Sheesh, where does this end? How much thinner of oil can there be?
! This car uses gaseous oil. Be careful opening the reservoir…
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Think positive! Makes it easy to find sewing machine oil … lol … 
This is going to be an expensive car to maintain. $600 each year for oil changes and $300 each year for exterior detailing/wax. You are going to want your old car back.
What is the new car’s appx purchase price?
At my local Toyota Dealer in Hampton, Virginia, where they offer Oil and Filter changes, State Inspections, Engines, and Towing for life, the 2024 Toyota Corolla LE, lists between $23,200 and $23,800…
Once again, do I need to write, “Oil and Filter Changes for life…”
Find a dealer like this near you…
OK Mr. loss for words. Im going to take the care of my new baby into my own hands and buy Maguire waterless spray wash and wax and plenty of microfiber soft towels and anytime i see dirt or bird droppings on my car im going to clean it off myself by hand.
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My buddy had his 21 Widebody Scat Pack Pro Ceramic coated and it was good for 5 years, don’t remember all the details but he loves it… So just another option…
By the way, my vehicles get washed when it rains, other than mother nature, nothing… lol
I keep the clutter and trash out of it, but that is about it…
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Not with a failing transmission on the old car that will probably cost $5,000 a year to rebuild each year with only a one year,12,000 mile warranty
Im sure people who detail cars for a living will do a better job waxing it and polishing it than someone like me who has no experience doing it and sits in front of a computer typing all day. Id rather pay them to do it right than ruin the paint job doing it myself
Why would you think that a guy, probably hired from a street corner, given ten minutes instructions, would even begin to give a grunt to caring for your baby. Their primary concern is not the health of your car, it’s making money, as fast as they can.
While you are on your computer, watch a YouTube video on caring for the finish on your car. It will give you a new appreciation for it. You’ll be able to see various issues before they become problems, you can check your tires, wipers, fluid levels, etc… while you are listening to some fine old tunes…
For example, if you fell for the extra finish protection package that the dealers all sell, scot guard, paint protectant, undercoating, etc… go outside with a bottle of water and pour it onto various location on your car (fenders, hood, roof, trunk, etc…) and see if it bubbles up or just forms a wet film… If it does not bubble, you wasted your money, not that it was a good value at all…
Now, go find yourself a nice shady spot, and put on some of these fine old tunes and take care our your new baby…
Hot Rod Lincoln by Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen
Little Deuce Coupe by The Beach Boys
Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf
East Bound and Down by Jerry Reed
Mustang Sally by Wilson Pickett
One Piece at a Time by Johnny Cash
Theme From Dukes of Hazzard
The General Lee by Johnny Cash
Shut Down by the Beach Boys
G.T.O. by Ronny and the Daytonas
Maybellene by Chuck Berry
And remember this, my wife’s '85 Toyota Corolla with over 230,000 miles on it is still going strong and we have depended on all its Oil and Filter changes from the dealer who thought that Lifetime Oil and Filter…
You’re talking to a guy who accidentally made his 2006 Corolla roof rust badly to an orange color by trying to repair it himself and made it look ten times worse than the rest of the car that he didn’t touch, after watching some YouTube videos. Its been so long i can’t recall exactly what i did to cause that. I don’t have access to a power buffer for waxing. Would have to do that by hand
One Piece at a Time by Johnny Cash is an excellent song by the way
OK now i think i remember what i did that seemed to cause the rust problem. After watching YouTube videos, I used Maguire Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish on my faded, oxidized, sun damaged paint of my 2006 Corolla roof and instead of it making the roof shiny and pretty, the paint came off the roof onto the microfiber pad I was rubbing it with and made the roof rust an ugly pitted orange color if I recall correctly. This was about 4 years ago. I did that by hand and elbow grease no power buffing tools used. The parts of the car that i didn’t try to improve like the hood and trunk actually looked better than the roof i tried to beautify.
Lots of dedicated DIY guys on this site. Me, I’ll have someone do it, just like you.
