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08 Legacy 2.5i or 11 Corolla

HybridSquirrel

HybridSquirrel

Diamond Member
I am debating getting a new car. My current corolla finally took a shit on me this morning. There is an 08 Legacy for ~17 k that I can get 2.9% financing on it. It has 40k miles on it.

Or, I can get a new 11 corolla for the same price with 0% financing.


Does anyone have first hand experience with these cars? Test driving both of them, the Subaru does better in snow, but the corolla will do just fine too (my current one has no problems in snow) and the fuel economy is better.
 
Depends on what you're looking for.

On the Legacy, the depreciation hit has already been taken by the previous owner. Only question is whether the factory warranty is still active.

The Corolla's a nice car. Capable, reliable, will get you from point A to point B without any problems. But I wouldn't get one. The driving dynamics are kinda bleh.
 
 
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the new focus is pretty nice, yeah, but as far as new cars go Toyota has the best option for me. I can take an extra 1000 bucks off and get the 0% financing just because I graduated in the past year. Ford, at least the dealership I went to, won't honor any student rebates =\


I do like those mazdas as well, but the cheapest I can find one is $20k, the financing sucks on them to, like 4% for a new car. and they are all automatic transmissions here in CO.

won't touch a hyundai, my mom got one and has had nothing but problems (elantra)

Chevy is still MEH in my opinion, isn't the Cruze just a Daewoo with Chevy badging? I rented one from enterprise and the steering felt even squishier than a chevy.
 
My fiancee used to own a '10 Corolla. From the perspective of a 07 Mazda3 owner, it's not a bad car. It think it is more comfy than the 3, but only by a margin, but it depends on what you think makes the car comfy. Corolla is geared towards comfort, while 3 is geared towards performance. Corolla drives well, as in it is REALLY smooth and quiet for a car of its price. However., the steering feels effortless and light, so any attempt to drive for the road feel comes to a halt. If you live in the city, the small engine is not an issue at all as most of the torque is in the low end, so keeping up with street traffic is not an issue. That said, if you hit a highway, once you gun it from 15 mph to get to 60, you will see the engine work hard. It's capable, but you can see it working.

Price wise, it is hard to defeat the Corolla. Even if they do have a higher MSRP, they are mass produced like toasters, so you have much more room on price. When she bought her Corolla, it was mid 14k with the sports package, moon roof, everything (sticker was 21K) and it was with very low financing (some like 2% if I remember right).
 
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Gibson486 said:
My fiancee used to own a '10 Corolla. From the perspective of a 07 Mazda3 owner, it's not a bad car. It think it is more comfy than the 3, but only by a margin, but it depends on what you think makes the car comfy. Corolla is geared towards comfort, while 3 is geared towards performance. Corolla drives well, as in it is REALLY smooth and quiet for a car of its price. However., the steering feels effortless and light, so any attempt to drive for the road feel comes to a halt. If you live in the city, the small engine is not an issue at all as most of the torque is in the low end, so keeping up with street traffic is not an issue. That said, if you hit a highway, once you gun it from 15 mph to get to 60, you will see the engine work hard. It's capable, but you can see it working.

Price wise, it is hard to defeat the Corolla. Even if they do have a higher MSRP, they are mass produced like toasters, so you have much more room on price. When she bought her Corolla, it was mid 14k with the sports package, moon roof, everything (sticker was 21K) and it was with very low financing (some like 2% if I remember right).
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yeah the one I was looking at was an S model, although you don't get any sporty features other than slightly wider tires.....It had a moon roof, satellite radio, blue tooth, usb and aux ports, ect ect. it was 17k with tax and 0% financing for 36-60 months. really hard to beat that right now, considering used 2011's are selling for the same price. I do need it to get me up the slopes to ski, but my current corolla could do that with no problem at all.

Jumpem said:
Too much brake pedal travel. Master cylinders need to be replaced.
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wow, that blows. I was gonna go test drive one till he said that...
 
 
HybridSquirrel said:
yeah the one I was looking at was an S model, although you don't get any sporty features other than slightly wider tires.....It had a moon roof, satellite radio, blue tooth, usb and aux ports, ect ect. it was 17k with tax and 0% financing for 36-60 months. really hard to beat that right now, considering used 2011's are selling for the same price. I do need it to get me up the slopes to ski, but my current corolla could do that with no problem at all.



wow, that blows. I was gonna go test drive one till he said that...
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I wish it nestled the quote you quoted. He's spot on about Mazda3 vs Corolla. I have a Mazda3 and my brother bought a 2011 or 2012 Corolla S and it's night and day. If you are in-discriminate about driving feel and handling, go with the Corolla. Steering was light and boring but he got his at 16K out the door and like 1% financing.

Very good appliance. If you dont have any issues with snow traction, just get a brand new Corolla, it seemed to fit you well.
 
