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Went shopping/looking some last week for a vehicle with my 18 year old daughter who's about to graduate from high school. We were looking at Honda Civics, Toyota Corollas, Hyundai Elantras, etc.

We spent all day Saturday checking into vehicles and didn't give it any thought that it was the end of the month. Turned out to be a great day to shop and we found a nice 2009 Corolla S with 93k miles out of the ones we looked at and test drove... and was also the first vehicle we looked at that day.

My daughter is a happy camper with her new-to-her Corolla and I'm satisfied that we got a pretty reasonable deal on the car. Comes with a 30 day bumper to bumper warranty and a 12 month/12k mile powertrain warranty which is nice to have in the back pocket.

We looked at several cars in-between this one and liked this one best. Negotiations weren't bad, but they do reflect the challenge of the negotiating process as I was told their initial price was their best price. (I suppose it was best... for them!)

<snip boring detail of the negotiation process>

One thing I found is that dealers are tossing in a dealer services fee of nearly $600. I assume that is to cover what they do to bring a used car up to speed. Or maybe it's just a profit thing. Regardless, when they took my drive-away offer and listed the details, they backed out tags, title, registration, tax and the $589 fee listed as invoicing and services to arrive at the final actual selling price. Interestingly, NC has a 3% tax on the sale of vehicles. That $589 fee was included in the tax I was charged so the good ol' state of NC still gets to dip and dip some more.

(on March 1 this year, NC implemented sales tax on labor). There is never enough tax money taken in. They always want/need more. #endofrant

 

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I put the Corolla in my name and told the insurance agent about it. He agreed that was the wise thing to do and move it to her name once she has 3 years driving experience. Insurance is not bad... full coverage with a $250 collision ded and a $100 comp ded for $428/year.

I still have to fix the Civic from her little rear-ender on the last snow of the season. It runs fine.. but looks like crap! Hopefully she will have better luck driving this one with ABS, all the airbags (hope the inflators are up to snuff!), etc.

My son is hot-to-trot on an RSX Type S he found somewhere (not local). A genuine cream-puff that sorely temps me. If it was the right time to buy, I'd seriously look into it. But I don't think a cream-puff is the right vehicle for a first car. I think he needs to drive the Civic for a while and work the oopsies out of his system first.

Oh.. that Corolla S... I don't think it's related to any performance package (1.8L 4-banger) with the 4 spd auto. I think it's simply a trim line. I'm glad my daughter learned to drive the manual in the Civic. But she didn't want a stick shift in her car and this auto in the Civic should work well for her.

 

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Reliability/safety is the name of the game. Performance seems adequate, much like the Accord I'm driving. Neither one will be going to the drag strip.

The Corolla feels like a heavier car than it is... at least in comparison to the 2007 Civic and 2011 Elantra we drove. But heavier in a good way, not a cumbersome way. Or maybe more refined is a better term. It's a huge step up from the beater Civic I bought a few months ago for manual tranny training.