Buying Gen 4/4.5 Camry...Advice?

[islandboy57]

A friend of mine is looking to purchase a used car.. I've narrowed it down to:

- Nissan Altima
- Honda Accord
- Toyota Camry

She would prefer a V6, definitely a foreign car. Her current Pontiac Grand-Am (I believe it's a 1994, with just 40,000 miles) is having some major issues and she doesn't want to spend more money repairing it. Personally, I like the style of the gen 4.5 Camry and it looks nice. She'd prefer a V6 although it's much more epxensive than the I4. Does the I4 do an adequate job performance-wise or is the V6 highly recommended? I'm wondering the same thing about the Accord (the newer version, 1999-2003), and the Altima's I4 looks to be fairly decent so I don't think a V6 is necessary in that case.

Looking at the 2002-2005 Camry I find it hard to believe an I4 would power the car adequately since it appears to be much larger than previous Camry models.

I really like our 1995 Camry, although it's a bit ancient by today's standards. Absolutely no major problems so far and I hope it stays that way. Hopefully the car will be mine if my mom ever gets a new car - though she rarely drives so it's pretty much mine..

Any advice/input would be appreciated. I have no idea how an I4 Camry would perform so I suppose a test drive is in line for my friend!

[cam2Xrunner]

The camry will be the only car out of those three that can be had with a v6 and a 5spd transmission. Unless you get the new body style altima. But if she is looking for a v6 and automatic I'd definitly go for a Camry over an Accord. The transmissions are better in the camry's. The altima hasn't offered a v6 until the new body style($$) I'd say get a Camry but that's also coming from someone who only buys Toyotas.

[islandboy57]

It'll be an automatic.. I was looking at a local dealership (http://www.hondawindward.com >> deal of the week specials) and there are some decent deals on 2002 I4 Accords, but again, the Camry/Accord is a big car for a four cylinder. You think the I4 Camry is enough power though? Hmm...you know, I've been searching the classifieds lately and there aren't too many gen 4.5 Camrys. I suppose that's good if everyone is still hanging on to their cars

[trixx]

I wanna know how a 94 with 40k is going south.

[Mikey21]

Originally Posted by islandboy57

Does the I4 do an adequate job performance-wise or is the V6 highly recommended?

Looking at the 2002-2005 Camry I find it hard to believe an I4 would power the car adequately since it appears to be much larger than previous Camry models.

Bruddah,

I'm the perfect person to answer this question. I bought my wife a 2003 SE I4 auto and liked it's performance soo much I bought myself a 2004 SE V6 auto.

The performance has a noticeable difference between the two of them but not a glaring one. The I4 is geared a little lower to help its starting acceleration. The V6 is geared a little taller and has the power to push the larger gear so top speed is probably over 140 MPH (highest I've reached was 137 MPH on a relatively short stretch of road). I drove my wife's I4 from Los Angeles to Sacramento in the middle of the night averaging over 120 MPH the whole way; so even with the lower gear in the I4, top speed is adequate to say the least.

In stock form the I4 was a little more fun to drive because of the lighter front end(I fixed the problem by installing TRD Lowering springs and TRD rear sway bar on my V6). It also has pretty good pick up when passing on the freeway. Remember I'm a car enthusiast and found enough right with the 2003 I4 that I bought a 2004(I know I bought a V6 but I only bought the Camry because of the fun and performance of the 2003 I4). The I4 Gen5 Camry is right with the Altima's and Accord's as far as 0-60 times.

The big difference is when you mash the throttle on the 3.3 liter V6. It's a beast, so comparing the two isn't fair. It will plant you back in the seat and hold you there. There's not much difference in the two when just driving around town. Only when you get the V6 in a hard acceleration around 4,000 RPM does this beast come alive.

So I say I4 is plenty good for one wahine driver. And the savings in gas mileage is a no brainer.


Mike

[jhbhatia]

^^ best reply!

I'd say, stick with an i4 camry or an i4 accord. (if your looking at any camry prior to 2002 then i'd stick the i4 accords over camry). If your thinking v6, then i'd stick with camrys.

