school me on Toyota Camrys (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Status
Not open for further replies.

DSRTRDR

I can mangle anything ...
SILVER Star
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Threads
209
Messages
15,607
Location
Baton Rouge, LA and Fountain Hills, AZ
I am looking for a car for the following purpose: just in case daily driver goes down, I need a reliable car. Is a Camry Wagon, 4cyl auto, 1987, 105,000miles it? He wants $1500. What do you think? Thanks in advance, Claudia
 
$1500 sounds like a good deal for that vehicle, but $1500 is a lot of money for "just in case" scenarios....

Same money would go a long way towards PM or rental $$ IF that ever happened, IMO
 
The rental car scenario sounds reasonable, but if I have breakdowns (not often at all, already have good preventive maintenance, but at 13 years, 150,000 miles, things happen), and they happen when I got no time to wait for someone to pick me up, or need to catch a plane at the airport or such.
 
i dont like that body style, but they are great cars. you could get a slightly newer corolla for the same cash.
 
DSRTRDR said:
I am looking for a car for the following purpose: just in case daily driver goes down, I need a reliable car. Is a Camry Wagon, 4cyl auto, 1987, 105,000miles it? He wants $1500. What do you think? Thanks in advance, Claudia

My folks had great luck with theirs - an 87 with 120k. They sold it a year ago for $1500.
 
I like the later 89+

Mine had 202k and goes in 12" of snow no problem.

1500 seems fair nough
 
i would almost say thats a great deal. My dad had a 89 camry sedan(not wagon) and he gave it away at 420,000 miles and it still ran like a dream. We replaced the motor at 390,000 miles but shouldn't have. The cat converter was stopped up and we didn't know where to look for it and we replaced the motor and put the original header back on it(thats where the cat converter is) and had the same problem. So to make a story we didn't need a motor.


lunyou
 
wesintl said:
Mine had 202k and goes in 12" of snow no problem.

LOL :rolleyes: I want to see this, 12" fresh snow, nobody breaking trail, you and your Camry ;)

Seriously though, even as a just in case car I dont think the price is too bad. Specially since it is a wagon. You may find yourself using it more than "just in case" it could become your daily driver.
 
I bought a 92 from my neighbor this summer for $2K. 168k on the od. She was the first owner. She parked it for 3 years cause she said that at times she couldn't get it to start. The dealer had it for 2 weeks and couldn't find any thing wrong. I changed all the fluids and it been running like a champ since. I'm thinking of lifting it so I can fit my fat ass and creeper under it. Great cars but a big diffence going from a cruiser to a car. Make ya feel a little inadequate, but going from 12mpg to 28mpg is worth it to me.
Check this site out. www.toyotanation.com/forum/f15
 
4cyl Camry = possile sludge! I have a 95, boring as hell but dependable and I purchased from my dad. Look under the oil fill cap and as far in as you can see, the sludge factor can be bad. She earch Google etc for the problem.

Scott
 
stinkyfj60 said:
LOL :rolleyes: I want to see this, 12" fresh snow, nobody breaking trail, you and your Camry ;)

I was up in summit last weekend and I had to drive up a buddy's driveway it had at least 12" on it. Lazy fawker wasn't snow blowing it. Then in blowing snow I drove over loveland before they closed it due to poor visibility because EB eisenhower was a parking lot. Even his wife questioned me driving the camry wondering how I got around... Easy I know how to drive in snow unlike most of the other morons there. It's not like I'm breaking trail with it all the time but it gets around just as well as any SUV on the road.:grinpimp:
 
wesintl said:
I was up in summit last weekend and I had to drive up a buddy's driveway it had at least 12" on it. Lazy fawker wasn't snow blowing it. Then in blowing snow I drove over loveland before they closed it due to poor visibility because EB eisenhower was a parking lot. Even his wife questioned me driving the camry wondering how I got around... Easy I know how to drive in snow unlike most of the other morons there. It's not like I'm breaking trail with it all the time but it gets around just as well as any SUV on the road.:grinpimp:


Funny, I owned a 1986 Mercury Lynx - front wheel drive - that got around, down and up snowy, icy hills - where other vehicles were sideways in the street. That thing doMinated snow and ice - but later blew it's headgasket, block, rings, etc.
 
based on what repairs i do to these cars when they come ito the shop, i think they are decent cars.
like the others said, they get alot of miles out of them.
the common things i fix/repair/prevent are this:

timing belts. (typical maintenence)
CV axles R&R (typical of any FWD)
Auto Transmission rebuilds, some shift hard. ( this can be avoided with regular flushes/services. if the trans maint. record is good, you probly wont have a problem)
Oil pan leaks.
Front caliper pins sieze up.
leaking rear wheel cyls. (only seen it on cars with over 175K)


i cant say i perticurly like these cars. but they are better than any american car for that year. and since you are only using it as a backup car, (or as i like to call a stunt double), i think you will be happy with it.

oh, and some cars i have seen have broken inside door handles.
 
Bought my daughter a 90 Corolla for $1500 a few years ago, great car until the timing belt let go on the highway and bent the valves, change the timing belt if you buy it.
 
We had an '88 for awhile, and try as she did, my wife couldn't kill that car. It had a minor oil leak that I decided wasn't worth fixing, it was was like an automatic rustproofing sysem. Except that she would forget to keep an eye on the oil. I would frequently have to add 2-3 quarts to get the dipstick to the F mark.

The only thng I didn't like about it was those stupid motorized seat belt retractors. Really annoying. Keep 'em greased!
 
Recently discovered where used Camry's go after trade -ins in South Florida - a Toyota dealer down here has a lot full- mostly from old folks I bet - all Southern cars - considering buying one for a daily driver - less on the gas, ya know?
 
My mother-in-law had a Camry. Completely reliable. What wore it out was the mile and a half gravel road she has to drive to get to her house. She traded it in a couple of Chebbie SUVs, neither of which lasted half as long as the Camry, and then got a Lexus, which is holding up much better than the Chebbies.

At 105,000 miles, if the previous owner took care of it, that Camry ought to have a long ways to go. And that's the rub. Did they or didn't they take care of it? Still, for $1500, it's worth a shot.
 
I've got a 1992 with 365K km (or 200K miles) on the clock. Runs good and looks pretty good too. V6 with 5 speed manual and it's pretty fun to drive. I find it hard to work on just because you need small hands...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom