I bought my Toyota Corolla brand new in 2007. It was my very first car. I have put over 94,000 miles on it in the last seven years. Overall, I have been very happy with it. I bought this specific car because I knew that Toyotas are reliable, and I wanted good fuel economy, because I knew I'd be using it to commute to work (over 40 miles round-trip--though I recently moved close to work.) I have never had any major problems with my Corolla. I take my car in for maintenance every 5,000 miles or 6 months (and the car has a light that comes on to remind me). Except for a few minor things that my extended warranty covered, I have only had to replace things that normally wear down, like the tires, brakes, and the battery. When I got my tires replaced, was told that they lasted 50,000 miles longer than normal, because of my regular maintenance schedule. The car is by no means flashy, but that's not what I needed. It's rather roomy and the trunk is very large. My new apartment is up a steep hill, and the car handles fine. My only annoyance is very minor: the hubcaps fall off easily and are expensive to replace. I see many older Corollas with missing hubcaps, so I know it's not just my car.

Overall, the car is great and I still use it to this day (though not as often). It is a car that can be used by friends/relatives or for a quick trip to the beach. It had a few tiny problems like any car it's age would but I found that I could fix a lot of these things myself as it is a simple car.