2007 Toyota Camry LE from North America - Comments

Nothing.

2007 Camry LE 4cyl, Base package.

Before deciding on this car, my short list of cars included the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Buick Allure (LaCrosse). Road noise was one of the top concerns I had for my next car, so that quickly eliminated the Honda (besides, the Honda was $4,000 more). The Altima was eliminated due to their new model having a new type of transmission, although the test drive was amazing, I’ll never buy an experimental model. I test drove the Buick Allure and Toyota Camry each two times. The Buick had a slightly more comfortable and quieter ride, but it was eliminated because I didn’t like the position of all the driving controls and I didn’t like the cluttered V6 engine compartment. If you do want a Buick, I strongly suggest you find one 2nd hand with 20,000km and save yourself about $10,000. It was the same price as the Camry, but its resale value was another reason to eliminate it.

Now, about the Camry:

4cyl, 2.4L 16 Valve, VVT-I, Overhead cam

-timing chain instead of a belt that will cost you big bucks to change at 100kkm

-enough hp to move the car safely into traffic and pass the slow pokes

-not a racing engine that will jerk the car like a rollercoaster

-I’m against street racing, so a 4cyl will do fine thank you

-fuel economy! Think green!

-hood opens with gas pistons! Big bonus here, no prop rod to mess around with.

-fluid levels are easily viewed through visible windows or translucent plastic bottles

-large air filter lets engine breath easy, saves gas!

-electronic reminder to change oil! Brilliant!

-VVT Variable Valve Timing, I would have preferred a simple engine, but this system has been in use for many years without failures, I’ll take what I get here.

-engine has lots of room to work on. I intend to drive this car to the ground, so someday in the years ahead the engine will need some kind of work. Being my own mechanic, I do appreciate being able to replace worn pieces without having to pull out the whole motor! All the common parts are visible and easily accessible. I’ll even bet that some repairs could be made road side!

Transmission:

5 speed automatic, I would have been happy with a 4 speed, simpler is always better!

It’s like having 5 shaving blades, when 2 or 3 work just as good and is cheaper (more reliable in this case). I base reliability upon the simplicity of the transmission.

I have not had any problems that others have reported and I can’t believe that Toyota wouldn’t repair such problems if it was true. If it was really true, then you would see a lot of people selling their Toyota’s. I don’t see that many Toyota’s offered for resale by private owners, that tells me they are pretty happy with their cars!

Body design:

This is purely subjective. It’s like believing red cars go faster. This is a personal decision and I won’t waste your time talking about contour lines or colour.

Wheels:

Comes with excellent Michelin tires and a full size spare so you can take road trips with confidence. I did not like the alloy rims so I chose the basic steel rims, I will upgrade with rims of my choice later. The rims I choose will probably be less expensive than Toyotas too. Sorry Toyota, your accessories are over priced for my wallet.

Interior:

Very quiet, extremely nice to roll up windows and

Cloth seats have always felt more comfortable, I would only ever consider leather if they were heated. The seat comfort is amazing, I suffer from lower back pain and I was able to drive for 9 hours straight and actually feel rested when I got there. The power seats looked nice, but I went for the cheaper manual seats and found they work well enough for my discerning needs. CD with MP3 support and AUX jack for my own MP3 player is perfect, I just wish I could have upgraded to 6 CD and Blue Tooth. Controls around the driver’s steering wheel makes driving safer and looks better. Gives more room on dashboard for instrumentation, duct work and stereo. Makes driving safer by not having to stray your hand very far to control accessories on the car. Dual trip meters, great for gauging two things at the same time. Lot’s of compartments for stashing things away plus a huge glove box (in case you have big hands). Seriously, it helps to have places to store things in your car, I wish they had even more spots.

Saftey:

Lots of Air Bags… let’s hope I never find out how well they work!

Things I don’t like:

-Car comes with fixed packages, so you can’t pick and choose the exact options you prefer. Eg. I desperately wanted Blue Tooth, but couldn’t have it unless I got the XLE which does NOT come with the 4cyl or 60/40 folding rear seats that I wanted more.

-Wish it had Dual Air control as an option, but it’s only available only on the XLE.

-I would have liked to have power seats, but they only come with the alloy rims which I don’t like.

-Missing some options that should be included in the base package, like low wheel pressure indicator, low oil level indicator, low coolant indicator, low brake fluid level indicator, low transmission fluid indicator

-A few other options would have been nice to get, but they were over priced and too expensive compared to 3rd party accessories I can buy. Eg. GPS, Compass, reading lights in back seat, parking sensors, garage door opener, floor mats.

