[Enigmatic]

Many congratulations on the camry, Navin.

Well if comfort was all you wanted and if that is what it gives in abundance then all the other small things which it doesn't offer can be ignored. And well reliability and Toyota are synonymous so peace of mind is guaranteed as well .

Drive Safe .

[deetjohn]

The thing with a boring Toyota is that one'll take time to appreciate its virtues. Initially, there will some doubts and questioning of decisions. But the humdrum car stands the test of time and shines through in the long term.

navin, wish you all the comfort and happiness with the car and hope Toyota is able keep up the promise of bullet proof reliability and a hassle free ownership.

Also, let us know what is happening on the ICE front.

[rxpaul]

A big congrats Navin for your fat cat and this, from an Octavia petrol owner enjoying and loving his car, but sometimes (while in dense traffic) longing for an autobox.

I don't (generally) like Jap cars and generally skip reading their reviews, but honestly this was/is one good review and i would like to rate it a FIVE. I don't understand audio setups and 3 channel and mid-bass and all is just 'bouncer' for me, but could i PM you for a good audio setup for my good old Octavia ? Team-bhp audio threads are too confusing for a audio zerophile like me.

[navin]

Originally Posted by rxpaul

I don't (generally) like Jap cars and generally skip reading their reviews, but honestly this was/is one good review and i would like to rate it a FIVE....could i PM you for a good audio setup for my good old Octavia ? Team-bhp audio threads are too confusing for a audio zerophile like me.

Firstly thank you for your rating on my ownership thread. I am glad you enjoyed it.

Yes feel free to PM me if you need any help with your Octavia. I owned one not so long ago so am aware of the "ICEability" of the Octy. You could read the threads below jus to see what others have done.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/sound-...tall-pics.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ask-gu...tly-stock.html

[navin]

I have now owned the car for a little more than 2 years. My first service of the Camry was uneventful, exactly as I like it. An event, for me, is something that involves me taking time to resolve it. I don't like that. This car is a Toyota, it is not supposed to be an involving car to drive (though I must say that there is enough pep that I don't miss the excitement of the vRS) but it supposed to be reliable and hassle free.

This following is "an event" that happened during my 2nd service (what Toyota calls the 20,000km service).

First things first. I am chauffeured. I drive only if traffic conditions permit stress free driving such as my 6:30am drive to drop my son for football.

So one day I the thought struck me, hey I have not serviced my car in a while. Not wanting to get caught on the wrong foot (the first time I serviced my car was around 18 months after getting it) I asked my driver to call Shinrai and book an appointment.

Sadly the evening before the day of the appointment, my driver's mom got sick and ended up in hospital. I tried called Shinrai to postpone the appointment but they could not do that. Instead they offered to pick it up and return it from my office. That seemed reasonable enough.

On 8th Jan 2015, Shinrai picked up my vehicle around 11am and their driver left the vehicle he came in behind in my garage. Great, I figured, if I needed to go somewhere in an emergency at least I had something.

Around 5pm the Shinrai driver came to drop of my vehicle and pick up his vehicle. I took a ride home in an Etios as I was considering getting one for my mom. My wife's driver who was free by this time, drove my vehicle home, parked it and left.

Bill for service was Rs. 5014 incl tax. See attached Invoice image. Reasonable, one would think, for 20K service (the car however has only been driven 12K).

On 9th Jan (the next morning), my wife's driver, went to start the Camry and it would not start. The battery looked good as all electrical functions worked - stereo, window winders, lights, wipers etc. all worked. I did not try the air con.

I tried to start it again and to no avail. Weirdly if I tried to stop the car (switch it off) the lights and other electricals would not go off. I disconnected the battery for 180 secs hoping that would reset everything and the symptoms did not change. The electricals would come on but NOT go off. If I tried to crank the engine, I got a tik-tik-tik noise which I assumed was the started motor but the engine would not turn.

I checked everything. Moved the gear from Park to Drive and back. Pressed the brake, released it, engaged and released the hand brake (in the Camry it is a foot brake) but the car would neither crank the engine nor would the electricals go off.

I decided to remove the battery connections (to conserve the battery) and call for help.

I called the service advisor, Yogesh, who had co-ordinated with me the day before. He said not to worry we would send someone but it would take an hour. A few minutes later someone from Shinrai called me and said he would come only if I committed to paying Rs. 750 for the service. I let him have a piece of my mind. Then I called Yogesh and told him that their service guy was demanding Rs. 750, Yogesh clarified that I need pay nothing and that once the car starts we should send it to the service center for a full check up.

I left the car with my wife's driver and took a cab to the office. I told the driver to get the exact address of the service center from the service guy who shows and take the car there once it starts.

Around 12 noon, I get a call from my driver who is lost on the way to the service center. I called Yogesh who did not pick up, I called the service center but everyone there knew either Hindi or Marathi and there was no one who could communicate in English. I then tried calling the girl who had made my appointment and finally got through to her. It was now 12:40pm.

She took the mobile number of my driver and guided him to the service center. About an hour later I get a call from Shantaram Rane of Shinrai. He claims that one cell of my battery is dead and I would have to buy a new battery and quotes me Rs. 9500 for a new battery. It is very surprising to me to see a car battery die in little over 2 years and with no warnings. Mr. Rane insisted that the battery is an "electronic part" and can fail at any time. It also carries no warranty except that supplied from the manufacturer.

He was unable to explain why a battery in a car that is driven 6 days a week if not 7 (12K km over 27 months) should fail in such a short time. I told him I suspect that his service people may have kept electrical parts like my stereo running while servicing the car. He denied this, saying this would not kill a battery but acknowledged that he was not around during the time my car was being serviced.

The price quoted for a new battery also seemed a triffle high so I checked with fellow moderators and the internet and the MRP quoted was Rs. 8191 for an Exide FMT0-MT75D23L.
http://www.batterybhai.com/car-batte...3L/80/1/1/68/6

So I called Mr. Rane and told him that the price is way too high and I will get the battery done from outside. At this time he told me the price is not 9500 but Rs. 8500. By now he had lost my trust. I told him I can get the battery for less than Rs. 8000 with another Rs. 1000 off for my old battery. It was now 3pm.

I checked with Batterywale and found a Amaron AAM-PR-00090D23R battery
for Rs. 6452 (with deductions for the old battery). See attached screen capture.

Unfortunately their delivery required 3 hours. It was time I did not have so I decide to get an Exide battery from my neighbourhood for Rs. 7000 (with deductions for the old battery).

Toyota's service has so far been impeccable. This incident however has left a bad taste in my mouth. Everyone I talk to from my battery guy to fellow moderators suspect that during service they may have played with my stereo and drained the battery. Then again a drained battery should at best require a re-charge. Not being able to prove anything definite, I did not pursue the matter any further. I suspect (and I may be totally wrong in this) that the somewhere during service someone might have played with the upgraded stereo system and unwittingly drained the battery.

In my experience, it is highly unusual for a battery to fail just the morning after the car was at a service centre where they should have or world have checked all the vitals. Could a drained battery if stressed by multiple restarts blow a cell? At the service centre itself they would have had to restart the car multiple times as it moved from station to station and finally for the pressure wash. Could this have killed the battery especially if it had been drained before the wash? Your guess is as good as mine. Without adequate evidence I don't want to cast aspersions on the service centre.

Just a warning to fellow BHPians. Be very careful dealing with ANY service centre however great it's reputation might be. Talk to the service advisor and explain in detail what you expect. If your car is being picked up, talk to the driver of the service centre and explain that he is not expected to use the stereo in transit and request him to get the service manager to talk to you once the car has reached the service centre.

Take nothing at face value. The Rs. 750 for the service call and the initial price of Rs. 9500 quoted to me for the battery leads me to believe that service centres are looking to make a fast buck wherever they can. This is what I did NOT expect from Toyota or Shinrai.

Basically do your groundwork. It cant save you a lot of headache and a partially lost workday.

[manij]

Unfortunate that you had to go through that trauma...but I guess you may dismiss it as bad luck over the next few months if it does not give any more problems, and hopefully it doesnt. Disappointed that Toyota did not support more on this issue and they may internally attribute the issue to a human error.

Happy to see that the car has been running well over the last couple of years without any issues.