[islandboy57]

Wow, thanks for the detailed reply Mike. It's exactly what I wanted to hear. I don't care what the dealer says - hearing it here on a Camry forum is far more reliable! Going to go check out Kaimuki Toyota this weekend so hopefully they'll have some 2002+ I4 Camrys to test drive. Any thoughts on an I4 gen 4/4.5 Camry? jhbhatia says to stay with an I4 Accord if going for a Camry previous to 2002.

I'm very surprised to hear this because the new Camrys are so big. The new Corollas are the same size as my gen 3.5 Camry! Anyway, thanks again for the input. I bet if I told her an I4 Camry was a V6 she'd believe it.. I think it's all psychological

As far as her Grand-Am, uh.. Apparently when it rains it leaks water in the front driver's and passenger's side area where you put your feet. She also said that there were some problems earlier that was first diagnosed as a transmission problem, but it wasn't. Basically she doesn't want to put any more money into the car than she already has. Plus that, she doesn't feel safe driving the car anymore - at least farther than in town so that's a major reason she wants a new car. I mean, it's the V6 model and it only has 40,000 miles so hopefully she can get a decent trade-in on it.

Mahalo!

[Mikey21]

Originally Posted by islandboy57

Wow, thanks for the detailed reply Mike. It's exactly what I wanted to hear. I don't care what the dealer says - hearing it here on a Camry forum is far more reliable! Going to go check out Kaimuki Toyota this weekend so hopefully they'll have some 2002+ I4 Camrys to test drive. Any thoughts on an I4 gen 4/4.5 Camry? jhbhatia says to stay with an I4 Accord if going for a Camry previous to 2002.

I'm very surprised to hear this because the new Camrys are so big. The new Corollas are the same size as my gen 3.5 Camry! Anyway, thanks again for the input. I bet if I told her an I4 Camry was a V6 she'd believe it.. I think it's all psychological

The Camry and Accord's previous to 2002 are very similar. Toyota, Honda and Nissan never let the other get too far ahead of them. So performance, amenities and styling are always comparable. Typically the used Camry's have a slightly lower resale price, so it may be worth looking into one. You can find them up to $2,000 dollars cheaper. HOLD on!!! I know what you're thinking, the answer is no. The reason for the discrepancy is not the quality of the car or the demand for it. The fact is Toyota has been the #1 selling Japan import for a loooong time so there are just more of them available. Just comes down to the economics of it.

Mike

PS - Don't look too heavily at the mileage thing. If you can get a car for a great price because of higher mileage I would do it. When I lived back home I never went over 7,000 miles in a year (it's an island! no where to go!). Typically if a car has accumulated more than 15,000 miles per year it's price starts to drop pretty dramatically. So if you get a 2000 Camry with 80,000 miles on it you would save an additional $1,000 (as you probably know by reading thru the forums, Camry's are good for 150,000 miles and more). And be sure to go to www.kbb.com and browse around before going shopping. Have someone at home near the computer and call in the specs and have them pull it up on KBB so you know around what price range you should be dealing with.

[islandboy57]

Yeah, that makes sense.. Based on jhbhatia's comment I thought perhaps the I4 on the gen 4/4.5 Camry wasn't up to par with the Accord or something. I was looking for a 2000-2001 Camry in the classifieds and at the dealerships' websites and it's hard to come by it seems. I like the grille and headlights of those years. So far there are three of us going to look at the cars, plus the salesman would make four in any of the cars so that should be a good test of how the cars are performance-wise.

Ahhh I dunno about the mileage thing. At the most I think I've been looking at 10,000 miles/year - which is the same thing I'd do if it were me shopping for a car. It's amazing to see how some Camrys here on TN are going for well over 200,000 miles! I saw a 1996 V6 LE Camry with 75k miles for $8,900 on Honda Windward's website which looked nice but it's a bit old.

