I think this hole situation shows not to hurry when buying a car or other high price item. Generally speaking (regardless of this or any specific situation)
a) Be sure of what you want, no matter what sales «consultant» (yeah...) tells you, to avoid buyer remorse. Otherwise you end up looking, even unconsciously, to get rid of what you bought or at least feel a bit frustrated.
b) Check financing options (including waiting) before even walk into a concession/store. It's kind of suspicious if one dealer push you to a specific model because of credit score while another is willing to sell. Credit score is an objective data between you and the bank/finance company. Even if you finance through a dealear, the finance director or whatever is merely an agent for the bank/finance company that operate with that dealer.
c) Don't consider only monthly payments (for God sakes, they even announce prices by the week or even day now, where I live ! Wow, a Corolla for just 5.99 $!). Number of months, plus interest, plus whatever cash and/or deposit is what you really get ripped off plus equity VS duration of the term.
d) Also take your time at delivery to inspect the car/good throughly. Premature wear, chips or rust might fall under lemon law but orange peel might be a harder case since, again at least where I live, you sign a discharge stating that you inspected the good before delivery and accept it. (on the other hand, we also have the "legal warranty" that state that a good should work properly for a reasonnable time, wether or not the manufacturer warranty has expired. Each case is different, but Toyota/Subaru has lost a number of court cases here on that account).
As for the choice between LE and S, beside the different fascia and lip spoiler, the S would be a bit firmer, supposedly because of suspension tweaking but mostly because of bigger wheels, with more bolstered seats, paddle shifter (if automatic), and optional 4 discs brakes.