Answers

It depends who you ask. Will you always be driving in the same area & under the very same conditions? Ever drive in the rain? A salesman who tells you that a car equipped like nothing in his stock won't be a salesman for long. His job is to sell what he has.

Check with your insurance agent and ask about the discounts for those options. It might be worth looking more to get what you want. One advantage to buying used is that you can get something used that sold new elsewhere and may not have been available in a local distribution area.

As to absolute safety questions, no one ever knows for sure. When we think about the junk we drove when we were young, its surprising we're here at all to answer questions.

1

0

Report it

So the salesman never heard of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California?

Of course you can get TC and ESC on cars in California. Now not every used Corolla will have that, but if you want this feature, then that's what you should buy.

I'm not sure what year TC and ESC became available for the Corolla, so if you're shopping too old a car you may not find it, but it has nothing to do with where the car was shipped to-----GEEZ, where do they come up with this stuff? I do know you could get it as far back as 2007---but apparently only with the automatic transmission.

1

0

Report it

Having worked in sales before, I understand some of the language. My interpretation of what the salesman told you is: "We don't have what you want, but we do want to sell you something else".

0

0

Report it

While they sound like good options, one of the first requirements should be to get a demonstration. Next, you should make it function yourself to get the idea and feel. This is true especially if they will cost more.

These and other such options do NOT overide the laws of physics and without a demonstration and the ability to "make it work" under the more extreme conditions you would expect those options to function, it might foster a false sense of security, or in the following paragraph you really have no practical knowledge of how it works.

For example, as ubiquitous as ABS brakes are and as "automatic" as it is, I have seen crashes where functioning of the ABS would probably have avoided the accident.

0

0

Report it