Tire size was one of the many reasons I bought a new 2018 Versa S (manual transmission base model). 15" tires are currently about the cheapest size available now. Replaced the original Contental tires at 31,000 miles with Michelin Defenders for under $400. Other reasons include manual door locks, crank up windows, no cameras, regular old fashioned ignition key, no LCD screen.
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Just make sure the tire is available and NOT an odd ball…
IIRC, it was the 2005ish Suzuki Forenza that had a 15" tire that was $800+ a set back in 2006/7, it was a Suzuki only size of 195/55R15 (very common and cheap now, but back then only a couple of choices)… Customers were freaking out when it cost them $800+ for tires on a $15,000 car… lol
You were pretty lucky to have found such a car available for sale those days . I was helping a friend buy a new Corolla a few years ago.
Salesman: How can I help you?
Me: I’m helping my friend compare your Corollas.
Salesman: What sort of features are you looking for?
Me: Manually operated windows
Salesman: You are old fashioned! … then walks away … lol …
You might also look into a Mitsubishi Mirage if you are looking into a car like this. I have a 2015 and it has been dead solid reliable for 80,000 miles. I run it up and down gravel roads and all over each and every day for work. This is certainly a no frills car but if that is all you want, you would be happy with it. The mileage is also great. CVTs are said to pretty much be trash in these as well. Mine is a manual.
You might also consider a later model Chevy Spark. Earlier models were not so good and had oil burning issues and such. It seems they fixed these issues by later models and they were a solid car. Again, there are CVT issues so a manual is probably best.
carcomplaints.com is a good site to visit to see if there are lots of issues with a certain model/year of car. Chevrolet Spark Problems | CarComplaints.com
I am not sure if the key is purely mechanical or a chip key in later Versas. I remember these cars being the only car without a chip key and available with crank windows at the time I bought my Mirage in 2016 or so but that might have changed. If you can get a key without a chip, copies can be made for a couple bucks. The car is also easier to steal though.
My Mirage has a chip key and getting spares made can be a real pain. I bought two blanks online for like $6-7 a key. Getting them cut was not easy. Locksmiths wanted to charge big bucks. Most local stores will not cut customer provided key blanks either. The final solution was when I got ahold of some young kid working at Lowes who didn’t know the policy or know if there even was a policy about this. He told me he would just charge me for their cheapest key ($3) and cut my provided key blanks. This worked out great and there was some type of procedure to program the car to the keys which requires at least two recognized keys. This was super easy and took like a minute per key if that. The key copies work great but don’t have the fob which is fine for backups. He also made a mistake and cut one of their keys with no chip and he just gave that to me as it was going in the trash. I take this key when I go hiking or boating so I can get in the car and put a fob key hidden far away from the module that sees it. In the trunk works fine for this. The key will be fine if it takes a dunk and opens the door.
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