Corolla XRS or Civic EX?

[Jngrbrdman]

I`m in the car market again and I`m torn between two choices. This really should be an easy decision, but I`m leaning towards the one that would put me out of my knowledge zone.

There is plenty of info on the Civic, but the XRS is a new one for me. I`ve only ever seen one other one on the road and it is because I work with the guy who drives it. Here is some info on the 2005 Toyota Corrola XRS.

The most power will come from the XRS. It has a 170 HP 4 cylinder and the EX has 127 HP. The EX only has a 5 speed transmission while the XRS has the six speed. Size wise I think the difference is negligible. Resale value wise I think it is still sixes. I don`t even really have a preference as far as styling goes. I think they are both great looking cars. The one thing I`ve been having a hard time with is that Civics love that Beige interior. Blech! I swore never to get a light colored interior again, and I`m really trying to stick to that. It is hard to find what I`m looking for though.

Since the Civic is one of the most stolen cars in America, it is no wonder that the insurance is higher on one. It would only be an extra six bucks a month for the EX, but for a car that has 40 HP less, I don`t feel like paying more. I don`t really want the danger of having my car stolen either, so the risk of a Civic seems a little high to me.

The Civic says City 31 mpg, Highway 38 mpg and the Corolla says City 26, Highway 34. Meh... It would be used for a two mile trip back and forth to work when the weather was bad. I can live with 26 mpg considering my estimate of 5000 miles a year will be put on it.

So after talking it out, it really seems like the Corolla XRS is the better car for me than the Civic. What I don`t know is how reliable are the Corollas really? The XRS has the motor of the Celica GT-S. The one I`m looking at has about 53000 miles on it, which is really high for an `05, but I figure the fact that it is a Toyota should give it some credit. Any thoughts on this? Before I get to agressive in my negotiations I figure I should be firmly commited to the purchase. The Civic would work for me, but I just can`t justify spending the same amount of money for a car that has less power, more insurance cost, and beige interior. Am I just overthinking it and should pull the trigger, or is my instinct to think about this a good thing?

[cwcad]

I believe that you have your answer to your question written in your post but I will put my two cents in the fray.

Given all the pro` and con`s that you mentioned in your post I think that you have done the practical research to justify the purchase of a more powerful, lower mileage, dark interior vehicle. The ten to twelve percent loss in mileage is negligible for five thousand miles per year of driving. Power is always nice to have. Getting an interior that you do not like will haunt you each time that you enter the vehicle as well as each time that you clean it.

As I always tell my wife...."Get what you want". Even if you have to pay more. You will be money ahead in the long run. You will enjoy it more, have more fun taking care of it, and most likely keep it longer.

[RTexasF]

Make absolutely positive that the driving position works for you in the Toyota. They are awkward in that when you get adjusted for the clutch/brakes the wheel is too far of a reach and vice versa. I bought an `03 Corolla (just an LE) and did the typical 30 minute test drive. After it was too late I found out I couldn`t drive the car for more than two hours because the seat/driving position was killing my back. I had to trade it 6 months later and took a bad loss. Take it for a good tour if you can.

Reliability? It`s a Toyota don`t sweat it.

[audiboy]

I`ll agree with CW in the fact that it looks like you already have your question answered. Neither vehicle has a great amount of hp, but the Toyota will be a little more fun to drive because of the extra hp. The loss in gas mileage is most likely from the more finely tuned engine. The Celica engine is very reliable and is being used by a few different manufacturers and vehicles, one of them being the Lotus Exige S. Each vehicle, when taken care of, will last a very long time. My family has had a lot of Toyota`s(3 Camrys, 1 Land Cruiser, 1 4 Runner, 2 Siennas) and never had any major issues with any of them. The only two that have seen over 100K miles are the 4 Runner and one of the Camrys. The most major fix on either of those was a power steering pump. Resale value will be stellar for both makes. Civics are high targets for theft, but by parking in high visibility areas, you can limit the chances for a thief.

It really just comes down to what you want in a vehicle. Personally, I`d go with the Carolla just because of my experiences with Toyota.

[distrbd]

I own a 2007 Civic DX-G 2 door coupe which is a Canadian model very close to ex,I think it has plenty of power,and has a5 speed tranny which is a lot of fun to drive.
If you want more power you can get the Civic SI ,but there is a few problems with the transmission (second gear grinds),some interior rattles and suspension squeaks.all can be fixed of course ,but the non SI models don`t seem to have that many problems and they are more fuel efficient.
Over all I love my Civic and have no regrets.

[Jngrbrdman]

I`d do the Si if I were looking to stay with a coupe. I really need the sedan with the kids though. I can just think of too many situations where the sedan will be needed at my stage in life, so coupes are sort of out of the question. I looked at an `07 Civic Si sedan today and while the car is fun to drive, I just can`t get over how painful that front end looks. I`d never be happy driving that car knowing that it looks like a mini-van from the front. I absolutely love the back end of those cars, but the front hurts my eyes.

I talked to the dealership that has the XRS and they are going to cut me a pretty sweet deal. The car has 53,000 miles, but the salesperson knows the guy who traded it in. They were all freeway miles from driving between Casper, Wyoming and Phoenix, Arizona several times a year. And if any car can take it then a Corolla can. I showed him my site and he spent some time on it. I wanted him to understand what kind of guy I was when it came to cars and I wanted his opinion of the condition of the car based on what I am going to expect. He said it rates a 9 out of 10 on the OCDetails scale, so I`m comfortable with that.

The car already has the windows tinted which would have been something I needed to do anyway, and they are willing to ship it to me for free. My cost without tax and title, but including their fees, would be $14,500. Considering there aren`t many XRS Corollas for sale in the US right now, I`d say that is a pretty good deal. They had it priced at $15,990 on Autotrader, so I`d say they are making some good compromises for me. Here is the car if anyone wants to take a peek.

You wanna hear my slick plan for paying for this thing? I haven`t pitched this to the financial manager yet, but I`ve found that it is always best to have this kind of thing planned out well first. My plan is to put the car on my American Express card. I have the One from American Express and it has a couple neat features. One is that I`ll get 1% cash back on it. The second thing that is cool is that you don`t pay interest on new purchases. The way it works is that I`ll pay for it in August and when my statement comes at the end of the month it doesn`t have this purchase on it. It will be on the September statement, but no interest will be calculated. The October statement will have interest, but if it is paid off before it is run, then I can avoid that. I don`t technically need the car till the end of October anyway, so this will keep me payment free until that point. By that time I`ll have the title and I`ll be able to refinance it with my credit union for however much I want. I`d like to keep my payment at around $250 a month, so I could probably just finance $8000 or something like that and come out just fine.

So with that plan I don`t think the financial manager will have any reason to say no. She knows we will need a car by November anyway, so this solves the problem. It actually saves a ton of money in the process. I am going to quantify it all so I can pitch it to her on Monday. It is the wrong time of the month to talk about this kind of thing, if you know what I mean...

[Brace1]

The car has 53,000 miles, but the salesperson knows the guy who traded it in. They were all freeway miles...

Don`t believe anything the salesman is telling you. It`s always a trade from a friend, the owner`s daughter, etc... Chances are that the miles are mostly highway. My `05 Mazda has about the same mileage and it`s at least 80% highway.

Check for wear and tear on the pedals, seat bolsters, etc. which will give you a good idea of the type of miles. As you referenced, nearly any type of 53K miles on a Corolla, is still near infancy You should get 200K outta any Toyota before any concerns.

[budman3]

The Corolla is a nice little car. My girlfriend has an `05 LE with 30,000 miles on it. I`ve driven it probably 10,000 miles and have no complaints. It`s no Corvette but it gets the job done. We were getting about 32-34 MPG on the highway through the mountains. It`s an automatic so I can`t comment on the manual tranny or the different engine combo, suspension or wheel & tire combo. As for the reliability, the only problem she`s had was one squeaky belt... and I`ve detailed an older Corolla that had over 200,000 miles on it...

Here`s a picture of her`s:

[Jngrbrdman]

Well, I did it. I pulled the trigger and bought it. Considering they were asking almost $16,000 for it, I feel pretty good about getting it out the door and delivered to me for $15,000 flat. That includes them driving it from Casper, Wyoming to SLC, Utah and all their dealer fees. Even if the car has a few cosmetic `oops` marks here and there (which the salesperson says it doesn`t) I`m not going to worry too much about it. This is a winter beater and rain car, so I need to learn how not to be quite so obsessive about things. It takes time and energy away from more important things when I worry about every scratch on the wheel and every spec of dust on the paint.

I`ll get pictures of it once I have it and it is all shined up, but here are the ones they posted on Autotrader.

[audiboy]

Congrats on the new ride! You may not want to be obsessive about the detailin on it, but we all know you will be.

[RTexasF]

It was a fun ride with the standard engine and the five speed other than the aforementioned seating problem for me. I`ll bet it`s a blast with 40 or so more horsepower and the six speed. It looks very nice in the pictures also. Is premium fuel required for that engine?

[Jngrbrdman]

Hopefully I won`t be as obsessive is my goal. The reason I got the dark grey color is because it will be easier not to go overboard, but it will still reflect my efforts when I want it to look shiny.

I think I read somewhere that 91 octane is recomended.

[FallenAngel]

To note, its a highly tuned standard corolla engine, not the one from the Celica. The tranny is from the Celica, throw on a short shifter and you`re good.

[Jngrbrdman]

To note, its a highly tuned standard corolla engine, not the one from the Celica. The tranny is from the Celica, throw on a short shifter and you`re good.

I beg to differ. It is the 2ZZ-GE found in the Matrix XRS, Celica GTS, Pontiac Vibe, and Lotus Exige and Elise. The standard Corolla uses the 1ZZ-FE motor. Technically if you are going to be tuning the motor then the standard Corolla is a better choice. There are more options by way of superchargers and such for the 1ZZ-FE than the 2ZZ-GE. I`m not going to be doing any tuning to it, so I figure I might as well get it as fast as I can bone stock.

Just as a side note, the 1ZZ-FE and 2ZZ-GE are even more different than just power output and design. In fact, the 2ZZ motors are built in Japan while the 1ZZ motors are built in North America.

[RTexasF]

To note, its a highly tuned standard corolla engine, not the one from the Celica. The tranny is from the Celica, throw on a short shifter and you`re good.

The only thing that`s the same is both displace 1.8l. They are very different internally.