The 1st rebuild should last you another 100K miles at least if built right… It will normally fail in a very short time if not built right in the 1st place (under warranty)… So not sure why you think that you will have to spend $5000 a year every year for a transmission…
A warranty does not mean that the part will fail the day after it is up… It means that if the part fails in the X amount of time/miles that it is covered… But it could last for years and years after the warranty is up…
My shop years ago built a rear end for a E-250 van with 100K miles on it, we gave him a 12 month 12K mile warranty and the last we heard he had over 500K miles on our 12K mile warrantied rebuild…
I had a 2006 Blue Corolla, they pretty much all rusted on the roof, it was a bad paint whatever flaw, I had to have my roof only painted also, but I have seen many many Corollas with rusty only roofs and the rest of the car look normal… So it was not You… lol
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As an add on: the transmission on our 2003 Olds Silhouette broke just before the 60 month-60,000 mile warranty ran out. The dealer installed a new transmission and it ran flawlessly for another 130,000 miles when we donated the van. I saw it as a feature that the transmission only had the 130,000 miles on it.
I didn’t have a ton of confidence that the only “transmission specialist repair shop” owner in my area would do the repair correctly the first time for $5,000. He seemed kind of nonchalant and i got the vibe that he was going to guess what was wrong with my transmission and fix that and if there were any leaks or slips, he would just have me come back and try different things to fix it during the first 12 months, 12,000 miles. Maybe im wrong and he would have done it fine first time, I dunno. Im thinking if i brought it to a Toyota dealership they would have for sure fixed it correctly the first time but likely charged thousands more. To be honest i didn’t get an estimate from the dealership as to what they would charge for that. They usually charge top dollar for stuff.
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There are shops that specialize in detailing vehicles They don’t hire a guy off a street corner and turn them loose after only 10 minutes of instruction. Their clientele are show cars, high end luxury cars and high end sports cars. They can’t afford to damage one of these.
I don’t know about today’s Corollas but I know my daughter’s 2003 Corolla LE (cheapest model) did not have a clear coat and the base coat was very thin. It developed rust spots where ever it got a chip in the paint, and the paint was easy to chip. But it was still running good when it got totaled at around 230k.
But with a new car, if you wash all the dust and grit off and use a basic cleaner wax, by hand, you will be pretty safe. It would be hard to do any damage. A power buffer does require some experience so you would want to learn to use one of those on an old vehicle that is headed to the junk yard. And you would want to use a quality random orbit buffer designed for automotive paint and not some $25 Walmart special. But a good hand wax a couple times a year and your now Corolla will probably outlast your old one.
As for the transmission, Toyota’s lifetime ATF (T-4) was not lifetime. My daughter’s ATF was completely black at 75k. I changed it, simple drain and fill and changed it again about every 40k after that and it lasted until it was totaled. It’s easier to do a drain and fill than an oil change on the engine. No need to change the filter.
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In many cases, dealerships contract-out transmission repairs to a reliable indy trans shop in their area, and then the dealership adds… maybe… an extra $1k to the trans shop’s bill. Ergo, expensive delivery service. 
Outside of getting off topic and off the rails a few times, it is an interesting illustration of the different frames of reference of car buyers and maintainers. Never the Twain shall meet.
When my olds needed transmission work, I didn’t trust anyone local either, but I had it towed 35 miles to my shop of preference. I have never been afraid to get a car towed to where I wanted it. That’s what they do.
As far as not having access to power tools, what I wanted on my 12th birthday was a power drill. I got it. A manning bowman 1/4 inch from coast to coast. It was the first power tool in the family. I added to it when the bank would offer your choice for a $50 deposit. Power saw, saber saw, etc. later on another bank offered dinnerware place setting for $50 deposit so since getting married, needed to do that. Still have them. Good quality from twin city federal. Of course at 13 I got my rifle which I still have, good as new.
Yeah I finally bought a better buffer from the pawn shop. I’ve been collecting tools for years. I also have lots of stuff just in case as part of my self-reliance program. My latest was a tire changer after the shop screwed up my lawn mower tire. This stuff is not for everyone.
So just saying, a person is either interested in this stuff from early on or not. No point trying to convince otherwise. So just hire a detailer
and have someone change your oil. But just watch what they do.
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