1996 Toyota Camry Coupe review from North America

Unexpected Items:

Passenger Side power window motor

Driver side door exterior door handle

Dome light.

The 5SFE motor in this thing is probably the most over engineered unit for its time.

Just to list a few facts:

1. The crank shaft is forged, and it's capable of handling much more torque than what Toyota gave it credit for.

2. It has a very cleverly designed oil cooler, on start up, the coolant warms the oil, and the other way around when the oil gets hot.

3. Although it's design some 15 years ago, it had 2 oxygen sensors to make sure the engine's always running cleanly and efficiently.

All this means, is that, it will last and last and last...

Servicing this car is amazingly easy, doesn't need to be raised to change oil (the filter is right on top), replacing the water pump is a 30 minutes job if you have the right tools (5 hours without...).

I get 32mpg on highway with AC on, going... well, same speed everyone else drive on hwy 5. Only 22mpg in local streets though.

All in all, this is not a very exciting car, but it sure has lots of characters, I wish Toyota can design something with this much character again. Doesn't look like it's going to happen though.