| Model year | 1997 |
| Year of manufacture | 1997 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2012 |
| Engine and transmission | 3.0 V6 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 7 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 8 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 8 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 6 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 6 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) |
7.0 / 10
|
| Most recent distance | 187000 kilometres |
| Previous car | Toyota Camry |
Summary:
Great vehicle; robust and well built
Faults:
Rear sway bushes.
Front shock absorbers.
General Comments:
This car is the most reliable car I have owned. If serviced correctly, it is faultless.
Very little road noise.
Great economy for a V6. Effortless automatic 4 speed shift.
The front seats could be more form fitting and comfortable.
Climate air heater controls are difficult to reach while driving.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 14th June, 2012
| Year of manufacture | 1997 |
| First year of ownership | 2005 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.2 petrol Manual |
| Performance marks | 3 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 0 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 5 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 5 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 0 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) |
2.6 / 10
|
| Distance when acquired | 50000 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 100000 kilometres |
| Previous car | BMW 3 Series |
Summary:
Terrible; keep away from this shocking vehicle, extremly unreliable, stay away!
Faults:
Gear stick snapped while I was driving the car.
Head gasket blew at 70,000 Km.
Air conditioning died in the middle of summer.
All electric windows died.
Starter motor had continuous problems all the time I owned the vehicle.
Head lining fell down.
General Comments:
Terrible vehicle, shockingly unreliably, and poor quality. I will never buy a Toyota again.
The BMW I had previously was fantastic, and had no problems at all.
The Volvo I have now is fantastic; I have had no problems with it whatsoever.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 11th June, 2011
Never try to compare a Toyota with BMW/Volvo/Audi.
Toyota is a mediocre car to take you from point A to B without that much fun/comfort. However, in average it's reliable in doing that job.
Even a look at interior material will tell you the story. Also Toyota is designed to work for a couple of years, not for decades (like Volvo).
| Model year | 1997 |
| Year of manufacture | 1997 |
| First year of ownership | 2009 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2009 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.2L 4 cylinder twin cam Manual |
| Performance marks | 7 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 10 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 9 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 10 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) |
9.0 / 10
|
| Distance when acquired | 198100 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 202200 kilometres |
| Previous car | Holden Commodore |
Summary:
It's the perfect car for me
Faults:
Seatbelt reels are starting to become noisy and lock up often for no reason. This is not a safety concern, as they perform their duty perfectly well.
Had to replace leaky coolant bottle the week after I bought the car. It was relatively cheap to buy from the dealer.
A few minor squeaks, but it is 13 years old so who cares?
Bad seal in the tail light, where it mounts to the luggage compartment lid. Water gets into the light sometimes, then pours into the luggage compartment when the lid is up.
Hoodlining (ceiling fabric) is beginning to fall down in places.
General Comments:
For a family sedan, the Camry is incredibly economical. Tank is 70 Litres, and I get almost 800km from a full tank on a long trip. Runs nicely on ethanol blend fuel, too.
Build quality could have been better, but it's way above Commodores and Falcons of the same age. Plastics are well finished and last a long time.
It's fun to drive! I'm sure you don't believe me, but it's quite punchy and flexible through the gears. Engine feel and sound is not unpleasant.
I also like the clean styling of the body.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 24th October, 2009
Update on this review by original writer -
222,000km.
The hoodlining fabric has fully collapsed.
Tail light still leaks, but I've recently found out how to fix it.
Lighter socket gave up and shorted-out.
Rear seatbelt still up to its old tricks.
Nothing else has gone wrong. It's an amazing car!
| Model year | 1997 |
| Year of manufacture | 1997 |
| First year of ownership | 2007 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2009 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.2L 4 cylinder Automatic |
| Performance marks | 2 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 0 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 5 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 0 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 2 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) |
1.8 / 10
|
| Distance when acquired | 145000 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 157000 kilometres |
| Previous car | Holden Commodore |
Summary:
I wouldn't sell this to my mother in law
Faults:
I don't know where to start, but here it goes:
Replaced all suspension, $750 (would bounce all over the road).
Timing belt installed, $300.
Rack and pinion, $650.
All engine mounts, $500 (how do all of them need replacing at once?)
Rear door inside "broke off" door replaced, $250.
Air con re-gas, $300.
General Comments:
One month after I had those things done, now the auto is playing up, and it's leaking coolant. Also don't drive it to fast because the wind will blow the paint right off the car!
The cabin is made of cheap plastic and is easily sun damaged.
The engine is dangerously slow when the car is full of people and hard to work on.
I bought the car for Toyota reliability, and that is the last thing I've had with this car.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 3rd April, 2009
The timing belt change and air-con re-gas are basically routine maintenance. Previous owners can skimp on this stuff if they know they are about to sell the car, which is fine, as long as you know and buy the car for a cheaper price as a result.
Engine mounts and some suspension pieces will eventually need replacing too with age, though they could be a result of the previous owner's abuse of the car. I'm guessing the car has done over 200K kms?
Is yours a V6 or 2.2? Both engines should be pretty reliable. Is it the your model 1993-1997 or 1997-2002?
It's the late model 1997 through to 2000 with 140 000 km on the clock. Relatively low I thought.