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Tinting can be done cheap, Stereo stuff also like others said.
Now the things you need to decide. Do you really want a new car and if so when and why?
The older I get, the smarter my parents were but I didn't listen just like many other kids. They taught me to work hard and save for what I really wanted. I did by all the stereo stuff as I like music and drive a lot. Tires I bought the best I could afford to keep me safe as it's the only thing touching the ground. I wanted nicer rims but the ones I had were still round. I used the "nice" rim money and bought spare steelies from another Corolla and put 4 great snow tires on that was still cheaper than the nice rims combined.
I did the window tinting, and replaced lights with factory European ones that had a better pattern as much of time was night driving. Now all this I did as I planned to keep the car until it died. It got totaled at 220k after 14 years. I'd still be driving it everyday if I could as it was a great car and paid for long ago allowing me to save money for the next one.
Here's what I would recommend.....If you really want and plan to get a new car save your money and just do what is needed for your safety. Figure out how much you need for the new car and by when and then divide those payments out to save each month so you can hopefully pay cash.
I would recommend keeping it as long as everything else is good. Take it to a good shop and replace the motor mounts or whatever is causing the vibration. Keep the paint job the same but get the car detailed inside and out. $4 gas is everywhere by me and the gas mileage on the Corolla was great (my Sonata averages 10mpg less and forget about the Sequoia). If you want better tunes/tint do it. Most of my stereo stuff I transferred to the Sonata. The tires (regular and almost new snows) I sold and put the money into spare factory alloy rims and new snows for the Sonata. I pretty much broke even on that deal. Get quality stuff and you can use it for a long time.
Not the sportiest or fastest car but paid for, good on gas, cheap on insurance and reliable will help you a lot in the future. Once you put a couple things how you like, start saving 200-300 month if you can in a separate car fund account. You can use it to maintain or upgrade stuff if you want or when you reach your goal for new car go for it. I was able to put down 10K on my Sonata when the Corolla got wrecked by doing this. The reason I didn't get a Camry instead was that for the same features, write ups from the car mags, test drives, the Sonata was $6k CHEAPER. With wife, 2 kids, house etc. that comes in REAL handy. The Sonata is paid off but I keep making the same payment in a fund for the maintenance or for the next one. Sonata is 4 years old and already has 68k miles. Might be my sons first car as long as nothing happens to it in the next 6 years.
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