-Owners manual, written by a 1st year English student. One manual covers all models and does not clearly convey which features are optional. Further, in one section they recommend to disconnect the battery for a test and in another section they warn against disconnecting the battery for other reasons (perhaps something needs to be reset?). I’ve heard about cars that won’t restart without entering a code after disconnecting the battery.

-Rust protection, car is not given extra rust protection, I guess they want the car to not last forever! Toyota advises against using Krown Rust Proofing and offered a questionable electronic rust control system instead. We’ll see how well it works this winter.

Things that I wish it had:

-Built in electric cooler!

-USB port for connection to a lap top or jump drive to upload/download data

-A reverse trip meter to count down mileage to your destination

-fuel consumption meter (saw it on a Crown Victoria, very nice!)

-heated cloth seats

-a special container for trash

-auto windows to open all windows (include this option on remote)

-auto windows to close if rain detected (while parked)

Conclusion:

Despite all the little things it doesn’t have, for the price it’s a very well built car well worth the money!

Although you admit that you feel confident in the car, it seems that you had some pretty high expectations in terms of features for a car in this price range. I would suggest buying a pre-owned XLE Camry, Avalon, or even a Lexus next time if you want that much stuff. Some of the things you mentioned do not come into play until at least $10k more is spent.

Despite the fact that I dislike Toyota's and don't think they are worth the extra money over a Buick I have to give credit where credit is due, this is a very well written review. Good job!

I would have happily paid 10,000 more for ALL the things I wanted, unfortunately it was not available! Let's ignore my wish list and just focus on what the car can come with. I don't want a 6cyl, I want the 4cyl. The XLE, Avalon and Lexus all come with 6cyl. Next, I want fold down rear seats. The XLE does not come with fold down seats. Finally, I really do not like leather (fake or otherwise) seats, I prefer cloth seats, again, the XLE does not have the option of coming with cloth seats. I don't like being told what I want. eg. why is it assumed that leather seats are better than cloth?

Actually, the XLE is available with a four-cylinder and it comes standard with cloth seats. We looked at one yesterday. Oh, and the back seats did fold in the XLE. We wound up buying an LE because it came with everything that our wonderful Buick Regal had on it except leather, which we don't really care that much about. Our Regal gave us eight trouble-free years of service, taking us 162,000 miles without problems, and it still drove like it did when it was new. We never even had to put spark plugs in the Regal!! I feel confident in the Camry to do the same job.

1) My test drive was on a XLE 4 cyclinder with cloth.

2) Altima has the CVT and this is a reason its highway mileage will be higher then the camry and also you will alway will have instant response on acceleration. MPG is a big seller. Funny you mention MPG and then say I stay away from technology that gives better MPG. The CVT from altima is actually a few years old experimented by the murano and the infinity. It is the first in a cheaper sedan.

3) I have base LE with moonroof package and the car is excellent for something paid 19.5k for.

The electronic rust controller you mentioned is NOT recommended by Toyota at all. Your dealer may have wanted to sell it to you... but Toyota doesn't endorse it. ALL Toyota's come from the factory with extensive rust protection... all metal seems are sealed, they are galvanized, and use lots of rock protection to avoid rust. It should last for years the way it is, but I personally use Krown rust protection for the piece of mind it gives me.

The 2.4 comes with a timing chain, so you never have to change it, and here in Canada rust proofing is a must with our winter conditions, so I suggest you a non-dripping oil-parafin type; just have it checked every 5 years, these electronic gizmos don't work, don't bother with those.

Recntly, I rented a 2008, 4 cylinder Camry equipped with automatic transmission and a/c for a day. I needed to drive from Barrie Ontario to Toronto Ontario, which is a 100 kilometer run on a major highway.

This car ran exceptionally well and performed admirably. There was more than enough power to merge with traffic, and the ride was very quiet and smooth. I was impressed.

My daily driver is a Pontiac Montana SV6, which by the way, has also performed admirably since new but it is leased and now is fast approaching the mileage limitation. That's why I rented the Camry.

Nevertheless, I was impressed with the Camry. I'm not to fond of the exterior styling, but the interior was quite nice. It is comfortable and well laid out.

Fuel economy was good, but not any better than a 3.8 Grand Prix I rented yesterday.

I will definitely consider a 4 cylinder Camry for my next car, probably one that has heated seats.

I prefer timing chain than belt. It lasts longer (150.000 KM) than belt (50.000 KM).

Timing chains should last a lot longer than 150,000 kilometers. My Dodge with a rubber timing belt went 160,000 miles between changes, and my current 2.4 Pontiac has a timing chain, and it is designed to last 300,000 kilometers or more. I guess Toyota does not build with long service intervals in mind in order to bilk more money out of their customers.

You guys need to look at some of the 2004-2007 Camry reviews. These cars are not built to be very reliable.