Got 40.4 MPG in my first road trip with Corolla LE

I just bought this 2006 Corolla LE from a local doctor who is relocating from here in New Hampshire to Pittsburgh, PA. I was looking for a new car and here is what I looked at:

* Nissan Versa
* Honda Fit
* Mazda MAZDA3

I looked at a new hatchback from these makers but wound up purchasing a used Toyota sedan instead! And I am very glad I did.

For the Mazda and the Nissan, due to my employer's relationship with those auto makers, I qualify for a very low under invoice price on new vehicles. I had looked first at the Nissan Versa SL with the CVT transmission and was close to buying one. However my wife absolutely hated it. The thing looks like a clown car. Same for the Honda Fit, which is even sillier looking and smaller than the Versa. And to top it off, the local Honda dealer who is also the Nissan dealer, was price gouging on the Honda Fit. They were not only asking full MSRP for the vehicle but they also put on a dealer "add on sticker" that had the fabric protectant for $399 and $1,500 "market adjustment" = additional dealer profit.

Let me tell you a Honda Fit is not worth close to MSRP much less MSRP + $1,900. They may be "in vogue" this year but they appear to me to be very cheaply built with spartan interior and compared to the other cars, the Fit screams "econobox" at least to me. And the Fit's seats were quite uncomfortable to boot. This is my opinion only -- I hope this is not ruffling any feathers, maybe I am overlooking the good qualities of these Hondas, but that is the way I see it after researching these vehicles.

Anyway, I told the Honda dealer to forget it -- thanks but no thanks. And I told the Nissan side of the same dealership to forget it too. The Honda price gouging really soured me on that dealership even though on the Nissan side of the dealership I could buy a car for under invoice.

I looked at the Mazda3 which is a very nice car and in most ways better than any of them, however the gas mileage is not in the same league. It gets maybe 25 MPG overall, maybe 28 highway. Not good enough for a car in that class.

Also I heard from a number of sources that the Nissan Versa gets lower gas mileage than the EPA rating for most people. Some people are saying they only get 23 MPG with the Versa. Apparently the CVT transmission is hard to get used to and hard to drive with the same economy as a regular automatic. These were my findings by looking at Consumer Reports, Edmunds.com reviews and a few other sites. That and a few other things including some shaky reliability reports soured me on the Versa. And to top it off the Versa has very high depreciation: According to Edmunds the Versa will lose $4,000 in value the first year of ownership which is a big drop in value for a $15-18K car I think, and some of you would agree with me.

By the way one thing you should look at when buying a new or a used car, that hardly anyone seems to research before the sale, is the availability and cost of a set of new tires. That's right, TIRES. I happen to belong to Costco warehouse club which sells tires for very low cost and includes a lot of free services like free mounting, free tire disposal, free tire rotations for life, free balancing for life, and free road hazard insurance on the tires. I used Costco dot com to look up the price of tires for these vehicles.

* Mazda3: 2 styles of Michelin @$195 each and $209 ea.
* Nissan Versa: 1 Michelin @ $112 ea., 2 BF Goodrich @ $78-81 ea.
* Honda Fit: no tires available from Costco
* Toyota Corolla LE: 1 Michelin @ $108 ea., 3 BF Goodrich $74-81 ea.

The Corolla had a good selection the lowest prices and was the only one offering a dedicated snow tire, at least at Costco.

The other thing I noticed is the Mazda3 tires cost more than twice as much as the Corolla's because the Mazda3 has 17" rims and takes very high performance tires. But you pay more than double for these tires, and they do not last as long as the Michelin touring tires like the X Radial for the Corolla which are rated for 80,000 miles and was the #1 rated tire in Consumer Reports, or the BF Goodrich Premier Touring which is just $74 and has a 70,000 mile warranty.

What would you rather pay every time you need tires: $296 for a set of four tires for the Corolla, or pay almost three times as much, $840 a set for the Mazda3? That is a $544 difference! Personally I did not see paying $195 apiece for a Michelin sport tire rated only 45,000 miles for a Mazda3 or the $208 Michelin that has no mileage warranty at all!

I was perusing the local newspaper when I saw the 2006 Corolla LE for $12,500/best offer. The local dealers are getting $14,000-$15,000 for an LE. This one had 38,000 miles. I got there and the car was near mint looks like it just came out of the showroom. The owner a physician only used it to drive into Boston before rush hour, so it had mostly or I would say nearly all, highway miles. So I negotiated the price down to $12,000 even which was satisfactory to both parties. The car has not 1 scratch not 1 ding, perfect condition inside and out.

I got the 20 day "temporary tags" that you can get here in New Hampshire it lets you drive it for 20 days before you get an inspection sticker and a real license plate. This weekend I took my first road trip to University of Hartford. This was mostly highway driving then when I got to Hartford it was city driving to the college and to the hotel, and back to the college next morning to pick up my son who is taking his freshman orientation. So I would say 90% highway 10% city driving for the trip.