Excellent idea about using KBB. I'll have to ask around to see if anybody will be home.. In the meantime, I'll start looking on KBB. So far the 2002 Honda Accord w/ 24k miles @ $14,200 looks like a good candidate. It's an I4 but should be good enough. Ideally I'd like her to get a Camry, but we'll see how that goes.

Thanks again for the tips!

[islandboy57]

Just got back from a full day of looking at cars. Started off at Nissan (my friend test drove the Sentra 1.8S, Altima 2.5S and Altima 3.5SE - I test drove the Sentra and Altima 3.5) - then went to Honda (we both test drove an '02 Civic, '03 Accord V6 EX and '05 Civic), and lastly we went to Toyota (my friend test drove the '04 Camry V6 LE and '05 Camry I4 Std..we both test drove a Corolla CE and LE)

I wish I could have test drove the Camrys, but ah well. The Camry is definitely roomy and the I4 seemed decent from a passenger's standpoint (as well as hearing feeback from my friend) - the V6 LE was obviously much better performance-wise. The Corollas we test drove were both awesome, I think they're great cars and they have enough power.

As far as the Nissans, the Altima 3.5's engine was simply the BEST! Only problem with the Altima is that it's kinda hard to get a full view of your car to judge it. After test driving that car, I test drove the Sentra 1.8S. Uh yeah, you have to floor the car to get anywhere (mind you we were in a flat parking lot testing its acceleration) so that wasn't too encouraging. The Sentra was much better visibility-wise but no power

The Civics surprised me because they had adequate acceleration and it was very easy to judge the car because of its size and shape. The Accord EX V6 was really nice since it had all the gadgets added on but eh, it's not necessary.

Bottom line, I think it's between the Civic and Corolla. The Civic is easier to judge, but because of that, it's smaller. The Corolla is bigger on the inside but harder to judge because if it's more rounded shape. I still prefer the Corolla LE over any of the cars we test drove today.

Some prices they gave were: [This includes shipping to Hawaii now, don't forget that]
2004 Camry V6 LE - $21,000 w/ optional side airbags and JBL audio
2005 Camry V6 LE - $21,500 without side airbags
2003 Honda Accord EX V6 - $20,000 w/ all the goodies like leather, moonroof, 6CD audio system..has 12k miles
2005 Corolla CE - $15,500
2005 Corolla LE - $16,500

Oh..my friend will also be getting the reverse sensors which is a $395 option at Toyota. They didn't have any cars with the option on the lot (it's a small one) so we hopped in to the salesguy's 4Runner [2004/2005 Limited w/ ALL the extras like leather and stuf...really nice] and he showed us just exactly how it worked.

The reverse sensors are awesome, and on my next car I'll definitely be getting those.. Or perhaps I'll put them on our 1995 Camry..

In the end, ALL of the salesguys were awesome and didn't try to pressure my friend into anything and they had no problem letting me test drive the cars as well. Next weekend I'd like to check out some of the other used car dealers to see what they have to offer - although the 2005 Civic and Corolla look very good. I'm thinking perhaps she can find a 2001 Camry V6 LE for what she'd pay for a new Corolla.

[grapefury]

i had a 2001 v6 camry, it's a car that'll take care of you well. and the v6 is loads of extra fun

i dont know who names the cars at nissan, but they sound like crap. altima? who approved that name?

accords are nice, but we are on a TN forum

[jhbhatia]

Originally Posted by islandboy57

Yeah, that makes sense.. Based on jhbhatia's comment I thought perhaps the I4 on the gen 4/4.5 Camry wasn't up to par with the Accord or something.

I was speaking from the view point of
1. Pricing (those year accords will be cheaper than the camry)
2. Accord 4bangers are more realible than camry 4bangers. Nothing against 5sfe, its just that 4banger accords seem to be smoother as they age. Our 5sfe's have that lil' shakes at the parking lights, and NO its not motor mounts.

[trixx]

My 94 Accord was 2.2L 4 cyl... The odometer quit working @ 194k. It was still running perfect a year later when I got hit by a drunk in Delaware. And this was after driving from FL to CA, and from CA to VA with several trips between VA and NY. Honda makes good motors.