2003 Toyota Camry LE review from North America
"Good car-not perfect, but it does a lot of things right"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Brake light switch became improperly calibrated after a few thousand miles-causing the cruise control to malfunction (because it thought I was constantly hitting the brakes so it kept deactivating over and over). I didn't realize these two problems were related (and in fact, didn't really realize my brake lights were on for quite a while-which in retrospect probably made me very vulnerable to people rear ending me because they couldn't tell when I was braking).
Luckily, I didn't get rear ended before I took the car into a Toyota dealership (Dorschel in Rochester, NY). They fixed it up quickly so no complaints there. The problem hasn't come back since, so I guess it probably was just poorly calibrated at the plant (my Camry is from the Kentucky plant).
Haven't had any other real problems, but the number of creaks in this Camry is fairly ridiculous when compared to the previous generation Camry! A lot of these creaks seem to emanate from the door panels where the plastic door handle assembly seems to rub against the plastic surrounding it. I noticed that the previous generation Camry had the door handle sunk into fabric so this wasn't an issue. So although the creaks are fairly annoying, I'm beginning to suspect that it's not really a build-quality issue, but an issue with the new design itself.
General comments?
It's a great value-has plenty of newer features like electronically controlled throttle and cruise control, comes with ABS and a power driver's seat.
It's very comfortable over long road trips-probably one of the best cruisers you can buy in this price range.
It has sadly not been quite as reliable as my previous car (due to the brake switch thing) which was a Civic Si (2002). It has also not been as quiet in the interior-with more rattles/creaks (although the Honda had none so pretty much any car will have more).
The engine and transmission are great in this car! The processors that control them definitely learn your driving style over time so soon it'll downshift when you want it to downshift so it's a very responsive car.
Recommended reviews
| Not bad, but there is life beyond Toyota |
|
| A bad purchase |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| Model year | 2003 |
| Year of manufacture | 2003 |
| First year of ownership | 2003 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2006 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.4L VVTi Automatic |
| Performance marks | 7 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 8 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 9 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 8 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 5 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 13 miles |
| Most recent distance | 18800 miles |
| Previous car | Honda Civic |
| Date of Entry | 7th January, 2006 |