Toyota Camry A/T 40,000Kms Report

[vinaydas]

Hello One and All
I'm Writing this Report on Behalf of my Dad(well I'm the one who has done the majority of the driving on this Car 30k+ approx)
Toyota Has been coming in and out of our family almost since the last 15-20 years.. From the start with a Corolla In Dubai to a Land Cruiser LC200(prev gen not the current) to the recently acquired Lexus.
In India The Toyota Qualis and also the recently acquired Innova.
After owning all those Cars from the Toyota Stable He has practically fallen in love with the company.

Before the Launch of the 7th Gen Camry we had looked into numerous other cars starting with the older gen Camry but i was a little reluctant because it dint have the appeal.My dad kept on insisting on the Toyota and kept telling me how he never had a single problem with the company back in Dubai. then we test drove vehicles like the Skoda Superb,ford Endy,Honda accord(prev gen),Merc C n E class..we also considered the Land cruiser Prado..but for some reason we were put off.
Then we put our plans on Hold for a while as i had bought the palio in 2005.
Then all of a sudden in 2006 the latest Gen camry was unveiled.. my dad fell in love with the Car..we took a test and immediately booked it.
The Dealer(Ravindu Toyota near ISCON in Bangalore) told us it will take around 6 months to reach as it is a CBU from japan and had to be shipped.
but we were kinda lucky and got it around in 3 months.The experience with the Ravindu was fantastic the people over there were very friendly and well informed about their product, every thing went smooth as silk.
ok Enough with the introduction

About the Car
One of the Best looking cars in India(still).when we first bought the car there were very very few of them in Bangalore..where ever i drove the car it gained instant attention..people come and take pics inquire etc.
Driving the Car
It felt Fabulous a really big upgrade for me from the 72 horses in palio to 170 in this one. The Roar the engine makes is excellent and i tend to rip the car a lot!!.
The A/T transmission is really smooth and gives adequate power when required..
the stock ICE setup is very good.there are many goodies such as ESP,Rain sensors etc.
Mods to the Car - Nothing much except for a reverse sensor + 2 head rest monitors + a roof mounted DVD player(for mom to watch movies on the highway:-D)
Now the Car has done approximately 40k kms(well almost) and 4 services and i must say i have not had any problem at all with car..Toyota service is the best in the country and one of the best in the world..so we were very happy that our car was in safe hands.
Maintenance was manageable and not really high with an average of 8000rs Per service.
we have had the front brakes changed that's all nothing much.

Majority of the KM'S have been done on the highways from Bangalore(that answers the Tar spots on the paint) To Trichur.. This vehicle has a silky smooth ride it swallows Bumps and pot holes with ease(unless the under body scrapes due to low GC:-D)
overtaking was never an issue unlike the palio.

Dislikes-Thirsty because of A/T and low GC apart from this absolutely nothing.

Encounters:Got tailed by a Lorry in Tamil nadu.. we were standing in a signal lorry guy W/O warning came and tailed us. had to replace the rear bumper+boot hood.Insurance covered it,total bill appox 1Lac 80K from insurance, 20k from our pocket.

Verdict:Have the money go for it.. its more VFM than the C class or 3 series i must say.
the interior space is a premium which i feel is better than the E class also.
Some Pics which was taken today after a painstaking wash(even though its not that clean ^_^).
Pics taken on cell phone hence quality is bad(kinda).

[HappyWheels]

That looks like one mean machine! And in white, a majestic mean machine!

And a very well maintained one, very neat!

[abhinav.gupta88]

No Doubt , the Camry is one beautiful machine.
With a company like toyota, it sure is a peace of mind.

What FE do you get.


P.S. The number of smilies per post have an allowed limit of 2. Kindly edit.

[vinaydas]

6 in the city and max 10 on the highway if driven sensibly.else get ready for horrible figures..
2 late to edit

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by vinaydas

Hello One and All
I'm Writing this Report on Behalf of my Dad(well I'm the one who has done the majority of the driving on this Car 30k+ approx)
Toyota Has been coming in and out of our family almost since the last 15-20 years.. From the start with a Corolla In Dubai to a Land Cruiser LC200(prev gen not the current) to the recently acquired Lexus.
In India The Toyota Qualis and also the recently acquired Innova.
After owning all those Cars from the Toyota Stable He has practically fallen in love with the company.