I found the car to be very quiet and comfortable for myself my wife and my 6'2" son who rode in the back. This is the key area where the Toyota Corolla really beats the "mini car/hatchback" cars that are coming out now. It rides like a car, drives like a car and is quiet like a car. I kept it on cruise control the whole way at 65 MPH and before I left I checked the air pressure and put 36 PSI into the tires. The OEM Goodyear tires are rated up to 44 PSI by the way. The more pressure you put on the tires, within reason, the better your fuel economy.

I got back and immediately filled the tank -- the 274.1 mile trip had consumed just 6.78 gallons, for a whopping 40.4 MPG for the trip. Yikes! That is better than the Honda Fit. Probably because the Corolla is more aerodynamic.

UPDATE 6/12/2008: I filled my second gas refill today, this time it was 231.3 miles of all "city driving" and by that I mean all around town no highway trips. This time I went 231.3 miles on 6.76 gallons, for a city MPG of 34.3 MPG!

Even driving around town not highway trips I am getting 34 MPG in this Corolla! So my combined average for the two 1/2 tanks of gas is 37.4 MPG. Fantastic gas mileage.

So far I am very impressed with the Corolla LE. The OE tires still have about 10,000 miles left on them and are wearing well with plenty of tread depth.

One thing you might be interested in is that the car does not come with antilock brakes (ABS) as this is an option you need to order separately. The braking power of the car is very fine however probably due to its light weight. But if you are looking for a used Corolla LE be aware that ABS is an option and might be hard to find.

The quality of the stereo sound is good and the radio picks up distant stations. Much better factory stereo than the Nissan or the Mazda. The stereo on mine has 6 speakers and a 6 CD changer. The car has a traditional trunk with 2 6x9" speakers on the rear deck, which gives better bass response than door-mounted speakers. Another nice feature is the buttons are BIG no hunting for tiny buttons on this stereo. Nice.

The car has power door locks with remote entry. One nice feature is that all doors lock automatically when you shift into Drive, then automatically unlock again when you shift into Park. The remote control lacks a button to pop open the trunk automatically. But this car is so nice I constantly have to keep telling myself "this is an economy car, not a Lexus".

Handling of the car is good not excellent. Not as good as the Mazda3 but definitely better than the Nissan Versa. When it comes time for new tires I will change to Michelin X Radial tires that are sold at Costco, I have these on another vehicle and they are great tires. Being the cheapskate that I am I balk at changing tires in the spring that still have a good 10,000 miles or so left on them.

The drivetrain is smooth and has a good amount of pep around time and passing power is adequate. The 4 speed automatic transmission is extremely smooth shifting that is a very nice feature of the Corolla LE. The transmission has a tall high gear for highway cruising and at 65 MPH the tachometer only reads about 2,500 RPM. The car downshifts sometimes on hills but does not annoyingly "hunt" for gears. The transmission logic is well programmed.

The seat could use a little more lumbar support but I could get a comfortable position easily. The driver's seat is height adjustable which is a nice feature. The steering wheel has tilt but does not telescope, unlike the Mazda3 which does both. Steering wheel is a little small for my taste. Part of getting a new car is settling in to the car and this is pretty easy with the Corolla. The gauges are very clear white on black dials and brightly lit, with red indicators. I think they use electroluminescent displays. Really easy to read the gauges even in bright sunlight.

There are two cupholders on the center console located in a pretty good spot where the shift lever does not hit your drink, you would be surprised how many cars the transmission lever interferes with drinks.

The rear seat lacks a fold down armrest with cupholders in it which some other cars do have including the Versa SL and the Mazda3. However this is an economy car. I am not complaining especially for the money.

The upholstery is nice neutral gray fuzzy velour fabric pretty typical for economy cars. To protect the seat fabric, I picked up a set of form-fitting seat covers from Exact Fit Seat Covers on eBay for $49 + shipping, a very fair price price. They fit really well and though they look like seat "covers", they look like nice seat covers, and cover the front and back seats and all the head rests. Worth the fifty bucks, definitely.

One nice touch is the car does have courtesy map lights for driver and passenger -- they are located on the bottom of the rear view mirror. The cast a small beam but pretty bright.

The gauges are simple but adequate with speedometer, tachometer, temperature and fuel gauge. There are 2 resettable trip meters which is nice, and another nice feature is the car displays the outside temperature.

In closing the 2006 Toyota Corolla is a nice comfortable car that gets great gas mileage and is not an "econo box" or "clown car" like some of the new models they are selling. You would be surprised that it gets better gas mileage than some of the "mileage" cars too. It is a much better looking car, tastefully styled and does not keep reminding you it is an economy car. The features on the LE though not luxurious, are nicely equipped by modern standards.

I will fill in some more later after I have had the car longer but this is a big thumbs up.