Well, folks, it has been one year since I picked up my Blue Ribbon XLE -- I4 with everything but navigation. Oh, sure, the car is a bit older than that -- it has a build month of 02/2006. It was built in Japan, and came through the Toyota port operation in Portland, Oregon.
Mileage so far is probably lower than most anyone else on here:
exactly 8,400 miles. Check it out, in this shot taken just a few minutes ago:
So, that's a whopping 700 miles per month, on average. I really haven't put much in the way of highway driving on it -- for instance, last summer, I let everyone else pay all the high gas prices, and kept my weekend highway driving down to a very minimal level. I also did this because I was just flat-out tired -- over the previous 5 years, I had done extensive highway driving, including a couple of "drove all the way without stopping" trips from Oregon to Las Vegas -- over 2,000 miles, round-trip, each time. And, I was always going to some car race or air show or other event, often over multiple days, and it was really very nice just to hang out around the house for a change, and take care of a lot of things I had neglected.
Though, I'm sure getting the itch to "hit the road," so that'll probably change this summer. However, it does look like the gas prices will be killer this summer again.
Mileage has been probably what everyone else would consider "awful" -- I'm currently averaging a bit less than 23 MPG. However, I really haven't run even ONE tank through without at least two weeks of my ultra-punishing 8-mile in-town commute to work, which just kills my gas mileage. To date, I have yet to "just get out there" and burn a full tank on the open road, but maybe I'll tackle that this summer. Then I'll really be able to see what kind of MPG I can get. Obviously, though, I'm in no hurry to get that done!
Service history has gone as follows:
I changed the oil to Mobil 1 synthetic at 1,000 miles -- thereafter, I've just scheduled further changes every 4 months, since I don't pile up the mileage. I used to do it every 3 months, but I finally decided, "heck, it's synthetic," and bumped up the changes with an extra month, going to the every 4 month schedule. I haven't changed the air filter or the cabin filter yet, though I get the tires rotated at each 4-month oil change.
Warranty work started with a visit to get them to turn off the dang door lock/unlock beeps, and then a couple of visits to take care of the following problems:
1. I had the "transmission shifting enhancement" TSB done, which made a wonderfully positive change to the hesitation problem that I along with other I-4-ers had to begin with.
2. I had the "steering wheel pulsating" when cranked problem, and I brought printouts of the TSB for the previous-generation car, plus printouts of forum posts that went over how that same "fix" worked for this generation. They ordered and installed a new intermediate shaft in the steering column, which has killed the problem completely.
3. The car always pulled strongly to the right -- something I really delayed on taking it in about. Yeah, it was substantially out of alignment in about four areas around the front wheels, and one in the back. Much, much better now! I did this in conjunction with the intermediate shaft replacement, doing the alignment after they replaced the part.
4. I had the slow-speed brake squeaks and moans, and had them do the TSB with the clips that quiet that noise. That has killed the problem completely.
Otherwise, there have been just a few relatively minor interior noises -- mostly covered in the "crackles and noises" thread. I've killed most of them with simple felt dots and foam padding placements, with one more minor irritant still going on -- some kind of little "tick" from the "B" pillar area on the passenger side. I've got to take the pillar covering apart, and maybe get up into the headliner, and take care of that one. Still, I consider it "not perfect," but probably better than most other cars you could buy today.
I've made two modifications, I suppose you could call them, to the car:
1. Added XM radio, having my trusted independent shop install the Terk system. They installed the antenna on the back parcel shelf, but
BELOW the plastic shelf cover, so you absolutely can't see it, anywhere. Wonderfully cool! And, reception has been just fine, so far. As usual, I've got a thread on the board that goes into detail about that.
2. I've also posted about my irritation with that dang "seam down the middle" of the driver seat, and had my upholstery guy work on that, eventually replacing the main piece of leather that had the seam in it with a piece of leather with no seam whatsoever. It has been
very nice to get that seam out from under my butt!
About the only other thing to report is how the paint and the body has held up -- and I've just got a couple of minor rock chips to report. The paint seems to have held up very well to road debris attacks, but then again, my highway driving has been relatively limited. In the end, everything both inside and outside of the car continues to look "good as new," and overall I remain quite happy with the car.
I'd be interested in hearing "status as of one year with the car" reports like this from the rest of you gen-sixers -- by all means, let us know how it has gone with your cars!
My Camry is 1 year old today!
Linear Mode
