Looking at buying a used Certified Camry Hybrid

[a10acboy]

So, my daughter wrecked her Corolla, and now we are looking for another vehicle. We have our eyes set on a Toyota Certified 2009 Camry Hybrid with 60K miles, but have a few questions that maybe someone out there can shed some light on. This would be our first experience with a hybrid and we have all the normal concerns one might expect from a new hybrid owner, so any help would be appreciated.

1. Should we be concerned about the reliability and/or age of the hybrid system in this car?
2. Is there anything specifically we should look for? Signs of problems with the system?
3. There seems to be a slight pulsation from time to time when driving, but it seems to coincide with the power transition of the gas to electric motor and vice versa. Is this normal for a hybrid? It's not annoying, just different.
4. The only visible issue I see with the car is that it appears the seep hole of the water pump might be starting to leak fluid. I've already talked to the dealer, and it will be covered under the extended warranty and repaired with no charge. Is this a sign of other problems though?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. The dealer is letting us have an extended test drive, so we have one more day.

[z27ls3]

they are good cars. the hybrid transition is notable and can be a bit more pronounced as they age. thats ok and normal. the biggie for me would be have a body shop of your choice look it over, I would only shy away if its been wrecked and rebuilt. ask to see the service history or go on
http://www.toyota.com/owners/web/pages/home
make an account and view the service history. look for anything fishy there, body work. weird warranty claims, ect.....
the camry hybrid is not overly popular and you should be able to get a good deal if you work the dealer on price.
if you find the car has front or rear major body work run away!!!
I know of a local who had her camty hybrid rearended and ended up making it go away! now in a new prius!!!
dont discredit the interior space in a prius, they hold a ton. camry only marginally larger and lower MPG.

[a10acboy]

Thanks for the quick response. The carfax shows regular 5k maintenance at the Toyota dealer, the only thing wierd that shows up is a valve cover gasket replacement at the current dealer. Everything else is general maintenance inspection, inlcuiding oil changes, cabin and engine air filters, tire rotations. Then at 55k it looks like it had a more thorough maintenance which included fuel injection cleaning, alignment and throttle body cleaning.

[z27ls3]

sounds good, valve cover a bit unusual but a minor item. thats no problem.
how are the tires, michelins?
remember tires can get into the $600-$800.00 range easy.
with the lowered cost on the '12 models these 2-3 year old camrys are dropping in resale
value fast. I would seriously attempt to find several comparables and bargain hard, times are tough and dealers need to move cars.
I like autotrader to search comparables when I'm car shopping. it gives a good idea what approximately the market is, also financing is near zero on new and higher on used. thats also another factor, if your deal is good the used car will still be much less.
hybrid camrys are very good cars, nothing to worry about.

[a10acboy]

The tires look new, though they are not Michs. Looks like a cheap set of Coopers were put one the car, but if they perform well, no big deal. I'll definitely replace them with some Michelins once I need to, the Destinys I had on my daughters car before were incredible.
I do appreciate the feedback, and will defnitely deal with them. The asking price is close to what I'm seeing on the market, but I will deal regardless.

[lncshib]

Originally Posted by a10acboy

Thanks for the quick response. The carfax shows regular 5k maintenance at the Toyota dealer, the only thing wierd that shows up is a valve cover gasket replacement at the current dealer. Everything else is general maintenance inspection, inlcuiding oil changes, cabin and engine air filters, tire rotations. Then at 55k it looks like it had a more thorough maintenance which included fuel injection cleaning, alignment and throttle body cleaning.

I would investigate further on why the valve cover gasket was replaced, did the previous owner complained about something that it was replaced? I assume that the dealer just recommended the fuel injection and throttle body cleaning (a service that is not really needed unless something is definitely wrong but a dealer would recommend anyway)

Normally the dealer has detailed information why the repair/replacement was made.

[a10acboy]

They should know, the dealer that currently is selling the car is the one that replaced it. I asked the sales person, and he said they pull the valve cover to check for sludge or other issues, but I've never heard of that. He said he would check with the service department and get back with me. Thanks for the input! All of this is really helping me.

[Zembonez]

Occasionally a gasket leaks. It's not at all unusual for them to be replaced. I'd be far more concerned with the Hybrid system and battery life myself. Buying used hybrids can be spooky and get expensive. I'd drill the dealer about the car condition and have someone inspect it (not the dealer) for any collision repair. A car can be perfectly maintained and still get crashed and fixed.

[rjp]

While the Camry is a good car, I'd have your daughter drive a 2010 Prius particularly since she had a Corolla. The Prius is considered to be a larger vehicle that the Corolla and gets much better MPG overall than the Camry Hybrid even though the Camry was more expensive originally. The 2010 improved ride, power and MPG over earlier Prius models.