Year after year the Toyota Camry comes in as one of the most popular family sedans on the road. It competes directly with cars like the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, and Volkswagen Passat which all offer up quality automobiles. The Camry recently offered a hybrid option for those "green" customers that want to help do their part and cut down on carbon wastes and safe the environment. With great fuel economy, a quiet ride, and one of the highest predicted reliabilities in all cars, the Toyota Camry is an obvious choice for any family that wants a financially sound car. Toyota is innovative in their design work and the latest Camrys look great on the interior and exterior. With features like Smart Key System with push button start, voice activated DVD navigation, and MP3 compatibility, the Camry will surely continue to lead this class of cars into the future.
There are 5 models to choose from with dozens of options on each which you can personalize to your liking. The basic Camry starts at $18570 and goes up to $25200 for the Camry Hybrid. The hybrid gets roughly 34 miles per galloon on fuel economy and has decent acceleration. The 4 cylinder Toyota Camry LE which goes for about $20000 is a top rated family sedan that Consumer Reports says is "quiet", "fuel efficient", and provides plenty of "interior storage". The Camry scores well in crash protection tests with air bags and accident avoidance features. The V6 has proven to be more reliable than the 4 cylinder but both are higher than other cars in the same category except for the Honda Accord. The XLE at $28000 (V6) is a comfortable to drive 6 speed automatic with mileage ratings of 19 city/28 highway. Although the Prius is still the better "buy" in terms of a hybrid, the Camry hybrid is another excellent alternative for a family sedan that looks great and helps the environment. The new 2008 Camrys are sleeker than past models and some customers are not too hip on curves and lines. From the website at http://www.toyota.com/camry/index.html it looks like the marketing campaign for the Camry will be more about "entertainment" than function. Camry has a solid reputation in America so we assume the current models will live up to expectations. With gas prices escalating well past $3/gallon, we can only imagine that the Camry hybrid will be a hot seller much like the Prius has been. Get to your local Toyota dealer for a test drive to see which model fits you best.
Toyota Camry Reviews:
When it comes to online reviews of cars, Edmunds.com is a leading unbiased resource in our eyes. Consumer Reports does an excellent job each year of rating the top cars in each category with advantages and disadvantages on each. Even About.com and CNET have gotten into car reviews on their websites. Car and Driver will often put out car reviews and we found our local newspaper did a pretty good job of comparing all the vehicles as well. Getting back to Edmunds.com, their reviews are spot on and never biased. They point out that even the base model of the Camry comes equipped with AC, power windows, doors locks, and mirrors, cruise control, tilt-telescoping steering wheel, tire-pressure monitoring, a six-speaker cd system, front-seat side airbags, curtain airbags, and four-wheel disc brakes with ABS. The Camry has changed over the years, but only for the better. Consumer Reports (CR) points out that the Camry lacks folding rear seat on some trims and thigh support is not good "for some drivers". The LE 4 cylinder per CR is only average in terms of reliability but they agree with Edmunds in that the V6 is the better vehicle, albeit more expensive. Acceleration on teh V6 is impressive and the transmission is smooth. The resale value of Toyota cars has always been good compared to the competition and you can see a chart below on how much used Camrys go for.
Used Toyota Camry:
Looking for a used Camry. There are some great website to get started - Craigslist, Ebay Motors, Autobytel.com, or Vehix.com. Edmunds or Kelly Blue Book has some accurate pricing guides for used vehicles which should help you in negotiating either with a private party or dealer. You will almost always get a better deal through a private party when buying a used car since they don't have overhead like a dealership. As for pricing, this is the most up to date info as of January 2008 (data from Edmunds.com website).
2007 Camry: $16,131 - $24,159
2006 Camry: $14,468 - $20,079
2005 Toyota Camry $13,326 - $18,386
2004 Toyota Camry $12,896 - $15,892
2003 Toyota Camry $11,314 - $14,490
2002 Toyota Camry $9,367 - $12,183
2001 Toyota Camry $6,933 - $9,308
2000 Toyota Camry $6,126 - $8,373
Camry Reliability and Repair History:
Two trusted sources for determining car reliability are Consumer Reports and JD Power and Associates. CR does surveys each year and gathers the data to see which cars perform the best over time and which makes require the least or most amount of repairs. They have something called "predicted reliability" which has become a guide in and of itself. Certainly past repair issues can have some influence on whether you buy a certain type of car or not. The Camry, and Toyota vehicles for the most part, get excellent reliability ratings for engines, transmissions, and many other parts in their vehicles. The Camry 4 cylinder model has a very solid background and the V6 gets similar marks. Repairs are minimal since parts tend to be readily available compared to some other imports.