Sid59 said:
I wish it nestled the quote you quoted. He's spot on about Mazda3 vs Corolla. I have a Mazda3 and my brother bought a 2011 or 2012 Corolla S and it's night and day. If you are in-discriminate about driving feel and handling, go with the Corolla. Steering was light and boring but he got his at 16K out the door and like 1% financing.

Very good appliance. If you dont have any issues with snow traction, just get a brand new Corolla, it seemed to fit you well.
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yeah the offer I have is $17k with 0% financing, best I can do for mazda is $19k and 2.9% =\


Haven't made it over to mazda to test drive one yet though..
 
My opinion: If you live where there's snow, and you really must drive in that crap, the Subaru. Otherwise, save some gasoline and go for the Corolla.
 
Toyota makes bland cars. Not that there's anything wrong with them, they're just not very exciting. They don't handle as nicely as a Civic and don't have the bang for buck of an Elantra.

If you're looking at the S model, don't. For that price, you can get much more car. Consider the Sonata, which has a 2.4L engine, gets the same highway mileage as the Corolla, and is only 4mpg worse in the city. Or the Elantra, which has the same power as the Corolla, but actually gets the same city millage and much better highway millage.
 
HybridSquirrel said:
yeah the offer I have is $17k with 0% financing, best I can do for mazda is $19k and 2.9% =\


Haven't made it over to mazda to test drive one yet though..
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It's almost a no-brainer if you just want to get to A-B and value is more important that driving. You should just go and test drive the 3, maybe the 2K + 2.9% is worth the premium?! It was for me.
 
We have 2 2011 Corollas as fleet cars where I work, they are unbelievably bad. Pretty much anything else is better.
 
HybridSquirrel said:
called the subaru dealership. they told me that the new impreza's are on hold right now for brake problems...GG
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The brakes still work fine, it's just an issue in which they can have too much pedal travel so Subaru is replacing some parts to fix it. Shouldn't take too long to be alleviated. I would call the dealership and see when they expect to have one you can test drive. It's probably the best option for you at this point as it will be very good in snow/other traction poor times (provided you keep good tires on it).

The Legacy is a good car, but it won't get close to the mpg's the 2012 Impreza can. You'd be lucky to get much over about 32 straight hwy, and more likely somewhere +-2 of 30. If you get the auto its a 4spd, dates back to the 90's, and isn't all that pleasant but very reliable. This is why all their new models are starting to come with the CVT's.


Subaru's in general are very reliable. I am on my second one and quite happy with it.
 
Sid59 said:
It's almost a no-brainer if you just want to get to A-B and value is more important that driving. You should just go and test drive the 3, maybe the 2K + 2.9% is worth the premium?! It was for me.
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Meh, thats a lot of extra money over the life of the loan. Added onto the depreciation of a brand new car, and its just a slap in the face.

CraigRT said:
We have 2 2011 Corollas as fleet cars where I work, they are unbelievably bad. Pretty much anything else is better.
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Great review, very informative.

Demo24 said:
The brakes still work fine, it's just an issue in which they can have too much pedal travel so Subaru is replacing some parts to fix it. Shouldn't take too long to be alleviated. I would call the dealership and see when they expect to have one you can test drive. It's probably the best option for you at this point as it will be very good in snow/other traction poor times (provided you keep good tires on it).

The Legacy is a good car, but it won't get close to the mpg's the 2012 Impreza can. You'd be lucky to get much over about 32 straight hwy, and more likely somewhere +-2 of 30. If you get the auto its a 4spd, dates back to the 90's, and isn't all that pleasant but very reliable. This is why all their new models are starting to come with the CVT's.


Subaru's in general are very reliable. I am on my second one and quite happy with it.
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I'm not buying auto anything, I did see the new legacy has a 6spd manual for the base model. The dealer told me all sales have stopped until they fix the problem, and I kind of need a car asap. Actually, the only automatic I would consider is an Infiniti G35x, but the only one I can find for a less than 20,000 has 100k+ mileage and I don't want to buy a used car with that much mileage on it for 20k
 
Thegonagle said:
My opinion: If you live where there's snow, and you really must drive in that crap, the Subaru. Otherwise, save some gasoline and go for the Corolla.
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Yup, this is true. With the recent snow up here, I am not not sure if the WRX is more fun in the summer or on snow. It's been a blast...
 
CraigRT said:
We have 2 2011 Corollas as fleet cars where I work, they are unbelievably bad. Pretty much anything else is better.
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This is true.

I get Corollas about 1/3 of the time for my travel rental through work, and have had 07-11 models through the years. I actually didn't mind the 07-10; they weren't 'awesome' cars or anything, but did the job. The 2011 feels VERY floaty on the road, and feels cheaper and is of poorer quality than the last gen.

My vote would be on the '08 Legacy. Get some decent creature comforts, AWD, and OK gas mileage. f MPGs are important, then maybe the 2011 Impreza would be better...maybe get a good deal while the MC is needing to be replaced? 🙂
 
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