20th Nov 2003, 13:35

Sounds like you got a bad one. once they, they is anybody, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Honda, etc. starts to work on a car and do major repairs on it like yours, it will lead to all kinds of small problems. This is because they are in such a hurry and will strip out bolts and put the wrong lines in the wrong spot. It is best to just get a new one. Good luck.

28th Nov 2003, 07:57

I have had Toyotas for over 10 years and they never had any major problems. I had a 1996 Camry that reached 200,000 miles before the transmission gave out. No major repairs, just periodic (every 30K) work. I now have a 2002 Camry XLE and it has exceeded my expectations. I have over 42K miles on it so far (in a year and a half) and have done nothing to it besides oil changes and a 30K service. In 2003 I bought the Toyota Tacoma pickup. Toyota produces the most reliable cars. The problems you have had was like being struck by lightning.

8th Dec 2003, 23:03

Hi all..

I am the lady who bought the new Camry that had all the head gasket problems who wrote this review.

We did not get the Taurus, but we got another Camry.

Toyota gave us a straight cross trade, see we paid off the 02 when we bought it. They would only trade across for a base model, in stock only, but said that we could up grade at our own expense. We got a new 03 with 29-miles on it.

We have put 3000 miles on our new real nice Camry and have not had any problems.

We didn't get the new Taurus because Ford backed out of the trade in allowance that they promised us at the last minute, my husband told them take it or leave it. They left it and said that the manager said they could not make the deal. Anyway we got to drive the new 04 Taurus for 4-days while we made up our minds and then they backed out on us when we went to sign the papers.

The new Taurus drives so good. I think the Taurus has better seats and rear seat leg room and a lot of neat things that the Camry doesn't, but the Taurus sound like it had an exhaust leak at idle.

Lucky for us Toyota stayed good on their word, unlike the Ford place.

Toyota send our junk Camry to an auction in Kansas City, which is 600-miles away. I want that junk car to be as far away from me as possible.

Hopefully this base 03 will be so much better, we think that it will, we just got a lemon and the people working on it got some things mixed up.

I will let you all know how it goes once I hit the 10, 20, 30,000-mile mark…

Thanks.

11th Dec 2003, 21:59

Toyota made most reliable Camry's from 1992-1996.When they opened that Kentucky plant everything went bad, a lot of problems. Japanese made Camry's are the best.Period.You can put 300000 miles on them with oil changes and timing belt replacements.

22nd Jan 2004, 14:04

Sounds to me like the service department you were dealing with did a poor job replacing the engine. It is not normal for bolts fall out no matter what. Perhaps you should find another dealership for service. I am confident you made the right choice sticking with Toyota. Best of Luck!

3rd Feb 2004, 06:35

We've been fortunate to own the Japanese built Toyota's -

'89 Camry -242K - stolen, '86 4Runner -297K still running, '88 4Runner -177K wrecked, '95 4Runner -190K still running, '94 Camry -202K still running, and all without major repairs. The quality problems seem to have began when Toyota's were built here in the U.S, so the reliability playing field has gotten pretty even and based on the reviews on this board and Consumer Reports repair database. When the time eventually comes for me to replace the older legendary Toyota's, I will be seriously looking at the Ford or GM product line.

13th Feb 2004, 22:15

We have a 99 Camry and had to have the transmission rebuilt at 58,000-miles. Other than that we have had no problems. We think the transmission went out because it was serviced wrong. We had it serviced at Toyota at 55,000-miles and it started acting up that day. It finally went our 3,000-miles later and would not move till it warmed up.

We now have a new 04-Sable Mercury and the cruise control button fell out of place. Makes me wonder.

30th Mar 2004, 10:31

I bought a Camry in 1992 (made in Japan) ; I drove 90 Camry almost 240K. I had one brake job, 3000 mile oil changes, 2 transmission oil changes, and 3 sets of tires.

When I traded my Camry to get another car, I realized that Camry was made in the USA. I decided to buy one made in Japan. I bought a Tercel. This was a smaller car, but I did not want it to break down. I drove 210K with oil changes, 2 set of tires, and one timing belt change.

This year, I could not find any Japanese Toyota. I bought a 2004 Camry (Made in USA). I took to the dealer 3 times to replace the top console, driver side kick panel, and security system. The dealer told me those parts were broke, but they put them in at the manufacture anyway.

That is why we are exporting all of our jobs to another country.

24th Nov 2004, 09:01

I own a 2002 Toyota camry with the 4 cylinder engine. I have logged 43,000 miles with not a problem. Oil changed every 3,000 miles and a new K&N air filter. I an extremely happy with this car. Made in Japan model. Will definitely buy another again, sticking with the 4 cylinder, runs on regular gas and gives me around 30 MPG.

9th Jan 2005, 11:30

Aloha.

Just found this board as a new Toyota Camry owner. This is a great board and car!

For your information, most/all the new automatic Camry models available here in Hawaii are Made in Japan. The prices may be higher than in the other States, however if this VIN "J" label is a factor for you, then come on down. Why not make a vacation tip out of it and visit our Aloha State, drive in your new Camry, and see the island in style! It will run $1,000 or so to ship back to West Coast, but our general excise tax is only 4.167 percent.

We love tourists here, even more than our Toyotas!

Happy Motoring!

(Shaka Hele On!)

Ron '05XLE.

2nd Feb 2005, 15:52

Assembly is no substitute for quality engineering. Toyotas were having problems with head gaskets long before '96. That is where the notorious Toyota engine sludge is coming from. Toyota is taking the pompous position that their problems are from the cars being built in the US, and it is extremely sad that so many Americans (as is evidenced from this review) are buying that cop-out mantra. Look at how arrogant Toyota is when you take a car to the dealership claiming that it has a problem. Toyota, the company, is ultimately responsible for its own quality control. The early Toyota models are bullet proof, but the new ones are laden with design flaws. I would not buy a car that is of that poor quality, and I certainly would not buy a car from a company that is so insulting to my country.