I've underlined the important part of your quote in what you're assuming. You should see them now. There are no new Corrolla's that are the way you assume. Automatic, 2 mirrors, power windows and even a CD player....all for well under $14K.
Corolla is kind unsafe for high net-worth individual from elitetrader, any decent truck can squash it like a dead bug on windshield.
http://autos.yahoo.com/2010_toyota_corolla/ i can't find anything below 14K. not sure where i can find one for 12K even base,with manual transmission(good luck driving it in the city) invoice is 14.5K.
When I buy a car its not all about "economy", for me a car is a luxury purchase. I'm not interested in paying the least amount of money for basic transportation, just like I don't buy the cheapest house to live in or the cheapest food that will sustain my life. So that leaves only one relevant question - how does the Volt compare against other cars in its price range, $33k after gov't rebates?
You have many options to chose from in the 30k-40k when it comes to cars. If someone handed me $33k to go buy a brand new car right now it wouldn't be a pathetic volt made by gm.
Warren Buffet drives a real cheap pickup. You really cannot determine wealth by automobile the person drives. I see more people who are broke driving BMW 3 series.
I have found this to be a pretty good starting point on what one should be paying for a new car in a certain geographic region. http://www.truecar.com/index.html
pretty logical thing...those who doesn't have much are trying to "create" appearance of wealth..i remember one guy,who own restaurant business explain this very well here, on ET. and those who do have-they trying to stay low. they don't have proof anything to anybody.. + they very well aware of possible frivolous lawsuits