which car would you choose?

[civic94]

as some of you may not know, i sold me manual civic, looking for a reliable automatic so my mom and i can share it (save on insurance, tags, etc)


so far when i look for automatic 1993 - 97 corolla's, they on average, are a good 500 bucks more than a 92+ toyota camry.

the thing about the camry's is that they are all LE, so i get the comfort of a tach, and power windows. all the corollas are base model or a dx, and they cost an arm and a leg just because its "gas saver"


I had a 92 auto camry before, i can get about 25 mpg with inflated tires and an intake. on the corolla, i know i can get about 30 mpg on it with the same mods(i had an automatic 90 civic before). so its basically a 5 mpg loss every way i measure it.


what I was thinking is that if i get the camry, gas would cost me about 10 bucks more a month, or 120 more a year, and it will take about 4 years to break even since its cheaper than the corolla. but on the meantime, the camry is bigger, quietier, smoother, safer, and the luxuries of power windows, looks better ( some people will look at a guy with a corolla as.. cheap, or laugh since its a tiny ecobox) etc.


also the average camry i see is about 1,500 bucks, even after 5 years of ownership i wont lose as much money, since cars will bottom out at a point of lets say, 800 bucks even if its high mileage, as long as it runs, someone will buy it for that kind of price.


any opinions?
the insurance premium will be exactly the same for both cars, so thats not an issue