new oil leak. Nope.
That's what got me out of my VW. It's not exactly European luxury, but being a performance model it has all the expensive transmission, differential, and 40k spark plug service. At 20k miles a year I was going to be doing that every 2 years. It adds up fast.
wemay
Site Donor 2023
I do. I think it's a great choice.The Mazda would have been nice too.
Went thru a similar exercise last month with my sister. Toyota dealers were selling at sticker or $1-2K off msrp. No add-on's though. My sister was more interested in feature content than anything else, so we ended up with a Forester Touring. The redesigned Forester has not been selling well so we got $5K off msrp; a comparable Toyota would have cost at least 8K more.
I suppose it's a situation of pay me now or pay me later, though.
I suppose it's a situation of pay me now or pay me later, though.
Last edited:
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
Yes, $760 for control arm for Camry at 46k is epitome of savings.
Only potentially expensive service on VW is DSG, if one goes with DSG.
But than, every morning you have to sit into Corolla. Which is like every morning deciding to sit into your microwave.
I picked a different option altogether, but we’ve covered that before. Keep in mind I’m only mentioning scheduled service. I had some unscheduled repairs but they fell under warranty. It was a bit odd to have the heater core fail at 40k miles.
I loved the car, but all the service negated the good fuel economy when it was just used for highway duty unfortunately.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
Let’s not forget you are talking GTI or R, whatever.
Comparable VW is Jetta that starts at $21,900.
Also, Toyota’s have unscheduled maintenance too and schedule one too. I mean, you can be like my neighbor with Sienna that “never had problems “ with 120k on the clock, although I could hear her minivan clunking from 100 feet away. That was until $4,000 bill hit the wallet. On my Sienna front suspension needed complete overhaul, trunk lid replacement, at 85k.
But hey, if someone thinks $32k for bare bone Corolla is worth it, good for them. Don’t forget, you drove hot hatch. Toyota’s hot hatch usually get denied warranty if they are driven above 80mph.
Oh I’m very aware that “I haven’t had to spend a dime on maintenance and nothing is broke” is a horribly neglected vehicle I don’t want to buy when they’re done with it.
You’re right about the GTI and it was spectacular for what it it was and I’m not a buyer of base boring anything, so I would not actually be considering a Corolla and with the track record of the warranty denials I wouldn’t buy the GR. I only bring up the GTI because even as efficient as it was playing highway cruiser, even that got expensive when I went to driving 20k miles a year again. I could have easily ignored the service schedule like many people do, but that’s not me. I have too much mechanical sympathy for that and I like to make things last as long as possible while having it perform the same way or better than it did off the showroom floor.
$32k is absolutely too much for a Corolla when the current Jetta exists. That with a manual is pretty low maintenance, though with the new DSG that service is now 80k miles and I think it also has longer life plugs. Then again if I did it all over again and bought a VW, I would still buy a Golf R since that’s really the only other car I considered this time. It was just a point of reference that it doesn’t take buying an Audi to get Audi service costs. The top performing VWs do too. It’s the same for the Jetta GLI just being a GTI sedan. I know what I would have been in for. I still would do that, it’s just worth mentioning that if someone has low mileage needs and buys a car with that kind of service schedule and their needs change, those services start coming up a lot faster.
If anything VW’s scheduled maintenance is very thorough which is refreshing in a world of “lifetime” fluids.
Yeah.
I’ve always been an advocate for buying new cars but post-Covid has seriously tilted that equation. For $32K you can buy a pair of 2015 Camrys with 80k miles.
Even if someone was upside down from bad car deals and had to roll $ and pay 32k for a Corolla, they would still be better off than in a VW.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
As long as there is a sheep, there will be a wool.
JHZR2
Staff member
Agree. The feminization of society drives this sort of stuff and trains people to be ripped off in the interest of less conflict and "ease".
Youre literally paying a premium to pay what they are telling you to pay. Completely stupid.
Costco implies a haggle free experience, but Costco also implies a wholesale price. Ive never used them to verify.
No way Id deal with a no haggle place.
I haven't priced new cars in awhile. Do Corollas really cost $32K? Wow.
The last new cars I've bought, other than Teslas, were Lexi. There are a lotta dealerships in the Bay Area. I just made a spreadsheet and emailed all the Internet salesmen and let them fight it out.
If I were looking for a Corolla, or whatever, I would do the same. Now if $32K was the Corolla number, I doubt I would be a customer.
Good luck to anyone in the market.
The last new cars I've bought, other than Teslas, were Lexi. There are a lotta dealerships in the Bay Area. I just made a spreadsheet and emailed all the Internet salesmen and let them fight it out.
If I were looking for a Corolla, or whatever, I would do the same. Now if $32K was the Corolla number, I doubt I would be a customer.
Good luck to anyone in the market.
How is it different than buying any other good?
Either agree to the price or leave it on the shelf? All the other rigmarole is stupid. I don't have to have a sales associate speak to the sales manager to buy some pears, I make that decision myself.
We looked at a Corolla Cross AWD (non-hybrid) for a hot minute.
From both a drivability and a NVH standpoint, this thing felt like a $20K car from 10 years ago. Dealer was willing to sell at sticker or a grand off.
For less money, I'd rather take a Forester Premium for $4k off and roll the dice on reliability.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
The way new Sequoia is doing, they might start selling it for $32,000. So there is that option too.
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2024
- Messages
- 167
I always said this, until I found a one owner, older car in mint condition, with great maintenance records.
Sometimes KBB pricing doesn't accurately reflect the value of a vehicle.
