Faults:

There is a big rust problem, the passenger side rear door hinge has rusted through. Now if the door is opened it sags on the one good hinge. You must lift the door to close it.

There is lots of water entry into the trunk every time it rains.

The rack of the rack & pinion steering has died. I can steer it fine, but have no power steering.

There is a slight smoking and burning smell because there is a slight oil leak at the manifold gasket. My mechanic is keeping an eye on it.

Had to replace the transmission fluid pan gasket at 110000 miles. Leaked.

Left turn signal must be fiddled with to use. Buzzes when turned on.

Electrical system is going bad. Warning light for "lights" comes on and all the lights work. Sometimes indicator lights don't work. Dome light and buzzers work when they want to.

General Comments:

Despite numerous body/electrical problems with age and wear, this car's drive train and suspension will not quit! It drive like a bat out of hell, and I can easily do 100mph on the highway. When I put good Italian sport tires on it the turn radius tightened up and it sticks to the road like glue.

The upholstery is worn and old, but is still much more comfortable than that found in newer cars. The suspension is smooth and cushions bumps well. AC & heat/defroster work great.

Faults:

FYI I got the car with a used engine in it (app. 85,000-90,000 miles on it).

When I got the car, I had to put in $500 because the car was shaking like crazy and had no power. Turns out it was a cracked intake manifold, there were a bunch of dead old gaskets that needed replacing, and I had a head gasket leak (which remains to this day as it would be $600-$900 to fix)

I had to patch up a number of rust holes. They weren't bad for a Camry of this year however, but the rust is already coming back.

The rear passenger door is not functional. The door rusted out quickly at the hinge. A used door at a junk car place is at least $100. Worth it in the long run, but I have yet to fork it out.

I replaced the muffler.

The left blinker refuses to engage and instead makes an annoying buzzing sound.

The overdrive will not engage until the car is well warmed up. I am not sure if it is a common Camry design, but at any rate it is annoying when you start right up onto the highway and can't get over 40mph without over-revving the engine.

Engine stalls after lengthy highway driving.

Noticable lack of performance, increasingly in hot weather.

Often shaky. (most of these might be attributed to head gasket leak)

General Comments:

With the head gasket going out, the car is performanceless and begging for lots of cash to go into it. I'm not satisfied, and am getting rid of it. Camrys in general are wonderful cars. I've just managed to find a sadder car of the bunch.

Being foreign and all, these aren't the cheapest cars to keep on the road. What they have going for them is reliability, which keeps you from putting all the cash into them. If you aren't lucky enough to have such a deal, it hurts to keep going.

Common problems: rust, money, aesthetic appeal, room (for a family/cargo friendly vehicle anyway)