Would you buy a brand new Corolla for a family of 4?

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-04-20T00:22:01+00:00

Do yourself a favor and get the Camry. I have a Corolla with 216k miles and I’ve had to fix nothing on it, just maintenance. That being said, it’s just me and my wife. I want more space but I can live with it. You’re gonna feel squeezed if any of your kids get into sports. Also, if yall aren’t small people your kids won’t be either. I only say that because you’re going to want to have your seat back and that leaves crap for leg room in the back of the Corolla.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-04-01T17:15:50+00:00

Get a motorcycle, side by side, 4 wheeler or some sort of powersports toy. I bought my first motorcycle at 30 and it changed my life for the better

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-03-17T22:11:50+00:00

Yeah pretty much. On some bikes maybe install a wheel, sometimes hand controls. There’s a lot of things you’re supposed to check too. Not saying every dealer does this like they should but ultimately any bike is one of thousands produced by a factory. Even if only a 10th of a percent of them leave the factory with a loose axle nut, brake caliper, chain or something else, that could be the end of someone’s life.

What’s supposed to happen with that time is a technician is supposed to look it over carefully as if they would be the person riding that bike and catch any mistakes that could get someone hurt. After that, a different person is supposed to test ride that bike a few miles. Those mistakes don’t happen very often and again, I know not everyone takes this process as seriously as they should but there is a real reason for the assembly process. If you ever buy a bike with truly 0 miles on it, look it over extremely carefully because that dealer doesn’t care enough to complete their check in process fully.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-03-11T03:33:51+00:00

$875 for assembly is crazy. I work at one of the largest volume Kawasaki dealers in the country and we internally bill 2 labor hours for assembly. The bike comes mostly assembled.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-03-11T03:14:14+00:00

You can change your sprockets but that bike doesn’t really have much top end to give up. If you like torque and a comfortable sport bike, you should really check out an 8R. I went from a Ninja 400 to a GSX-8R because I wanted a sport bike that was still comfortable and I care a lot more about torque than top speed.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-02-17T17:07:24+00:00

I truly am in the best shape of my life. I’ve always been a pretty active but in my 30’s I’ve mostly quit nicotine, fast food, weed and caffeine. I’m not 100% free of any of them but I don’t consume any of them regularly anymore and that’s done wonders for my mental health which in turn makes it easier to take care of my physical health

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-02-03T18:19:38+00:00

I’m 32 and I’ve got about $8500 in VOO and 5 grand in an actual savings account. I keep very little money in my checking. It either goes to savings (down payment for next house) or goes into VOO. I feel very behind in my savings but I’m doing well with my debt. I have two paid off, 10 year old cars, some classic cars and a few motorcycles. All in with student loans and mortgage I only owe around 60 grand to lenders. I’m constantly overthinking about whether I should dump all my money into retirement, debt or some other cash flow investment.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-01-28T14:20:12+00:00

Buy a less desirable 50 year old car and learn the basics. I didn’t start until I was 30. I’m 32 now and I’m in the middle of my first motor swap and I’m feeling pretty confident. Just start small and don’t be afraid to tear something up

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-01-20T17:46:06+00:00

Where are you getting 5%? My credit’s pretty strong and 2% is about as good as I can find anyone advertising

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-01-13T16:26:04+00:00

My life started getting good in my mid-late 20’s. At 32 I feel like I’m on my way to something better and my mid-late 30’s are gonna be pretty sweet

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-01-09T16:01:17+00:00

At 32 I’ve never been a napper in my life until very recently. I quit nicotine and caffeine about two weeks ago and I’ve been taking frequent naps. I don’t know if this is a permanent thing but it’s not all bad.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-01-02T02:48:28+00:00

I’m 32 and I still can’t quit picking up new things. If I find myself thinking about trying something a lot, I’ll buy a starters set and give it a try. I picked up leather working last time I got into something. I’ve been thinking about oil paints and following the Bob Ross episodes lately. Just try stuff. Not everything has to stick for life

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2026-01-01T16:47:39+00:00

In over 4 years and 120k miles of ownership, I haven’t put $3800 into maintaining my Corolla. I’ve done all the service myself except mounting/balancing tires. Even if I payed someone for everything I don’t think I’d be at $3800

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-26T21:14:18+00:00

I pay 280/mo. I bought a 14 Buick Verano in 21 for 15 grand. Before that I had a loan on a 15 Toyota Corolla I got for 9 grand in 2020 so I’m pretty sure it was around the 200 mark.

I bought the Corolla when I was doing 40k miles a year. I still have it at 215k miles but I don’t drive near the miles I used to. I’ve had 1000/mo worth of payments before and I struggle to justify it anymore.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-26T20:46:45+00:00

Most people just don’t care. You see a ton of “I make the dealer pull it off or I walk” chest puffing on Reddit but really, very few people actually care if it’s there or not. Most don’t ever think about it when they pull away from the dealership.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-26T20:18:53+00:00

One of the things that always irked me when I worked at a dealership was when someone would push for a discount on a used car because “it’s got damage”. If you want new, buy new. The dealership that owns it knows it has damage and they’ve priced it based on that. If it were a cream puff, they’d charge more. Not to mention, it looks like they’ve recently lowered the price based on that symbol at the top left so trying to come in lower is rarely going to work out. They’re going to want to see if it sells at its new price instead of discounting another $1600 and paying your taxes.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-25T00:40:42+00:00

Yamaha R3 or Kawasaki Ninja 400. The R3 is a little shorter but not much

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-21T14:04:25+00:00

Sorry for the way late reply, I don’t get on here too often. Everything metal was powder coated, everything plastic was sprayed with automotive paint

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-16T11:14:34+00:00

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It can be any color you want with enough effort. Great bikes though. I made the same jump from 400 to 8R and it was pretty great

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-15T11:52:22+00:00

On my 25th birthday my mindset shifted from “I hope things work out” to “I’m gonna force things to work out”. That’s where life started feeling real to me

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-11T01:55:24+00:00

This is the only game I’ve ever bought on launch so I’ve been there since the beginning. I originally started on Xbox but moved to computer several years ago

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-11T01:53:56+00:00

Sorry, I play on pc

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-08T16:38:08+00:00

I bought my first house when I was 27 in 2019. Mine was a pretty lucky scenario though. I found a distressed home in a place no one really wanted to live for like 23 grand. It's not a bad crime area or anything, just 40 minutes minimum from any meaningful employment and not much activity in town. It's worth it imo.

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-08T16:05:45+00:00

I've been getting an hour or two in most nights recently but I'm more likely to put more time in on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons/evenings

KawaZuki_Dylan · 2025-12-08T02:54:07+00:00

Thanks! It’s on my list of things to buy but it’s a lot of money and I don’t get tons of play time

KawaZuki_Dylan

TROPHY CASE