1988 Holden Camira JE 2.0 EFI from Australia and New Zealand

Faults:

Distributer cap.

Alternator.

Head gasket.

Timing belt and casing.

General Comments:

This car is one quick little 4 cylinder.

Before making any mods to the engine I was able to drag-off 6 cylinder VL Commadores.

After adding a sports exhaust, extractors and a pod filter, this little beast has the measure of most of my friend's 6 cylinder cars. They can't believe they were beaten by a Camira.

For anyone who wants a weekend project, i'd suggest doing up a JE Camira.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 18th June, 2003

26th Jun 2003, 09:52

Extractors on an efi car...???

4th Apr 2006, 19:13

I once had a camira it was a jb I had to change the engine twice I then bought a VL. It was much better.

Camiras belong in the scrap yard.

VK308RED.

29th Apr 2006, 05:23

Its all in power to weight the camira has a better one than the VL. the camira is also easy to mod.

Any thing you do is an improvment!!! try 10kw by improving the intake system.

1988 Holden Camira JE 2.0L from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

By far the most reliable car I've ever owned

Faults:

I had to replace the clutch cable at approx 250,000k.

The interior started to show signs of wear after 300,000k.

Due to my own lack of service the oil pickup became blocked. Luckily I caught it in time and no damage resulted.

General Comments:

The car was bought to be used as a family car, which it performed extremely well as.

As it grew older it has been replaced in that role and now serves as my work transport.

I travel 450km per week to and from work and it has never missed a beat.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 9th April, 2003

1988 Holden Camira JE 2.0 Litre, IE, multi point fuel injection from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

A high performance street car

Faults:

Water pump died. I hole started after I cleaned the water.

Rotor lead needed replacing.

Distributor cap and rotor wore down, and failed.

General Comments:

This is the first car I have owned... however, I have driven many cars, and I mean I have driven them hard!

I haven't treated this car the best, I drive very hard, and I have dragged this car.

It stood up to most of the Commodores. This car clearly has as much power as a 6 cylinder.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 2nd January, 2003

1988 Holden Camira Full SL 2.0 Family Gen II Engine from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Great power and economical car!

Faults:

Head Gasket Blew at 198,000 km's (was leaking tons of oil!), Electrical Problems (due broken wire on the air conditioning compressor), but all problems went/solved. Air Conditioning needs to be cleaned out & re-gassed, 2 Engine mounts needed replacing (on engine side not gearbox side), replaced one coolant hose.

General Comments:

Doesn't have any sort of Oil Leak at all (not from engine/Diff/Gearbox), cheap to run, can do one tank of fuel for nearly 800 km's (holds 60 liters of fuel) Ideal car for someone who has experiences with mechanical/engineering, that's my advice! (Doesn't mean that car is a bad car, but someone who has good hands) otherwise it's a great car, hardly get "Check Engine" light coming on whenever I drive on the highway/city, comfortable car for long distance driving, hardly break down on the highway *knocks on the wood!* I wouldn't recommend you push this car around too hard such as drag racing or from the lights etc.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 3rd December, 2002

1988 Holden Camira JE SLX 2-litre OHC EFI, 4 cylinder from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

An OK car - but shoddy build

Faults:

Many problems with interior build - for example, the whole instrument binnacle came loose.

Door handles broke and had to be replaced frequently.

Overheated a couple of times in 2001.

Often lost hubcaps (for what reason I do not know, but it sure was embarrassing)

Some electrical problems.

General Comments:

The Camira was my first car. It still looks fairly modern; however I was quite disappointed by it.

Performance isn't terrible, but it is worse than you would expect. Maybe this is why Holden lovers hate them!

Handling is tight enough for a family car, and it grips the road well.

However, the worst thing about the Camira is its build quality, especially the interior.

Lots of things come loose or break, and the steering wheel is quite uncomfortable.

The constantly breaking door handles were a real pain. Also, the passenger door will not unlock from the outside with a key.

There weren't too many mechanical problems, but the few were quite expensive to repair so I can't rate the car well.

My Camira was reasonable transport, but if I had the choice today I'd much rather buy a Japanese car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 27th October, 2002

28th Oct 2002, 14:37

I find it interesting that you're commenting on a car that was quite old when you purchased it. If the car was considerably newer, I could understand your complaints.

I'm assuming that you spent very little money to buy this car (Camiras are very cheap to buy). If nothing else, this car may have shown you that you get what you pay for - if you buy cheap, prepare to make compromises.

26th Mar 2003, 08:17

You must have had a sick example - my JE is as quick as a VT commodore away from the lights.

15th Dec 2005, 00:44

I have had a 85 jd for many years apart from other cars and it has served me well with only minor problems. I have done all servicing myself. is still in pristine condition and the engine has plenty of guts.

29th Apr 2006, 05:03

Good Camiras are quite quick and have a good top speed, but compare apples with apples.

The 85 Kw JE 2.0L engine is much better than all 1980 2.0L and many other 4 cylinder cars. And compare a 1980s 4 cylinder with a 1980 4 cylinder, or it really isn't fair on the Camira, which was and is a very good car.