I am still thinking of when to let go of my self-driven 2006 Camry W1, though I drive it only when I travel long distance or when I know I will not go (or park) on very crowded roads. Though it has quite a few of the niceties including 6 air bags and quite literally no issues, am feeling increasing detached from it.

[embee]

Hello Navin Ji,

Congrats on your new Toyota Camry.

Thanks for the detailed and wonderful insights that you have given us.

In my opinion, as per your price bracket (luxury), it's really tough and confusing to come to a decision to buy a car considering Preowned cars are also available from reputed car manufacturers especially German the ones.
Happy motoring.

Cheers,
Embee

[joshiviv]

I had a similar issue when I got my Civic serviced at Pearl Honda in Gurgaon recently. They wanted me to replace my battery (about 8k). Since in that service they had already replaced 2 mounts in the car + ignition coil (30k approx), I didn't want to spend any more money right then especially since my car was running fine. More of a wait and watch approach.

So I go to start the car next morning and of course it wouldn't turn over. Got it jump started, so battery was the culprit. Looked at Batterywale and ordered a battery since I had to go to Chandigarh the following day and didn't want to risk a break down. Now, next day the Batterywale guy is late for the scheduled time by 3 hours so I cancel my order and depart for Chandigarh since it was getting late. BTW the car started fine the next day. It's been more than 3 months now and the old battery has been fine.

So kind of a freak coincidence that the dealer asks me to replace the battery and the battery dies just the next day after delivery from them and the battery has been fine since. Kind of makes me question that 30k repair they did for the mounts. An expensive lesson learnt.

Originally Posted by navin

I have now owned the car for a little more than 2 years. My first service of the Camry was uneventful, exactly as I like it. An event, for me, is something that involves me taking time to resolve it. I don't like that. This car is a Toyota, it is not supposed to be an involving car to drive (though I must say that there is enough pep that I don't miss the excitement of the vRS) but it supposed to be reliable and hassle free.

[navin]

Originally Posted by joshiviv

I cancel my order and depart for Chandigarh since it was getting late. BTW the car started fine the next day. It's been more than 3 months now and the old battery has been fine.

So kind of a freak coincidence that the dealer asks me to replace the battery and the battery dies just the next day after delivery from them and the battery has been fine since. Kind of makes me question that 30k repair they did for the mounts. An expensive lesson learnt.

Do you have stock ICE? I suspect sometimes the service centre plays with the ICE in the cars. A few amps and your battery can drain pretty fast if the engine is not charging it.

[Merc_lover666]

Congrats Mr. Navin you have got yourself a superb ride. I was looking to book a Camry for my self but the car that came to me for a test drive was showing an FE of 2.80 in traffic from Tardeo A/C Market to Haji Ali and this is when Petrol was quoting close to 80 levels...So I just ended the test drive there and then. I asked the sales representative from Shinrai who had come with the vehicle as to what FE to expect and he told me 5-6 in the city and max 8 on the highway.

So I lost confidence and did not book...still regret my decision. I have owned multiple Innova's and still own a 2012 model Innova and a 2013 model Fortuner Automatic. The Toyota reliability and service experience is unbeatable and once you have used a Toyota. I am sure you will never have the same ownership experience with any car. I had owned a C class for a little over a year in 2010 but still I feel nothing beats a Toyota if its peace of mind you are looking for.

[parthkhatau]

My cousin owns a Camry 2004 model and wants to know whether there are spares available to lift the suspension of the car. It is too low and often ends up hitting a lot of bumps and speedbrakers.

[navin]

Originally Posted by Merc_lover666

I was looking to book a Camry for my self but the car that came to me for a test drive was showing an FE of 2.80 in traffic from Tardeo A/C Market to Haji Ali

That is one of the most heavily trafficked areas in Mumbai. I am not surprised at the FE number. When go to work (Breach Candy to Prabhadevi) around 9am my car averages an FE closer to 10 kmpl.

Originally Posted by parthkhatau

My cousin owns a Camry 2004 model and wants to know whether there are spares available to lift the suspension of the car. It is too low and often ends up hitting a lot of bumps and speedbrakers.

I have seen a few 2004-2008 era Camrys still on the road so spares might be available at the local parts dealers even if they are not officially available.

[viXit]

Originally Posted by navin

Akshay,
P.S. I am not going to talk about Camry's ICE as the story is till unfolding..

