bought an '06 camry le....don't know squat about camrys - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

TXST8tj · 03-21-2006, 01:41 PM

i am a member of a few jeep forums and i always seem to get tons of ideas, and help, plus something to do to kill time at work.

anyway, my wife and i just bought a new '06 camry le. we traded in a bigger vehicle for this to get better gas mileage with all the driving she does. we bought the 4 cyl for that reason. i really don't have many plans for this vehicle, mainly because my wife could generally care less, but also because i really don't know what i would do. i am interested in a couple things though. i figure some of you may have done similar things and may be able to inlighten me in my ignorance on such items....

*looking to tint the windows here sometime soon...probably 35%
*would like to get the factory stainless steel exhaust tip......or an aftermarket one of similar styling. not interested in exhaust so a tip integrated into a new muffler is out.
*we've only had the camry since friday, but we already miss the woodgrain we had in the grand cherokee. i've seen kits, but is it worth it (quality wise) to throw an aftermarket kit in there?
*the stereo pretty much sucks for my taste, but i don't think my wife minds it. perhaps at least upgrading the speakers and adding a sub in the future.
*definitely getting all-weather floor mats as soon as possible. we had them in the GC and they saved our carpet. we actually had both, all-weather and carpet mats, but we never used the carpet mats. they were still sealed in the factory plastic when we traded it in.

can't think of too much else just yet. just looking for opinions and suggestions from you folks.

i don't really see the point in adding any aftermarket performance add-ons, but maybe you guys could suggest some....besides exhaust.

here are some pics.....

here

jhbhatia · 03-21-2006, 01:59 PM

Welcome! more american's buy a camry to get from point A to point B. Seems like you belong in that category as well...if you do happen to mod..i'm sure the search function will be very helpful! I'd definatly looking into wood interior, they have simulated wood overlays of differring degrees. I've seen reach cheap ones and really nice one's. Ask here if you have any questions.

TXST8tj · 03-21-2006, 02:07 PM

this vehicle was definitely more about 'A to B' than mods. i have a wrangler for that. however, i don't think i've ever owned a vehicle that i haven't done something to.

as far as the dash kits. i'd rather pay more and have a nice looking dash, etc. than save a few bucks and have it look like crap. are there complete replacement kits, or is everything an overlay with adhesive or something?

Cyorke · 03-21-2006, 02:16 PM

For the wood grain I would do lot sof research before buying it. You can get one from Toyota taht is pretty good quality. But they are expensive. IF you dont mind the fact that it is just tape on then it is not a big deal. I am not a big fan of it only because I used to work for a Toyota Dealer nad had to put it on and take it off for warranty purposes and once it is on for a little while it is there to stay for the most part.

as for the exhaust tip you can probably find a decent one at any local parts store like Autozone, Advance or the like. Most of the time they jsut slide over and then have two or three screws that hold it on the tailpipe. THere arent really many aftermarket performance add ons available for the Cmary since it is really more or less jsut used for point a to point b driving. You may take a look at www.trdusa.com taht is the Toyota racing development webiste and you may be able to find some bolt ons from there. Just rememebr that most of the parts are made by someone else for them and you can probably find the same thing from the original manufacturer for less money. The only difference is it wont have the TRD logo on it. Me personally I would rather save the money than to have the TRD logo.

Look around here in the show and share section and you will find some other ideas if you want to do anything as far as cosmetically. or you can look inthe gallery section at the top of the page and look atosome pictures the other members ahve posted of their same model.

msm20032003 · 03-21-2006, 02:19 PM

http://www.veneerz.com/shop.php?shop...l_years_id=341 Those look kind of nice. They even have real wood kits.

islandboy57 · 03-21-2006, 02:35 PM

Looks nice! Seeing pictures of new Camrys never get old..same with the '07 Camry - I've seen lots of factory pictures but I'd love to see some from somebody who bought one.

I bought a Toyota OEM (made by Valor apparently) exhuast tip.. Just put it on last night. I can put up pictures if you'd like to see what it looks like. It's basically the same exhuast tip that comes with the SE (and XLE?) - it's nice.

Congrats on the purchase!

TXST8tj · 03-21-2006, 03:54 PM

thanks! pics of the tip would be great. i'd like to see it.

we looked at the dealership's only '07, but the '06 worked better for us financially. the incentives were too good to pass up for us at this point.

