25th Apr 2009, 13:09
275,000 miles and still going strong, 97 Camry LE Auto, Japan made model, 32+ mpg, K&N air filter, ceramic brakes... spend the money and they last.
Castrol Syntec 5-50 every 12,000 miles.
Transmission replaced after 260,000.
Now needs suspension parts and shocks, awesome road car and extremely reliable!
2nd May 2010, 15:47
I purchased a 1997 Toyota Camry two months ago with 227000 miles. It drives great.
Just recently my CV half shaft broke. We purchased a brand new axle, and put it in. We drove the car up the street and back. But, the axle keeps coming back out. What could be causing this to happen?
2nd Jun 2010, 13:07
Have had my LE 1997 since 1998. Was a lease trade in and had only 22K miles on it. Now it has 260K. Been running really well, just sometimes have issues smogging it. Right now it's getting a new O2 sensor and plug/wiring to see if we can bypass the costly cat converter. Other than that, I've replaced the CV boots, new front struts, new belts when needed, and the brakes a million times. Everything else really has been pretty good.
3rd Jan 2009, 07:05
I purchased a 1997 Toyota Camry CE 4 cylinder back in 2000 with 30K miles on it.
It now as 270K miles and it is still very reliable and I get 32 mpg on average. I am a conservative driver.
Filters and fluids have been changed on a regular basis, as well as expected parts like brake pads (and rotors to sometimes when I let the pads wear too low), tires, spark plugs, battery, pvc valve @ 92K, and timing belt @ 97K & 198K.
Things I didn't expect to go bad but did are the half axles (due to worn CV boots) @ 83K & 229K, master brake cylinder @ 135K, radiator @ 229K, and starter @ 260K miles.
Things I don't have fixed that still cause me problems to this day are:
1) Engine oil leak (replaced oil pan seal to no avail, "fixed" by wiring a metal oil pan to bottom of engine that I empty every few months. Oil leak is half quart every two months). Oil leak I suspect is coming from camshaft seal.
2) Front struts (more so on the right passenger side) make clunking noise more so over bumps in the road. Sounds bad but common problem with 4 cylinder Camrys and is mainly cosmetic. That being said I plan to remove and replace the front struts and upper strut mounts (bad design). I don't know what the expected life of struts are, but mine are most likely past their expected life.