2009 Toyota Corolla

The best way to summarize my feelings about my charcoal colored Toyota Corolla is that it is by far the best car I have ever owned. My husband and I purchased the 2009 Corolla XLE last year. The vehicle’s overall performance is excellent. It is a superbly smooth ride. The gas mileage has been excellent – approximately 35 MPG (easily) on the highway. This was a huge improvement over the 1997 Saturn and 2000 Hyundia Elantra I had owned previously. Another positive selling point, for us at least, is the powerful air conditioner. I know this sounds trivial, but when you live in Texas and 3 months out of the year have the potential for triple digit heat the air conditioner in your car is really a priority. I would gladly recommend this vehicle to anyone who spends a lot of time in their car. I commute two days a week to my job and spend over 90 minutes in the car each day. The other days I spend in a volunteer work in my community and again this requires a good deal of time in the car. It is quite roomy for a compact car. We have always been able to fit four in the car comfortably. Even individuals approximately 6 feet tall were in the back seat comfortably for more than two hours. We have yet to take a long road trip in the vehicle, but I have every confidence it will more than adequate. We are definitely travelers and the comfort we would have in a vehicle for hours on end in quite important. Besides comfort the vehicle is equipped with many other interesting and appealing features. The car came equipped with satellite radio which my husband and I have become hooked on. So, this may be a downfall of the vehicle, because once the six month free subscription ran out, we were compelled to renew. It is addictive! I am also a huge IPOD fan and the car comes equipped with an auxiliary connection specifically for MP3 players. There are also numerous cup holders and great compartment areas to store various things – including two different glove compartments. Ample trunk space is also available. In shopping for this car we looked at two other comparable vehicles in particular. We test drove and researched the Hyundai Elantra as we already had one we were well pleased with and then also we researched and test drove a Honda Civic. The Elantra was smaller and the air conditioner could not even compete with the Corolla, but the manufacturer’s warranty is excellent. The Honda Civic was a lot of fun to drive and truthfully I believe was slightly more roomy, but it was considerable more expensive. In the end, we were so impressed the product of the Toyota Corolla and the experience we had with the dealership was so pleasant, that we would gladly purchase the Corolla all over again. There are really only two things I would consider complaints. The first is when taking the car to our regular mechanic for the first oil change there was a special part that he needed for this simple task that he could not yet acquire from Toyota. This led us to have to resort to the dealership for oil changes and tire rotations. It has been more expensive, but once again the staff has been incredibly pleasant and they have gone the extra mile hand-washing the car every time we have taken it in. The other complaint has to do with a plastic cover the size of a regular piece of paper that is on the under-carriage of the car. The clasps to keep this closed broke. Apparently from what we have heard from other mechanics this is a typical problem on the car, but it is easily fixed and does not cause the vehicle any damage. We would gladly purchase this car again in spite of it!