My first post here. I just need to apologize in advance that this is a really long post, with lots of details on the impression of my co-worker friend's car. Originally, I was just helping him to sell it, but now I'm becoming a potential buyer when my wife heard about the deal since we are in fact trying to get rid of my wife's high maintenance Volvo. My wife will then use my current '92 MB 190E and I will use this Camry. We can probably have a couple weeks of overlapping time to have 3 cars till I fix up this Camry.
I don't have any bias against older car or higher mileage car... I know it takes proper maintenance and $$$ to upkeep the car to drive till such high mileage. A list of my past & current rides
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...37#post2530937 So, considering it's a running Camry, it really tempts me into buying it. I'll explain further down there, but it'll cost about $600 to really be driving this car.
Being an Asian and hearing all the good things about Camry in my life, I've always wanted to own one. I now get a chance to join the community with this $300 deal from my co-worker (he bought a new car and didn't have any use of it for the past 5 months, he just lend it to his ex (now no use for it). The main reason for this purchase is to get a somewhat reliable car and definitely want low maintenance and low repair cost. I like and have been doing a good bit of DIY for my previous and current rides, mainly around the context of fluid changes, parts replacement, simple fixes (usually MacGyver style to save money)...
The biggest split decision maker here is not from the 7 PROs & 11 CONs (I'll list them below)... it is how high the mileage it has yet how well it serves the purpose of a car: smooth idle, drives straight, good steering response, unknown highway performance & shifting (not tested in high speed as tag expired and we just didn't wanna risk it).
2 negatives that I felt : Some subtle "flapping" noise (not from any worn belt that I could see) front wheels of frontal part of the car... It sounds like one flap per rotation of the wheel but not sure. A little vibration whenever I put it in reverse, still move fine though.
PROs:
1) Ok-good driving conditions except the 2 negatives that I stated above. So it still serves well as a car, which is primarily what I need without the high repair bill.
2) 3 yr of the 3rd gen/model of camry (while it's still flagship of Toyota sedan before '95 Avalon exists)... love the cheap and easily found parts
3) Good braking (new brake pads & rotor from Jan. 2008, alignment done also)
4) 2 newer front tires from Mar. 2007 10K mi. ago (the other 2 needs replacement to pass inspection my guess)
5) Ok-good on gas. Yes, I know by book it's only 21/28 for AT. It's still better than 22MPG that I average on my Volvo on premium.
6) Major tune up ~$300 done by a trusted Camry specialist about 6 months ago (new air filter, fuel filter, sp, sp wires, distributor cap etc., oil change) but then drove for less than 1k miles before it started sitting in his new apt. while he bought a new car.
7) Only $300 to buy. Realistically another $300 to make it legally and safely drivable.
CONS:
1) Mysterious subtle/minor "flapping" noise from frontal part of the car/wheel.
2) Some vibration when put in Reverse.
3) ABS light on (My co-worker stated it came on like 2 years ago after he put on an audio system form Best Buy. Those dudes told him to drive for a couple days and it should go away but never did. He's way to lazy to follow up with them. In North Carolina, I heard from a mechanic that it would still pass inspection with ABS light on).
4) Broken Driver Side Mirror housing (mirror is okay, just need some MacGyver style fix to get it to stay, and then pass inspection)
5) Many fluid changes needed to be topped (coolant and washer fluid way low, power steering & brake fluid a bit low too, ATF dipstick shows over the max marks when checking with car warmed up & running... ATF color looks kind of light-brown-ish rather than red-ish... engine oil level and color was good). No leaks at all though, very dry under the hood.
6) Northern car... rust throughout exhaust system. He replaced the flex pipe Jun. 2007. I can only imagine how hard it was for the welder to weld it to other rusted pipes.
7) Driver seat (bud area) torn. Otherwise, ok-old leather seats. All seats still movable.
8) Only Driver side windows open (auto down smooth, but need to forcefully pull the button up to get the window up). All other windows inoperable.
9) Need a new battery. Current battery probably a couple years old, no info on it. The car has been sitting for about 5 months and today when we jumped it, it started up fine, drove it within parking lot for 15 minutes or so... turn it off, couldn't start back up.
10) Hood latch kind of broken... It'll open and close, but upon pulling switch under steering column, need to raise the hood manually to reach the latch switch. Then, the hood won't hold up by itself, it's like the hydraulic or the bars just didn't stay up bcoz it's too old.
11) 210,000 miles! The highest I've had was a '87 Toyota Supra with 244K mi. (w/ already rebuilt engine, original AT) and a '86 Honda CRX with 188K mi. (original engine & smooth stick shift). I love Japanese quality and I do believe them... but let's not forget I have no idea how the car was maintain since it was purchased as a "college student" car and my co-worker must have beat it up pretty well. It just lasted a little over fours years for him... now I'm playing a role of a dare-devil-tester.
To sum it up, I'm a realist; even my co-worker will let it go for $300, realistically I'll be putting in another $300 or so (2 tires, 1 battery, wiper blades, fluid changes, title & license plate & registration, inspection...) right of the bat to be able to drive safely.
My question is that will it worth $600 of my money to test the water and see if this car will last before any major repair hits? Does the fact that Engine Mount needed replacement and vibration in reverse mean anything (tranny failure)?
Thanks for any frank opinions and every short comments counts too. I have 1 day to decide before he decide to donate it (coz his apt. office threatens to tow it next week and he is really too lazy to sell despite he put in about).
-Henry
$300 (more like $600) '94 Camry LE 210K mi. a good deal?
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