Need advice-buying 00-04 Camry

[canuuk01]

Phoenix will soon be a "winter" retirement home, and I want to buy a Camry as I really like Toyota products. I've read various reports suggesting the 2000 to 2004 Camry's are good, (especially the 2004's). Any advice would be appreciated to help me purchase the right car. There are so many to choose from in Craigs list, and almost all are over 100,000 miles. The few that are not are in the $8-$10,000 range. I understand Toyota changed from the belt to chain beginning 2002 ? Any issue's I should be asking about, or looking for when buying this fall ?

Gary

[84Cressida]

2000-2001 and 2002-2004 are two different generations, just so you know. You can't go wrong with either.

[canuuk01]

Yes, I'll have to learn the differences between the generations. Going strictly by the consumer type reports just doesn't seem the same as getting feedback from actual Camry owners, so I'm hoping to get some advise on what to look for, and if there is any real preference on what years are "best buys". The 2004's are at the high end of my budget, but they seem to have the best positive reviews for what they are worth.

Gary

[Zembonez]

Camry is a good car, but no better than many others. There is no verifiable reason to believe the 2004 is somehow better than the rest. When you buy a vehicle that is 8-12 years old, the main thing to look for is condition. Anything in the world can happen to a car in that length of time and many of them can affect reliability.

I'd look for a single owner, well maintained car - and forget about dwelling on the year model.

[Punks_Not_Dead5]

^ +1

Drive both generations, and see which fits you best. 100lk miles seems like a lot, but not really for Toyota, especially with the years you have chosen to purchase. Gen 3, 4 and 5 seem to be the best (in my opinion) Camry generations. The new ones (07+) are still good, but not near as good as the above mentioned.

The V6 has a timing belt, but the I4's have chains which do not have to be changed, but the water pumps should be around 90-100k miles.

Personally i have an 02 SE V6, it has just over 130k miles (if i did my conversions right). Running strong, i keep up on the maintenance and i don't see it going anywhere anytime soon (knock on wood).

What kind of driving to you plan on doing? i know you said retirement car, kinda thing. So a lot of road trips etc? If so i would look newer (02-06) Gen 5's. I personally would look for the V6, i can get 35mpg easy for highway driving. So it is a great car to travel with. I take mine everywhere when i travel. I just drove from Toronto to VA Beach and back in May, that was around 2500miles around trip, and i have taken it to Boston and back, and Michigan and back several times. No issues at all.

Hope this helps you some!

[Donald E. George]

Don't purchase any vehicle that does not come with the Toyota "Scheduled Maintenance Guide" filled in for every requied 5000mile/6 month maintenance requirement. That is the minimum along with Car Fax. Owners who keep up with their car maintenance almost always have their own maintenance history records and receipts for work done on the vehicle. Ask for them and don't acccept word of mouth about anything.And ask about ATF changes and periodic [2year max] brake fluid changes. When you find a vehicle that you think might be a winner,have a shop with ASE certified mechanics look it over.Many pre-owned vehicles are purchased at auctions and trucked in from who knows where. It has been my experience that these cars almost never have any maintenance records.Regards

[canuuk01]

Thank you "Punks" .... part of the reason I was looking at the 2000-2004 was for budget reasons, but I thought it might make sense to see if any one year was better or worse. 35 mpg with the V6 ? That's really good. I was going to stick with the 4 cyl., but that's pretty good mileage for a V6. The extra power is nice on the freeways as well. It's mainly to run around Phoenix area in general with perhaps a few trips up to Las Vegas, or down to Mexico. I just want to make sure it's dependable.

Gary

[canuuk01]

Thanks for the input Donald. I had not considered the auction angle, and there seems to be lots in the Phoenix area. Many advertisements include a clean car fax, but it does seem to make sense that if Toyota was maintaining it, there should be records. I was also looking at Accords, but a local mechanic says they have a transmission issue that has been a problem for the past 9-10 years.

Gary

[Punks_Not_Dead5]

That 35mpg is hwy. Once you start city driving it drops to about 25-28mpg.