So im gonna buy my first new car this year and im thinking the toyota corolla hatchback is this a good choice?

AFRAID of HEIGHTS in a CAR???  REALLY! LOWER cars are HARDER to get into.  Look into a VW GTI or an AUDI TURBO! even USED ones save MONEY! They are MORE FUN and have GREAT road manners as well! GREAT ECONOMY and are built TOUGH as NAILS>  You can even SIT on the DOORS and they will NOT even BEND unlike the OTHER cars! Go to CARS.com from GREAT DEALS on low mileage USED AUDI TT or other ones like the A3 and ALSO see the great used SUPERCHARGED BENZ clk230 cars from about 2000 that are UNDER $8k! You can get TWO CARS here in stead of jus ONE! I got TWO USED BENZ cars for a tick over $3k a piece and they were BOTH OUTSTANDING! They DO last for nearly EVER and the CAR FINISHES were just PERFECT! LOW insurance as WELL for USED! ANOTHER great choice is the FOR FOCUS RS with 333 HP it is AWESOME! You are BEST off with AWD or QUATTRO and SUBARUI also has GREAT CARS with SUPERB technology like EYE SIGHT that PREVENTS s accidents with RADAR controlled BRAKES  should it spot a  Moving DEER or DRUNK in front of you! SAME for used AUDI CARS! I think that AUDI invented that feature, but I am NOT SURE!  The TOYOTA is reliable but is NOT as much F U N as the other ones here! You can get a used BMW xDrive with a WARRANTY and TWIN TURBOS for under $10k as well ! These cars were ALL MEANT to last for THIRTY YEARS + AUDI TT convertibles for about $7k UNREAL QUALITY and VERY Sturdy! AUDI has one for the BEST safety records of ANYONE OUT THERE! And they TWEAK so easily with a COMPUTER CHIP! there is a HUGE AUDI YARD outside of NEW YORK called SHOKAN and there is BLAUPARTS if you want to UPGRADE or need WEAR ITEMS like BRAKES or control arms! ROCK auto has REAL GERMAN Parts for ALL of them! I tend NOT to want a TOYOTA< even though they are reliable they just do NOT have the ROAD FEEL of a GERMAN or EURO CAR! The VW GTI is SUPERB from ANY YEAR!  EVEN a FORD FUSION is a worthy choice! They ALSO last a VERY VERY LONG TIME! if you use PENNZOIL ULTRA PLATIINUM OIL you will get a WARRANTY to 500,000 miles on ANY CAR!>>USED CARS are BETTER in so many ways! You can CUSTOIZE THEM and the first thing you do is go the DEALERSHIP with THERI NAME on it, and have ALL THE FLUIDS CHANGED to the ORIGINAL suppliers! E.g. BENZ, BMW and VW/AUDI use PENTOSIN FLUIDS! A REAL audi oil change lasts for TWO FULL YEARS ! And there are FLEECE and SYNTHETIC FIBER oil filters that INCREASE the length of OI LCHANGES! You will be THRITLLED in the long run with a TURBO or SUPERCHARGED AUDI< USED! There are MAY GREAT used AUDI SUPERCHARGED 3.0T cars out there with BANG and OLAFSEN sound systems or BOSE< the OTHER best one! TOYOTA< though RELIABLE, is a tad bit BORING! 

Can't go wrong with ANY Toyota.

And AWD vehicles become very expensive to maintain since they take larger and more expensive tires that have to be changed in sets of 4.

And their drive trains are also very expensive to repair compared to a FWD car.

As always the weak spot is the CVT transmission.

They require changing fluid and filter regularly which is expensive and they ALL fail much earlier than conventional automatic transmissions.

Most vehicles sold today are throw away and designed to fail which is fine for those who merely trade in every 4 years and have a perpetual car payment.

Test drive them to see which suits you. I like the security of a trunk and that's my bias against hatchbacks. If a Rav4 gives you height fear, you must never have ridden a cruiser bicycle.

There are a lot of complaints on the new CVT transmissions failing. Toyota is not addressing this in the customer's interest. Honda had a few bad years with transmissions between 2002-2005, issued a recall which was limited and did not remedy the cause of the failure. Now, it looks like Toyota is having their turn. The manual transmissions in new Toyotas are trouble free, and if I was buying a new Toyota, I would choose a manual transmission, not a CVT.

Yikes! I cannot believe that your parents would recommend a RAV4. They were in the top three most dangerous vehicles every manufactured a few years ago along with the Honda CRV. The might be a little safer/better now but are still not safe in comparison. 

The Corolla has a CVT transmission. They have a high failure rate but most Asian car companies have extended warranties for replacing the CVT transmission when they fail. The RAV4 is one of the only vehicles I know of that does not have the CVT transmission. Afraid of heights? Give me a break. The RAV4 is only a few inches higher to get into the vehicle!

Buy a Honda Fit.  That ia all you need.

Honestly Toyota’s are overpriced now. I would get a used one. Besides, it’s not like the interior on those are nice anyways, besides the new Supra or 86. And you can get a better car for roughly the same price. You can get a slightly used Honda Accord or a civic si (comes with a turbo and nice seats).

QUOTE: "im afraid of heights and want something lower to the ground. What do you think?"

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You're an idiot and you should still be riding a tricycle is what I think.