2008 Toyota Camry XLE from North America - Comments

To Nov. 16 21:21 -

No, it's not our problem, it is your problem if you choose to believe that there aren't plenty of satisfied domestic car owners out there.

I've owned plenty of imports and domestics.

I've had many domestics that were problem-free, and many imports that were also problem-free. I've also owned many imports that were not all that reliable.

My point is, you can have good or bad from any manufacturer.

Yes, Toyota does build fine automobiles, but don't discount the satisfied domestic car owner.

My big bucks on Japanese imports came just after 100,000 miles. Timing belt, front end struts, suspension, water pumps, heater cores, A/cC going out on every one. Take it to the dealership and have a front wheel drive... bring the wallet.

Again - WHY are both the Tundra and Camry posts completely filled with posts from American car lovers? Interesting that there's very few if any responses from Toyota owners on Chevrolet and Ford reviews even though many of those reviews are from unhappy owners with tons of problems. Could it be that Toyota is eating GM and Ford's lunch, who aren't going to make it unless the government steps in?

The truth is so incredibly obvious. The big three have made poorly built cars for decades, insisted on ignoring their cars and focusing on large trucks and SUVs for way too long, and basically mismanaging their respective companies until they wound up in the shape they're in.

Toyota and Honda didn't acquire their high reliability, high quality status from building junk, yet the people on posts like these try over and over and over again to prove us "wrong". There's something funny about that. If your GM and Ford cars were so great, then why should you care about Camrys unless you actually don't believe what you preach?

10:36 I WILL discount the domestic owners who post here (this is a TOYOTA thread by the way) that claim that the domestics are as, or more reliable than Toyota's (which is laughable). I have no doubt that there are satisfied domestic owners out there. You can LIKE your GM, even enjoy it, just don't try and tell us that it's built as well or half as reliable as a Toyota.

15:47 Good point. That's how I see it too.

As an import owner, I don't generally post on Ford or GM sites because I couldn't care less what gets said over there. I know they're inferior to Toyota's and I don't feel the need to convince anybody who doesn't already know that. Owning a GM is punishment enough, and my experience with Fords cemented the fact that I'll never look at another one to buy, and Dodge... well, Dodge is just a joke.

We own 2-3 new or almost new cars (maybe a year apart) in our household at any given time. First time ever to have all new domestics as far as adults... however our teen has an older Civic (car 4 at our home). Call it the way it is. I liked imports and domestics before. I guess it's hard to classify mixed new ownership other than to say it's significant when you lose faith in one. Then you are deemed an import hater. Imagine that.

My husband was in the car business for 30 years, and he often said that it (quality) depended on the day the auto was manufactured. Monday was not a good day and neither was Friday. He handled American cars, either General Motors or Ford, and was on Ford's board for two years as an outstanding rep for a large car leasing company. He handled over 3000 autos in their fleet, and came to the conclusion that Toyota did a better job than most American engineers in building autos.

Now I have read about their sludge/oil problem and I wonder. I have a 6 cylinder Toyota Camry LE and am wondering if I'll be caught up in this deal. It is interesting how things change.

To 15:18: Having been cursed with a Honda Civic, I know all too well how easy it is to become turned off by a bad apple in the barrel. As a mechanic I found the Civic one of the most unreliable and poorly put together cars I've ever seen. Still, I do test drive imports from time to time to stay abreast of what is going on with them. No import has impressed me as much as our domestics. And no, I'm not an "import hater". I'm a guy who hates having to fix my own cars all the time, or hassle with a dealer. I'd rather just buy them, drive them 150,000 miles and trade them. I've never managed that with ANY of our imports.

If you have had any previous Camrys and now have a 2007, compare the repair history and then know where to look next time for the next new car. I even bought a few more new ones even with issues cropping up before I made my own personal determination on what to buy. You can have 1 with isolated incidents, but have 1 or 2 more exact same car equally ordered. It quickly answers that question.

@20th Dec 2008, 00:39.

There is no sludge problems on newer Camry vehicles. It's just the Toyota bashers that are posting fake reviews on this and other sites. I know there were a settlement case where about 3000 owners complained about sludging on their Toyota vehicles equipped with the 2.2I4 or the 3.0V6. This was cars sold between 97 and 02. Considering that Toyota sold millions of cars equipped with the 2.2 or the 3.0 in this time period, I'd say that even then this is a marginal problem and you'd be unlikely to experience this problem even if you own a 10 year old Camry.

All the same, Toyota handled this OK and fixed most engines for free (Did Chrysler/Dodge do the same thing on their infamous 2.7V6? I think not.)

Most people experiencing sludging are those purchasing motor oil at 2$/quart at Wal-Mart or driving in very hot weather where the engine oils "cooks" and turns into the tar like substance called sludge.

A potential problem with the web is that users can post inaccurate things without accountability. So I logged onto the Consumer Reports website with my neighbors computer and password to read that set of Owners Opinions. There are email addresses with the comments from subscribers so I feel like there is some accountability there. I looked up opinions for Camry, Accord, Fusion, Maxima, and Impala. Somewhat to my surprise, I found the comments there pretty much matched the ones on this website. Lots of complaints about Camry for 2006, 2007 with low mileage vehicles, especially about transmissions. And also lots of complaints about Accord transmissions also on low mileage vehicles. (I have seen comments about Accord transmissions in magazines like Road and Track and Car and Driver also.)

A few months ago on the MSNBC website there was an article about the slip in Toyota quality and how the president of Toyota was being called in by the president of Japan to explain the disgraceful situation. It attributed the quality slip to a company goal to become the largest automaker in the world. They increased production of existing cars, and created many new models like the Tundra pickup. The article explained that Toyota has a Quality University where they train people. Because of the rapid expansion Toyota was making, there were not enough qualified entrants, and not enough spaces in the University. So they lowered the admissions standards and decreased the amount of training time required to graduate. And they over worked the engineers. For example, the lead engineer in charge of Camry Hybrid committed suicide due to overwork in July 2008. Apparently this kind of thing is not uncommon in Japan, but what made it news worthy was that a Japanese government agency had ruled the cause was over work.

And it is a fact that in one of the Consumer Reports magazines they printed a statement that they "no longer recommend the V6 Camry due to recent slips in quality." and they rated that car as "below average" in reliability. (The 4 cylinder that makes up 9 out of 10 Camry sales was still given a recommend and a better than average reliability rating.)

I can't believe in the idea that there are a few people making up fake postings on this website when there is so much other evidence that is consistent with what I read here.

There have been major sludging problems with several Toyota engines as well as very uneven combustion chamber temperatures. These problems are caused by poorly designed cylinder heads and there is no quick fix other than trading the car in on a more reliable vehicle (such as Ford or GM).

I met a cab driver who claimed he got 1,000,000 miles out of a 95 LT1 Chevy Caprice. He claimed he went through 5 transmissions but the engine was never replaced or rebuilt.

I think the Japanese import owners with many issues, short warranties have their hands full on here, let alone leaving the nest and moving over to the superior new domestic models.

The issues you read on here on domestics seem to be real old ones, likely used when they were first bought, and then buying real small vehicles with emphasis on gas afterwards.

I like to read consumeraffairs.com with mechanical issues on newer imports. I see the cheap cars as basic appliances.

It's not just the duration of the warranty. Have you been into any dealer and asked them to honor the warranty? "You caused the damage" and voided the complaint and warranty. "You did not regularly service your vehicle at our dealer or an authorized mechanic, therefore the warranty is void. A lot of fine print and slick service managers keep the dealers afloat. Time tested Hondas, Toyotas and a few others are the best bet.