1985 Toyota Camry LE review from North America

Well, the engine was shot when I bought it. Replaced with an import swap out engine.

The transmission started slipping out of gear and revving freely on occasion at about 210,000 miles. Then the transmission completely came apart internally at 215,000 miles. Again, replaced with an import swap out.

Exhaust started leaking noisily at 205,000 miles. Fixed with a weld then the catalytic converter went out at about 208,000 miles. Replaced.

Speedometer gear went bad and started shooting all over the place with a very loud grinding noise at 250,000 miles. Replaced with junkyard instrument panel.

Shocks were bad when I bought it, eventually replaced at around 220,000 miles.

There was a bad bushing in the left control arm with made a nice thumping noise whenever I would accelerate. Couldn't find a replacement within 500 miles of here because (the junkyard told me) all the older Camrys had this problem. New control arm deemed too expensive after all I'd already spent on the car.

Before the speedometer went bad, it was always ten miles per hour too fast. May have had something to do with the replacement transmission, though it was supposed to be a match.

Front brake discs warped and caused major shaking at high speed braking. Resurfaced locally.

Rear hatch release lever never worked.

Rear right window would not roll down (power windows on this model) for the first year I had the car, then started working perfectly. Weird.

Front passenger window would roll down from the driver's side master control switch, but would only roll up from the passenger side switch.

After the first year of my owning it, it developed a starting problem. It simply wouldn't start. Not even turn over. Just a click. Sometimes it would start again after a few minutes, sometimes not. I thought it was the solenoid, so I replaced the starter. Same problem. This would happen in no particular pattern. Drove me crazy, I'm not kidding. Checked all the wires, spliced what I thought could have been a short, no help. I determined it must have been a bad wire somewhere in the ignition system, because it would always start when I would run a direct wire from the battery terminal to the starter as a last resort. It stopped doing it for about four months then I sold the car.

Well, I know the problems I had with the car is a long list. And I did invest about three thousand dollars into the car over the two and a half years I had it. It was abused by it's previous owners, no doubt about that. Not that it was a wreck, but it definitely had been let go.

The guy who sold it to me was a friend who got it for his son, but the son didn't think it was 'cool' enough. The son blew a head gasket and the shop that machined the head screwed it up and machined off way too much of the surface, so the pistons were knocking the valves. My friend sold it to me for ten dollars. First thing I did was replace the engine, at 204,000 miles. Then the saga began.

I replaced a lot of things on this car and spent many an hour working on it. It was absolutely a headache, especially the starter problems, but what I haven't yet mentioned is how great a car it was for me. I put 60,000 miles on it in two and a half years, took it all over my state and into a few others and for the most part it was a trusty and loved companion.

For such a small car it was extremely roomy and comfortable (I'm 6'4"), and could hold a large amount of cargo. It was peppy and fun to drive, very responsive, and it cruised at freeway speeds quietly despite it's age and history. I loved this car and sometimes still miss it. It served me well, and a lesser car would certainly have been in a junkyard after what this car went through, yet it's still on the road. What more can you ask?