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Comments
There is no deception by Toyota if you take the time to read the descriptions in the brochure.
Personally the more speakers the merrier...wish they put one at ear level in the door pillars to drown out all the rattles! Perhaps Toyota can put a positive spin on them, call then Driver Alert Indicators, designed to keep the driver from nodding off in an otherwise quiet car!
Perhaps they can then parlay that into explaining why they slipped in the latest JD Power survey...didn't the Toyota Brand (w/out Lexus factored in) fall to about #10?
BTW, that was the JDP initial quality survey, to me a somewhat bogus little study, and Toyota fell to 7th from 3rd. And yes, the survey was somewhat bogus when Toyota was third, too!
Lexus was number one.
When a car is brand new and under warranty, build issues can be addressed by the dealer for free, while you drive a loaner car, so the IQS seems less important to me than the five-year durability and reliability study, in which Toyota always rates top 5 among all nameplates (I think it was 3rd in that survey also, most recently, right behind Lexus).
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Comments?
The importance of the cosmetic design of the exhaust system is inconsequential. The exhaust needs to be durable, control sound, have a minimum effect on performance, and direct emissions to the appropriate area. Toyota exhaust fulfills all of the needed requirements.
Plus there are no reports of frequent instances of damaged exhausts on Toyota Camrys. Thus the ground clearance must be adequate for its designed environment.
O000h, isn't Toyota awful: poorly designed exhausts that are an eyesore, and misleading people about the number of speakers! Nevermind that the engines are smooth and reliable, and the sound systems are pretty good when optioned properly. And if these things are "fixed" I am sure I can still find something wrong like the angle of the wipers when parked or the goose neck hinges that detract 0.0001 % of the useful space from a larger than average trunk.
Like I said, people are free to vote with their checkbooks.
I think more people are paying attention to the cosmetics of a car since reliability is a given. I think that is why the market for aftermarket parts is growing so fast. It you want to see a beautiful rear end, just take a look at what the Germans are doing with Audi's and Bmw's or if you are stuck on Japenese cars, Nissan is producing cars that are not only reliable but actually exhilarating to drive and look at. Check out the pipes on the new Maxima. Performance wise, it will lay to waste most any other boring Japanese sedan on the road.
Sorry, that description doesn't apply to me... I drive a 2003 Accord. I just saw the situation in a different light than you did.
petrnyc - I loved that rattles comment! I was rollin'
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Does anyone know when/where I can find out if there will be any changes to the 04? I'll appreciate any info you can provide.
Seriously, what you are looking for should not be too big a deal. Both of those options are available as stand alone options. You do not say what area of the country you are in. I am in the SE and we are ruled by SET distributorship. All of the SE dealers have very good inventory listings on line. I am not sure about other regions of the country. In the SE side airbags is a little rare. I have checked some Va area dealers and they seem to be more available in the NE and northern areas.
If you use carsdirect all they do is use a local dealer to try to find a car for you. They will do a search within a certain number of miles from your zip code. I have found carsdirect to be frustrating, especially with toyotas as CD allow you to configure cars that are not available anywhere.
As far as ordering, that is exactly what I am doing. The camry is made in Georgetown, Ky. I placed my order around the fourth week of april and my camry is currently scheduled for a mid june delivery. I ran into the same issue you did. I had certain options I wanted and did not want to pay for others that I did not want. My problem was similar to yours. I wanted leather, but no sunroof. There were plenty of xle's with the premium plus pkg (w/sunroof) but none with the premium pkg (w/o sunroof). I also wanted the side airbags, which are kinda rare in my area.
Hope this helps some.
How did you know I have a Mitsubishi?
I never price a car based on MSRP. I always start with edmunds or KBB invoice price. I am not sure what your area is like, but I know that in SE and Va, camry's are pretty heavily discounted. In my case I was able to get about $300 below edmunds invoice (this includes the dealer doc fee) and I will get the rebate if there is one once my car arrives. Recently the rebate has been $1000 in my area. I would look up what edmunds invoice price is for the car you want with all the options, start by offering about $500 below that and also minus any rebates in your area. All they can do is say no. I was very lucky in that I had a local dealer that had a third party web service they used to let you build the car and then offer a bid price. The invoice pricing tracked edmunds exactly (this can be a problem as toyota does their invoices funky and adds extra fees to them). The car I configured came to like $22,311 invoice price. I bid $22,000 and they accepted. After a few confirming emails we agreed to that price and I would get the rebate. As soon as I drive home I am going to post my final price in the How much did you pay thread.
You should be pretty sure of getting your ordered car. Remember no dealer has it in stock. How many people could really want a car like that? The way I did mine was I got a signed buyers order from the dealer listing the car I wanted with all of the correct options. I also left a $1000 deposit on a CC. My car is showing in the dealers online inventory with a mid june delivery date. i am going to call this week and verify everything.
