i worked on the '09 corolla / matrix launch at the cambridge plant with the program chassis engineer and he was telling me he’s been tentatively assigned to the minor model upgrade portion, which includes a cvt tranny.
don’t go stick with these it’s not really worth it. the cable shifters are so shitty it’s nothing compared to a honda solid link or rwd shifter. just get the auto since you’re planning on getting a corolla anyway. the 2.4L does pick up surprisingly well but this was moreso on the matrix. the corolla’s still have a 5x100 pcd with the 2.4L whereas the matrix gets the 5x114.3. The driveshafts themselves are much smaller in diameter compared to the 2.4L matrix shafts. so basically, it’s not worth it to get the 2.4L on the corolla, stick with the 1.6L in auto, you’ll get great gas mileage too (but it’s pretty weak still).
the 1.6L 2ZR engine used in the corolla is at its last gen right now and the same goes for all Z family toyota engines. they’ve now brought in their new R engine family (new RAV4 uses these). so engine reliability wise i think you’re pretty safe (as well as serviceability).
the electric power steering via column assist is a great addition they introduced for the new model and the application in general has been pretty successful. the quality of the tilt and telescopic function’s even better than the 1 series (tried it out myself). the feel of the pwr steering is not as nice as an s2k (which has a rack assist EPS system = better sensitivity due to minimal torsional losses in the column shaft) but in general is quite nice.
a/c has been known to start smelling kinda funny for some of the vehicles we built but this isn’t a major concern and i think denso has addressed this and the change has been made. also, there’s been minor exhaust leak issues but these have all been addressed iirc.
the main concern for you in terms of maintenance costs could very well be all alignment related. one of the biggest warranty items for corolla’s is general alignment. the rear beam carrier welds have too much variation in their final location on the rear beam and this directly affects the rear toe. as of winter 2008 the corolla’s rolling off the line were on the high end of rear thrust angle, which means the cumulative RR toe is a +ve, and you’ll likely have some feathering due to the toe out condition. what concerned me the most at the time of working on the beam was that toyota spec’s the final toe on the beam as thrust angle (both toe’s added up) and they target 0 thrust. this theoretically means you could have both RR wheels pointing 0.5 deg towards one way (+0.5, -0.5), which added up, = 0 deg thrust. what this does is give you that dog tracking feel and is the main reason why customers go to dealers complaining the car’s pulling to one side, the dealer re-aligns FR toe, and the problem doesn’t go away until they realize you have a no good beam.
for the S package, keep in mind that there is a slight issue with ground effect fitment right now as the bumper and ground effect moulds are “out of spec” (can’t really say much more about this). not a big issue but it’s not really worth the investment for the S model trim, i’d rather just get a 2.4L AWD matrix instead.
overall though, the '09 corolla gen is much, much more refined than the previous gen. i did some studies that compared the two gens and when i had to rip them around in my playground the old one definitely felt a lot more rugged and looser. everything’s been really tightened up on the new gen and as of right now the biggest thing the plant is doing is looking to cut costs everywhere for that program but as far as i know there’s nothing too major that engineering’s working on changing right now. the launch was really smooth and on schedule so all these small signs are good indicators that the car is being built well.
that’s all i can think of now…i love doing nothing at work 
if you have any questions let me know