The Camry has road presence! Fantastic. Just love this car. Always ogle at it when at the dealer for any work related to my TCA.

Rgds,

[akshay1234]

its a brilliant car. just 2 things, i dont think its 170bhp and i havent seen eps on the manual. maybe its only there on the auto.

[vinaydas]

its around 167-170
and ESP comes only on the A/T version.

[Dippy]

Great review Vinay. I think its the first report we have of the new gen Camry here on the forum. Your words surely speak for what an awesome brand image Toyota enjoy in India and the world over. Bullet proof reliability and peace of mind . Thats what all these Japanese sedans are all about. Nice colour too. Looks great in white.

Keep updating with your reports.

[loving_alaap]

Hi, its a fantastic review.

I agree that Camry is one of the best car Toyota has produced.

But in India I still think because of it is available as CBU, its not that VFM. Instead accord would be a better VFM. or by adding "few" more bucks, one can get C /3 easily!

[Dippy]

Originally Posted by loving_alaap

Hi, its a fantastic review.

I agree that Camry is one of the best car Toyota has produced.

But in India I still think because of it is available as CBU, its not that VFM. Instead accord would be a better VFM. or by adding "few" more bucks, one can get C /3 easily!

Accord is an option but not a C or a 3. They will never be as reliable as the Camry. After spending a few more bucks on buying the German car, you will spend even more bucks to keep it in drivable condition

[vinaydas]

Yea the on road price in Bangalore at the time almost came up to 27..a little more a guess we could have got a C but i was going through GTO's thread about his 220 i was shocked at what mercedes was charging its customers for A-S-S 30k-40k on an average.
and about the accord it agree it is more VFM than the camry but when we bought this the old gen accord was running and it was kinda boring so we went for it.
now the Q arises would we have bought the honda after the latest gen of accord?Maybe but surely dad would have sticked to toyota more.
Camry Has a service interval of 10,000kms unlike 5k for the innova and corolla(i think) and at the max i have been charged 12000 not more.10k for service a year for a 27 lac car is acceptable IMO.
Another thing help me out here people.
i was going through the threads on the 3m paint care services i read they do claying and stuff..
is this really worth it? will it remove the tar spots and a little cement stain(due to dripping water during construction)

[muneemmk]

Many people don't change the micro pollen filter in the A/C of the Camry to keep the costs down(3.5K) ,they change it only during 20K intervals and that is the only costly part during a normal service for this car,but the platinum plugs are also expensive but doesn't have to be changed till 80K. No need to go for expensive 3M jobs , usually a normal polish job from the A S S will remove all the Tar stains on the car. How about installing a replacement K & N filter and see the results in FE improvements ?

The Corolla,Camry and the LC Prado have service intervals only between 10K,the Innova has 5K service period but oil change only during 10K period.

[vinaydas]

yea only during the second service they changed some plasma cluster filter or something.
and are you sure about the air filter? i have had a K&N filter fitted in my palio before but then mileage kinda dropped maybe because i tend to rev the engine to listen to the sound. But i removed that filter and switched to OE filter,Can i use the same filter for this car? I payed around 6k for the conical filter or should i buy a new one (maybe).

[muneemmk]

I was talking about the stock replacement filter,with the conical filters usually FE drops due to our usual excessive throttling and I don't think a conical filter which was used for a 100bhp 1.6 engine can be used in a 2.4L 168bhp engine, which model was this filter ? I know a Camry running around with a stock replacement Filter and the owner said that after the filter replacement he saw difference up to 1.5kmpl. Also There is still a company called TRD

Check this out

[groovyanubhav]

Amazing review and gr8 car !
long time back in june 2008 , i thought of purchasing a used one , then my budget dint allowed me to do so , there was a wooping difference of around 5 lakhs .
i was getting a 2006 M/T for around 16lacs , and my budget was max. 11-12 lacs .

Still , happy for your purchase !