Since the Camry had a mid 03 refresh, I doubt there will be too many changes for 04, at least nothing significant. You have to pull the trigger sometime. The xle I looked at was perfect for me. Another consideration is that 03 have a good rebate in my area and the 04 may not have one when it first comes out. Also they may change something and make it where I do not like it. This happened on my current sable. I have a 96 and loved the cupholder design and the premium jbl stereo. In subsequent years they went to a crappier cupholder design and a lesser stereo.
My car will be coming just as ordered. Probably the only camry xle in the SE w/premium pkg and heated seats and side airbags.
Your profile says you are looking for a mitsu.
Good luck
The toyota order process is a little funny. My salesman was kinda vague (not too reassuring to me), but he did admit he had only done 3 orders in 6 years. The way he explained it to me was that someone else(the guy that does the ordering) would put in my car as what they wanted in their inventory. Then in a day or two it would either "take" or be kicked out saying no such car was available. On the first attempt it was kicked out. The SE is run by a distributor called SouthEast Toyota (SET), so he was actually placing the order through them. What ended up happening was that my dealership needed a car further back in the order process, so the order guy called SET got a swap in the order process from another dealership for a camry xle that was far enough back so he could place the order for my car. My car is actually being made at the factory.
Because of SET all SE toyota dealer websites are similar and one feature of them is current and future new car inventory. As soon as my car was in the pipe to be delivered it showed up in my dealers future inventory. The expected date is around June 14. Just go to a SE dealer website through the toyota website and then click on new and then search inventory. Select camry, and then the trim level and then you will see what cars they have and have coming. Then if you select a car you will see pricing info and a list of the options on the car. Pretty cool. I called today and confirmed with the salesman. That is my car and it is marked in the system as sold to me so it cannot be sold to anyone else.
As far as rebates, you can check edmunds incentive page but it is not always accurate. Others I would suggest checking are kbb.com and autosite.com. They both list incentives too. In SET if you get to a SET dealer website, the rebates are also listed there, not sure about your area.
Since you are in Pa you may want to wander over to the smart shopper boards and seek out a guy named mackabee. He is a toyota internet salesman in Va. Not sure if that is in the same region, but since they are close, I would think it is. You can find him in inconsiderate buyers thread and others over there. He has been a great help to me and did not mind me emailing with questions.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I'm with you. For the life of me I can't figure out how with 8-way power seats I can't get comfortable. The test drive didn't let this tidbit be known (too short plus you just figure you have to get "used" to a new feel). Knees and lower back. 2003 XLE. Love the ride, looks and amenities but am more comfortable in the 90 Camry seats. I know what you're feeling. It's a sad thing for us.
I am currently driving a '99 Passport and it had inadequate thigh support for me, leading to back pains on long drives. Now, I am extremely comfortable after placing a custom seat cushion that raises and lengthen the front portion of the seat bottom. I can drive all day long and still feel comfortable.
Please give more info on this custom seat cushion. Name, where it can be purchased, whatever you can offer would be appreciated.
i don't know how to read those words, but it does look like the asian version of camry has different feature than the US version
Thoughts/opinions?
~alpha
~alpha
You may want to try an SE manual- perhaps those are more likely to have the ABS option.
~alpha
Like in most of the Asian market, Toyota offers two engines on Camry: 2.OL and 2.4L (both 4 cylinder engine) and V6 in some Asian countries. Many auto manufacturers offer 4 cylinder engine because of it has better gas mileage (average gas price is over USD$4.00 per gallon in most Asian countries and even higher in Europe). Most importantly, the owners pay less government tax and registration fee for cars with less engine displacement.
Makes sense from the point of view of making the SE a true sport model - having more power than the rest of the line - but it would be the first time Toyota has ever done 3 engines for Camry at the same time...I wonder if they will not just use the 3.3 Camry-wide for '04 (for the 6-cyl option).
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
~alpha
Camry
I test drove the LE version, but it still had a lot of features like power windows, cruise control, etc. I can see why Camry’s are so popular. This is a very solidly built car that does all the basics right. It was amazingly quiet inside, had a comfortable ride and accelerated well. Inside it felt “big” and all the controls were easy to use. I don’t have too much else to say about the car, except that although it was fine, there really wasn’t anything that exciting about it. I could not see myself getting excited each day about going to work in this car. I guess I need to decide if that is something I can live with.
~alpha
If anyone has any ideas as to what a custom seat cushion (referenced in above link) would be or how to obtain one please post information. My 03 XLE seat bottom stops a good four to five inches back from the bend in my knee and is causing me all kinds of ergonomic problems. For my husband the seat is just fine. But as luck would have it I am the primary driver. If anyone has any experience/advice that I could draw on I would REALLY appreciate it. I am willing to try anything. Car is great but selling it for any reason this soon would be bad financially this soon out. Thanks, Gonkraz
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)