Navin ji,
Is the story still unfolding?
Or do we ice fanatics have something to WOW at?

Eagerly waiting on some details!
I’ve only stumbled across this thread now but wondering why there haven’t been updates since two years.

Mod Note : Post Edited. Smiley usage is restricted to two per post on Team-BHP. Please do NOT use more than 2 smileys in a post.

We advise you to read the Forum Rules before proceeding any further.

[navin]

Originally Posted by viXit

Navin ji,
Is the story still unfolding?
Or do we ice fanatics have something to WOW at?

Firstly, I am a big fan of a stealth install and try to keep a tight leash on any wow factor.

I don't go out much now because of the pandemic but this is what we eventually did with the car. See Post #6 for pictures of the trunk.

The signal from OEM HU was sent to an Audison Bit 1. The Audison Bit 1 was chosen as it does not lose it's memory when the battery is disconnected and can give me 8 channels out so I can be active in the front and use stereo subs.

The Audison Bit 1 hence feeds 3 stereo amplifiers. 2 Stegs and an Alpine.

1 K4.01 Steg delivers power to the front, a second K4.01 is bridged to 2 channels delivers power to 2 Morel Ultimo 12" subwoofers, and an Alpine MRV-F450 4 channel amp is bridged to 2 channels and feeds a pair of Ground Zero 6x9s for rear sound.

The Front speakers consist of a pair of 6" Audison Voce woofers and a pair of 93mm HAT (Hybrid Audio) Legatia full ranges. The HAT handle everything above 200Hz.

The Rear Speakers are a pair of Ground Zero coax 6x9s.

If you are sitting the car the car looks stock. The source is an iPod Classic 160GB with ALAC (Apple Lossless) hidden in the armrest.

I hope this covers everything.

[viXit]

Originally Posted by navin

Firstly, I am a big fan of a stealth install and try to keep a tight leash on any wow factor.

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.
For me an OEM look but audiophile quality is what WOW meant.
Nothing as sweet as a cabin that looks stock with Everything sitting snugly as it came from the factory.

The signal from OEM HU was sent to an Audison Bit 1. The Audison Bit 1 was chosen as it does not lose it's memory when the battery is disconnected and can give me 8 channels out so I can be active in the front and use stereo subs.

Because low frequency sound from subwoofers is the least directional, is it not almost the same with a single subwoofer?
Unlike vocals or other instrument which we can tell left or right, isn’t it correct that we can’t really feel the low frequencies‘ direction like that?
So what motivated you to put a second subwoofer?
Is it not too much of a sacrifice on boot space or was that never a factor.hehe.

I’m mainly asking to know what the advantages of using stereo subs are.

Do you use the stereo 12”s to their potential?

With respect sir but do people your age listen to music with all that much bass?
I’m sorry I don’t mean to call you old , I’m just curious about the use for those subwoofers.

1 K4.01 Steg delivers power to the front, a second K4.01 is bridged to 2 channels delivers power to 2 Morel Ultimo 12" subwoofers, and an Alpine MRV-F450 4 channel amp is bridged to 2 channels and feeds a pair of 6x9s for rear sound.

Forgive me for the plethora of questions I’m asking ,
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
But I have learned that bridging helps deliver more power(two channels power going to one speaker)
And that it’s commonplace to do it for subwoofers owing to their power hungry nature,
but what drove the decision to bridge the rear 6x9es too?

Does the Camry not have tweeter mounts for the rear?
Or are the coaxials so good that components wouldn’t have made much difference?

The Front speakers consist of a pair of 6" Morel Integra woofers and a pair of 93mm HAT (Hybrid Audio) Legatia full ranges. The HAT handle everything above 200Hz.

Is 200hz the least frequency that the HAT full ranges can handle or are you saying that you have set your HPF at 200hz?

If you are sitting the car the car looks stock.

The best thing ever.

The source is an iPod Classic 160GB with ALAC (Apple Lossless) hidden in the armrest.

You mentioned earlier on that you’re mostly chauffeured around and you’re in the back seat mainly, how do you control the music? Is there a remote or buttons in the rear armrest like the Elantra?

All that said .
It sounds like one hell of a clean sounding setup.