The Corolla has many more miles left on it and has four good points in its favor:
The Chevy will cost you $2000 to buy.
I say keep the Corolla.
Thanks to everybody for your help!
You were right mcparadise, I asked my mechanic and the Corolla axle problem is just a minor regreasing thing, no biggie, I somehow got the wrong idea. You were also right about the size! After another few nights of playing parallel parking bumper cars I realized doing this in an Impala would drive me insane in short order. Its hard enough with the Corolla.
Everybody told me the way to sell the Impala is to use Craigslist. I put on new tires and got it aligned. The ad has been up for 5 days (asking $4,500). Photos could be better but I don’t have access to a good camera just now.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/cto/1308529901.html
No bites. I know you have to repost every so often so your ad doesn’t get buried in the rest but no bites at all? I thought used cars were selling well in this recession? Could the Cash for Clunkers program be slowing things down? Edmunds seems to show a similar asking price $4.1-4.5K. Suggestions?
I think the C4C program is letting things go down a bit. But, you can’t expect to sell it right away, it may take several weeks to do so.
If you have a little ad sheet at work, try that too.
You need to be patient. If yu want to sell it quicker, community newspapers offer ads at reasonable prices, and the SF Examiner or Chronicle offer the widest coverage - but at a price.
Found a buyer! But suddenly realized oops I have to have it smogged (communication misfire) and it seems to be a “49 stater” and not a “50 stater” (50 made for CA emissions standards). MSRP sticker says “Federal Emissions”=49 stater. Can’t get to car just now to check the underhood sticker to be sure of 49 vs 50. Did forum search but didn’t find what I wanted. Assuming 49 stater, is it likely the car will pass anyway (V6 3.8 liter 2000 Impala)? If not, are modifications to make it pass easy? Buyer wants it to pass smog before they will buy.
If the car is in decent shape to pass the 49 state, then it will pass CA emissions too. The last time my car passed CA emissions, it was going through oil as fast as it was going through gas.
I got it smogged. The document said hydrocarbons 1, CO2 0 and NOX 0. I thought hey man he gave me the wrong sheet or something but the guy said he would have been surprised if it didn?t read 0 for a few of those. This surprised me because my 1999 Corolla has large numbers and barely passes NOX. He said something about how anything after 1996 will act like this when the engine is new. He said older engines get buildup etc so the Corolla?s numbers are expected (Corolla has 175K miles). Oh duh, that makes sense. Now. That’s how much I don’t know about cars.
Impala has now sold. Thanks everybody for all your help and comments!
The “Asian Car Myth” Is Alive And Well And Made A “Sweet Deal” Available To A Chevy Enthusiast.
I would have kept the far safer 3.8L Impala, even if it was as old as the Toyota and had most of the 146,000 extra miles that were on the Toyota.
However, I will add that I have no concept whats so ever involving crowded parking or smog testing or Disney Land. We don’t have anything like that around here. To quote the late John Denver, “Thank God, I’m A Country Boy.”
Oh well, It sounds like it works for Doug Baja.
CSA
I was thinking the same, esp after the Toyota and Chevy smog comparison. BUT parking is a real problem. If they gave me the best 18 wheeler with free maintenance I would still not be able to drive it to work!