I have a 2006 Corolla w/ 136K miles and a 2008 Versa w/ 81K. I’m looking to replace one of them, but am unsure which I should keep. The Corolla has been very reliable but is starting to need a lot of work (brakes/struts/etc.) and the Versa has been ok but overall has needed more maintenance.
Whichever one I keep I will probably drive until it’s dead but I really don’t know which I should stick with. My instinct tells me it should be the Corolla, but I don’t want to keep having to sink money into a high milage vehicle. On the flip-side, I have never heard people speaking well of the Versa, and keeping it might end up costing me more and lasting a shorter time.
Consumer Reports has never really liked the Versa. Everybody, and all the car magazines out there, consider the Versa to be a very poor offering from Nissan
This is a tough decision as one tends to be more reliable and one is definitely newer both age and mileage.
I like Corollas…but 50k difference gives me enough pause to say…sell both and buy a newer Corolla if possible. You don’t have much value in either but from a reliability safety POV, that’s what I would do if I were going to and replace both.
The Corolla is a far better car.
While maintenance costs go up for a car that’s 10 years old with over 100k miles it’s still cheaper than getting a newer car if you don’t let it get into a neglected condition.
The work you’re describing that the Toyota needs is just normal wear. There’s nothing here to suggest that you won’t get another 136K out of it. At that point you still won’t be approaching the life I’ve gotten out of Toyotas before, but you’ll be just a bit beyond the mileage I have on my current Toyota (Scion). Once you pass 200,000 miles you might have to replace an occasional peripheral component, like an alternator or a starter, but that, again, is normal wear.
Keep the Corolla. It’s a long way from being worn out.
Once gain, I am going against the grain a little. If you have the hatchback Versa with the geared automatic transmission, you probably have to only good Versa that Nissan ever made. Not a great car but a good car.
However, the Corolla is a lot closer to being a great car. This one really is a coin toss because of age and mileage on the Corolla. My advice is to decide on which one is currently the most comfortable to drive around in. Go for the quieter and smoother ride.
I may have missed it but where you live has a lot to do with the decision. If rust is no problem in your area then all the advice you have been given are all reasonable ways of looking at the situation and in reality, you really can’t go too far wrong regardless which way you go as each is on the low end of the value scale. Because of that, you really can’t loose much and it may just end up being a personal “which I like driving best” choice. Agree with @keith then…
But, if you live in the rust belt, keep this in mind. Corollas will rust with the best of them and both mileage and years have taken you two years closer to it’s demise. Being that the body is the single most expensive component to fix or replace, it really doesn’t matter how good a Corolla is ( and I have had three of them), when they start to rust, they are as worthless as a Yugo. Here is hoping that’s not a consideration but a Corolla in great mechanical shape with rust holes is usless, unsafe and worthless compared to a less reliable, two year newer Versa with a more solid bod.
I don’t remember reading anything good about the Versa, other than it could be the cheapest new car one could buy. From poor ride, to horrible crash ratings.
I will keep the Corolla, or sell both and buy a newer Corolla depending on your finances.
Thank you everyone for the feedback so far. I figured the Corolla would be the preference, but the comment @dagosa made makes me think I should have both checked for rust before making my decision as I live in the North East.
@scottneish - The decision is yours alone but this is what I would do. With all the great interest rates on new cars right now I would search the dealer web sites for left over 2014 vehicles . If you avoid loaded optioned cars and trade both in you might be surprised at what you can get.
By all means check for rust. But those Toyotas that I mentioned that I got hundreds of thousands of miles out of also lived in the northeast… NH to be exact. As does my 2005 Scion tC, which I monitor very carefully, including the undercarriage, for signs of rust and is virtually rust free.
Personally, I don’t consider either vehicle to be high mileage at all and certainly don’t consider brakes and struts to be out of the norm of repairs unless you’re just adverse to spending upkeep money. Both cars should have a lot of life left in them.
My vote would be for the Corolla also but as others have mentioned; rust could be the decider.
Maybe you’re in a situation where both have rust issues.
@scottneish It is easy to check for rust yourself. It HAS started but is a matter of monitoring it. Look at drain holes in rocker panels, door drains, lower edge of trunk lid, fender lining where it joins the fender. Look for ANY bubbling at all. Looking under car tells you little as it’s the peripheral body panels that rust first. You can squirt oil back up into any drain hole to delay more rust formation in doors and rocker panels as well as ANY low area you can reach with a garden Sprayer wand. Use a biodegradable oil to be safe. If you do this, the Corolla may be considered.
The northeast is one of those areas where it may be worth it financially to trade a car before rust shows rather then run it into the ground mechanically. I have found it best sold or traded in the 8 to ten year range without treating and up to 12 to 15 easily if treated yearly.