Corolla and CVT?

[SatinSilver]

Good job and congrats! Hard to go wrong with that choice. For '23 they did away with the independent rear suspension. Not sure about higher trims but they probably have it. You probably saved 25% compared to a new one. With the blinkers, a quick tap on the stalk will blink the light 3 times.

 

[fdcg27]

This is a very plain car that should serve you well. The rental 'rolla I drove was perfectly okay and it's not as though a Camry brings any excitement or surprise and delight to the table and 35ish mpg is nothing to complain about.
This is probably an optimal buy in the current market. A new base Corolla would be only a couple of grand more, but good luck finding one.
Glad I don't need to buy a car at the moment!

 

[Nick1994]

Folded like a cheap suit and took it home. $21k OTD, including some 3yr/125k warranty which I'm dubious about but I'm awful at negotiating. But no maintenance, GAP, etc (poor F&I guy--well, I wasn't sorry, when I said "OTD" during pricing, I wasn't joking).

Blew it though on the key--wasn't until everything was said and done that I remembered to ask. SMH. Too used to new. Will have to source one, doesn't have to have RKE but it'd be nice to have two.

Not bad. Not as nice as a Camry, not as bad as a Yaris. Miss my power seat, and it's not an "awesome" seat. OTOH it's got two features that blow my mind:
-if I tap the wiper stalk up, it does a single wipe. I've been missing that for years! [Was *not* in my '99, go figure.]
-auto-up on the windows! I rarely use, 'cept on the drive home when I had to pay the toll. I don't think my '10 Tundra had that, can't remember now, my '99 certainly doesn't.

+1 on the soft touch dash, -1 on the door sill being hard plastic. I sometimes rest my elbow there while driving, like when I'm bored. Door arm rest is padded though. Road noise is mostly tire noise I think, so that is there, but as others have said, it's not as bad as my '99. Set cruise to 70 on the way home, only 35mpg-ish, but it's uphill. But--it's not a hybrid. CVT isn't bad, I did find it "lugging" at 40mph which was odd, but not bad.

If nothing else I can trade in a few years, if I really wanted to. I just needed the peace of mind of a reliable commuter. While sitting my '99 today, I started finding new spots of rust on the door sills, the more I looked the more places I found it. The rust monster never sleeps...

Time to start sourcing CVT fluid, will do that at 50k I think, had I bought new I'd just do it at 30k intervals.

$21k OTD for all that sounds like a really good deal.

 

[supton]

Thanks! I have a bit of remorse (found a ding or two when I got home), but I think I did ok. In short order anything I missed will be “normal“ wear and tear.

3 blink is nice.

 

[supton]

So the wife got to see it. Approved.

Have to drive back and get the '99 off the lot. That will be the daughters I think. The power seat will be happy--it's been making unhappy noises as it has to slide like 8 inches whenever we change drivers.

While talking later, wife mentioned that I should keep looking. The '99 lacks airbags and the wife was like, we should get something more safe. I thought--but didn't say--one car was enough for this year.

Funny story: on the way home I stopped at the grocery store, wanted a beer to celebrate. And I needed some money for the car: until I get it registered, I can't get EZPass on it. So I went in with a twenty and asked for singles. The cashier got a really smug look and smiled. I was like, I don't think those places exist around here, and I'm not one to go!

Halfway tempted to do the dad thing. My daughter had a nickname as a kid, two actually, as my not much older son couldn't pronounce her name. Do I get a vanity plate for the '99 with one of those names? Do I tempt the eye roll gods and the wrath of a teenage girl? Nah, I'm not that cruel. Tempting, but no.