My '06 Lexus have the smart key. No issue. It have a metal key inside in case your battery die and stuff. It's a very sound system imo. It does take a bit of getting use to. Some ppl said the Camry '13 doesn't have a key hole in the trunk.

A few ppl report the sunroof rattle.

 

Base SE has outside heated mirrors and no sunroof.

 

Hi nmum,

I got a 2013 XLE V6 about a month ago, so it has sunroof and smartkey, and no issues with either so far. I usually don't like tech frills, but have gotten to really like the smartkey system, like locking/unlocking door by just touching door handle. You could avoid the sunroof by getting an LE, and add Katzkin leather, although you wouldn't have the heated mirrors. Good luck....

 

The TCH XLE comes without a sunroof and gives you a little more power though it comes at a price.

 

I have a 2013 SE V6 with sunroof and smart key. I have not had any issues with the sunroof noises so far (knock on wood). This is my first car with smart key. I absolutely love it. The convenience of not having to take your keys out of your pocket is very nice. My car came with two FOBs so I have one as a backup. As others have said, even if the battery dies, there is still a little metal key inside the FOB so you can still get in and drive the car. Replacing the battery is also very easy to do. The battery should last several years, though. Don't know when the 2014's are due out.

 

The Gen 6 Camry (2007-2011) has a TSB for the sunroof rattle. I had one, it got fixed, and no issues since. I would imagine the Gen 7 could have the same, or similar, TSB done if necessary.

 

I've had a 2012 XLE 4 cylinder since Mar 2012, now has 16000+ miles on it with most driving in Minnesota & Wisconsin. In the US the XLEs come with the Michelin Primacy tires which did OK in a couple inches of snow; our 2nd vehicle is a Jeep GC so if there was much snow or poor road conditions from prior snows we would drive the Jeep of course.

We never had the roof noise issue and the smart key seems to work fine and yes it did take a while to get used to it but now we prefer it vs digging for a key especially past winter coats or taking gloves off to find the key in the purse like our 07 Jeep has. The heated leather seats do warm up quite fast in winter and are a requirement my wife has for lower back pain, the heaters being a higher priority than the leather. The light grey carpet and seats do show dirt so I'd suggest getting a full carpet liner like Weathertech offers for at least the front and plan on washing the seats every few months. We did have one weird thing last Saturday after not being driven the car would not start - it was not a totally dead battery as I hooked up an aged Jumper battery pack and it turned over immediately. I have been checking the battery voltage ever since and all is well. I had a couple small devices plugged into both 12v cig lighter plugs but I thought those were off when the ignition was not on (button not pressed) so unless it happens in the next week I will write it off. At least it acted up in my garage and besides this the car has been 100% reliable. I am very satisfied with the car overall: very comfortable interior for taller adults both front and occasional back seat passengers. Excellent MPGs at or above our US EPA figures. Since last August in around 50/50 Highway/City 8000 miles I have averaged 30.5 MPG. Good luck on your purchase!

 

I don't have a smart key for my Camry (didn't want the moon roof as well as the convenience package) but I do have one for my '09 Venza and I can tell you it is very reliable. It can also work without any battery at all as I took the battery out to test the emergency starting procedure and it worked flawlessly. I have read that some people have had issues in certain areas (downtown Tampa for one) due to radio or electrical interference but again the emergency procedure will work in these cases as well.

 

I have the 2012 Camry TCH XLE with the sunroof and smart key. Bought it 1/3/12 and have over 22,000 miles without any problem with the sunroof. I really appreciate the smart key allowing me to open the doors, trunk and start the car without it leaving my pocket. The only minor issue is washing the car with it in my pocket. It keeps locking and unlocking it unless I take it out of my pocket. Not a big deal.

 

^ it beep cause it's happy u r washing it. :lol:

 

LOL thats funny!!! :rofl2:

 

Hi all.

Thanks for the feedback!

I told my wife that if she's interested we can look into getting the XLE. It took a couple of years to get her to see my point of view about luxury cars, which she wanted as a next car for a while. Where my opinion is everything associated with a luxury car would be more expensive (ie maintenance, fuel, etc). So I think she'd enjoy the features of the XLE and it would be a decent compromise.

Prior to test driving the Camrys, I thought that we'd definitely get the SE and most likely 6 cylinder. But it might've been because we jumped right in after driving two XLEs with leather seats, but I was kind of surprised at how low and hard the seats were in the SE. My wife did the driving, since it'd be her car, and I asked her if she could tell the difference in the steering or handling, and she said she couldn't. And I think she'd like the comforts of the XLE more than the handling aspects of the SE.

As you can probably tell, it takes me a while to adopt new things. So I'm not totally convinced on the hybrid technology and that the premium in the cost is it worth it for us. I don't think we'd get the maximum benefit of the hybrid technology based on the type of driving my wife mostly does.

The proven technology and reliability of the Camry are some of the reasons why the Camry is towards the top of my list. Another reason is for the passenger room that some of you mentioned as well. I started to have some doubts when we encountered the roof rattle issue, but I guess I won't worry about it too much.

I'm not knocking luxury cars, the hybrid, or SE Camry in any way. They're all cars that we put into consideration as well. The things that I said about the other cars are just based on our current specific needs/wants, situation and purposes.

Thanks again!

 

^ you should also check out the Corolla SE. She might like that more, smaller but more fun to drive. It's going away from the Luxury but seem like your wife wouldn't care less. Corolla also is very good with up keeping cost.