RICO8458 · 03-21-2006, 04:21 PM

welcome to the club. nice ride. i would do the following:

tint windows
put on 18" 5 spoke rims
smack on some 225 tires
get a rear spoiler
install yellow fog lamps
install front strut tower brace
install SRI
install catback exhaust

tint, rims, fogs, first, then go the air filter change, etc..

Cyorke · 03-21-2006, 04:43 PM

I have one question. Since there is so much talk going on about buying american versus imprt. What made you buy the Camry? I understand you wanted to get rid of the Jeep because of fuel economy. Did you test drive anything else? If so what? Did you purchase the Cmary based solely off price or what other people ahd told you or the reputation that the Camry has?

I am not trying to be nosy. But most everyone on here is a Toyota fan anyway. It is always nice to get the opinions of someone who has been driving an american vehicle and switched over to an import.

IFCAR · 03-21-2006, 05:21 PM

You should enjoy the car. You have a very nice neighborhood, too.

TXST8tj · 03-21-2006, 05:32 PM

chris....fuel economy started the search, but there were a few things that helped narrow our selection down. while i generally do like american made vehicles better for some things, i easily prefer imported in other categories, although i've only owned american up to this point.

#1 - i'm 6'5" and i'm not going to comfortably fit into any smaller sized vehicle. this obviously knocks a large selection of vehicles (imported and domestic) out of sight
#2 - i will not buy a honda
#3 - for this type of vehicle...4 door sedan...the american car makers are years behind on engineering and styling
#4 - toyota has an undeniable knack at building trustworthy, quality cars.
#5 - the 4 cyl camry gets some of the best gas mileage in its class (price range included)

in the end, we had only two vehicles we were considering. 1 - 06 Ford Taurus and 2 - 06 Toyota Camry

the Taurus was obviously nothing we were excited about, but it got much better gas mileage than the jeep, it was reallllly cheap, and i physically fit in it. that's about all that even got our attention.
the Camry was the obvious prefered choice. it's a nicer car, better built, has a better reputation (at least equal), better gas mileage by almost 10 mpg compared to the Taurus, and was just plain nicer to drive. it was much more expensive, but in the end, the better gas mileage helps make up for the slight increase in payment compared to the Taurus.

in all, we ended up with a better, nicer vehicle that stands to last longer, look nicer, and retain its value much better than the Taurus. for us, it was the smart choice.

Cyorke · 03-21-2006, 10:43 PM

COol jsut wondering. Like I said we get a lot of people that want to start stuff because we are Toyota fans and say we are unpatriotic, and hate america and all sorts of other crap. I jsut wanted to hear from someone who had recently bought a Toyota and had not ever owned one before.

ToyotaToday · 03-21-2006, 11:22 PM

Nice car. I would not do anything at this point. It's perfect the way it is.

Welcome to the Camry world by the way. I just joined myself about 2 weeks ago.

V(Sportivo)6 · 03-22-2006, 01:44 AM

Welcome to the forums

I like the colour. The tint would look shmik

A chrome tip would make the rear look finished. Get a good quality stainless steel tip. You can get ones simply by sliding over outlet pipe and fixed via an alen key screw. (Gene exhaust tips do this)

Novice_cardude · 03-22-2006, 01:44 AM

Yeah, welcome. Personally I like the look of the Gen 3 and Gen 4s, but the newer Camry styling is growing on me. That's a really nice car you just bought.

My whole family is a American car family. I'm the first rouge. My grandpa drives only Mercury Grand Marquis, my brother drives a Crown Victoria, my dad drives a Grand Marquis, my sister drives a Buick LeSabre, and I used to drive a Chevy Astro. We've also owned a Ford Club Wagon and a F-150. My mom drives a Pontiac Vibe right now (Toyota Corolla) so i'm not the only import owner anymore.

I have no problem with Fords, they're good solid cars, you just gotta keep up with them a bit more. Chevys are crap.

I bought my Toyota because I needed a good cheap reliable car that's gonna last me a while.

I will not buy a Honda.

I bought a Camry because at the time I was getting sick of looking at Corolla after Corolla after Escort after Civic after Geo Prizm that had been street raced to death. Every damn one. My Camry had never been driven hard. (I had trouble because I was looking for a 5spd and either those have been raced or the owners keep them until they die because they love 'em so much)

Now I don't think i'll buy anything but a Toyota when I want reliability. Of course when it comes to fun stuff, I'd go for old American muscle, or the Nissan Skyline

Wow i've rambled on a bit ... Yeah that's my story, now you know why I drive a '96 Camry rather than a '99 Escort.