1988 Toyota Camry CS review from Australia and New Zealand

The shield on the front, right-hand side brake rotor.

Heat shield on exhaust manifold has come loose.

Annoying electrical problems.

My model is a manual wagon. I would have preferred the sedan version, however the extra space has come in handy when moving house.

The shield on the brake rotor has rusted over the years and the tough time that I give the car has made it come loose and makes an annoying crunching noise when pulling the wheel full lock to the left while reversing. This is still on the 'to do' list.

The heat shield on the exhaust manifold is not a problem when the car is cold, and is only audible between 2000-3000rpm. It gets particularly rattly when under load. When I got a freer flowing exhaust fitted to it recently, the mechanic told me that they are unnecessary and that I should take it off, which I fully intend on doing.

Now onto the electrical problems... I am convinced that my car is possessed. These problems only occur when it rains (my car is never garaged). Sometimes the right indicators will come on by themselves when left alone (but not flash). Also when somebody opens the passenger side doors (on the left for Australia) the stereo hisses and only returns to normal when the doors are closed. Also when left alone, it will act as though the key is turned to the 'on' position even though there is no key in the ignition and it is set to completely off. This means that the interior fan will come on and the dash lights 'oil, brake, etc' will also come on. This happens far too often and has run my battery flat on many an occasion. If left for a couple of days in the rain it runs the battery flat every time. This happens when the interior light is set to 'door'. If I set the interior light switch to 'off' this doesn't happen, but the 'door' light on the dashboard stays on. I am not joking, this problem has caused me many a headache when I need to get to class in the morning and it will not start because of a flat battery!.. I have been told that this is an earth problem. If anybody knows what is causing this and how to fix it, I would greatly appreciate knowing how to fix the problem, I am about to loose my sanity. (please only practical answers, not set it on fire and claim insurance)

Other than that, the seats are very comfortable on a long drive which becomes very apparent when I travel in friends cars.

One big gripe that I have about her is that the lack of power steering makes it difficult to park, and in addition to that, an aircraft carrier would have a tighter turning circle.

The performance is surprising on the open road and the engine always feels eager.

Another big plus is the exceptional fuel economy. I get roughly 7.5 l/100km combined driving (about 10 for around town and 6 for highway only).

The cabin is well laid out, the only bad thing is the lack of hight adjustment on the front seats.

Also on the cards is the removal of the dire factory stereo with the replacement of a MP3 compatible stereo and MUCH better speakers.

Other than those 3 major problems, I couldn't be happier with the car. Excluding the current model Camry, I think that it is the best looking Camry, even 19 years on..