Last week I told about my trip out West, from Toronto to Seattle in my 1973 Dodge Dart. It was a grand trip, too; we stayed there for a few months, tended and improved the house and garden, ate in, ate out, went round with friends, and all of that.
By and by, though, it came time to go home to Toronto. I parked the Dart in the garage and disconnected the battery, we packed up our stuff, called a cab, spent all day flying, hailed another cab, and finally arrived: tired, cranky, in wretched withdrawal from house and garden and friends—we were both tired of Toronto—and carless. Oops, yeah, I guess I was so eager to get out west that I kinda drove away without thinking that afterpart through.
It is certainly possible to get around Toronto without a car. Many people do it every day. There’s an extensive public transit system of generally reliable, reasonably affordable and safe buses, streetcars, and subways: the TTC, which at that time was doing a heroic job keeping ancient rolling stock—New-Look buses and suchlike—in daily service and good condition because they were chronically underfunded and couldn’t afford to replace them.
Here’s the thing, though: I grew up in the suburbs of Denver, where public transit wasn’t much of a thing, and I was kind of afraid of it. Not that I feared mugging or assault or scary people, or thought the bus would break down or the subway would stop and I’d miss whatever I’d headed for; it was nothing so rational as any of that. Rather, it was this very uncomfortable nagging fear that I’d somehow (wrong bus/train/streetcar/whatever; wrong stop…) wind up far away from where I was supposed to be, unable to figure out how to get unlost. I’ve got better about this over the years (and now there’s that smarmy git who lives in my phone and gives mispronounced but generally accurate turn-by-turns), though now with the pandemic on, there are other things to worry about in using public transit. But at that time, transit was this opaque black box to me: a freakin’ miracle if I exited the system and found myself about where and when I intended.
Plus, I had no skill, strategy, or experience for managing daily life by transit. Sure, okeh, if I needed to get from A to B and had planned enough ahead to have time, that was probably manageable, but how was I supposed to go get a week’s worth of groceries at the supermarket? Or a few things at whatever store on short notice? In fact, there were numerous smaller stores within walk distance, and one shops more often for less, but I was a suburban boy accustomed to thinking and living on suburban terms.
I was really in a bad way, feeling depressed and sad and stranded and interrupted. I would have to buy a car quickly. And that, I reckoned, meant buying something I knew well enough to evaluate. Problem was, the AA-body Mopars and other oldies I was familiar with had all been used up and dissolved; Toronto is Salt Country as a matter of deeply-held, vigourously-celebrated religious belief.
Plan “B”, then: buy a reputably dependable car. You can’t go wrong with a Camry, right? Everyone knows that, right? My aunt and uncle, for example—they’d had terrific, reliable service out of their ’92 Camry sedan. I quickly found an ad for a ’96 V6 Camry wagon advertised for $3,000. It had 240,000-some-odd kilometres on it (about 150,000 miles), but the ad said it had a new genuine Toyota timing belt and other nice things.
Over a lot more time than I was accustomed to crosstown trips taking, I made my way to what turned out to be sort of a cross between a used-car lot and an auto repair shop, without signage. This was not encouraging, but there I was (at long last, and with no immediate way home), so I might as well take a look at the car.
It was quite intact, with some wear around the edges. All the equipment seemed to work, including those squackadelic dual backglass wipers. No funny noises or behaviours from the engine, transmission, or brakes. No obvious rust. And I saw Toyota labelling on a fair number of parts under the hood: alternator, serpentine belt, battery, etc. The option (wait 45 minutes for another bus and spend another hour and a half getting back to the station and then walk home from there) surely made Objects Including the Mirror Appear Nicer Than They Were, and I went ahead and bought it. As-is and where-is, of course!
I did not love driving the Camry. Didn’t hate it, either. Some of the features, like the power seat, were kind of nifty. Whatever. Mobility. I rummaged in factory parts cattledogs to see what headlamp upgrades might be possible. It seemed fine.
It wasn’t fine. I took it in for its emissions test, which it flunked. The seller had shushed the Check Engine light just long enough to sell the car, which had EGR faults. It needed a new EGR valve—It was a couple of hundred dollars and didn’t stop the fault code. Seems the EGR pipes were clogged, too, and fixing that would require significant disassembly, and the expensive pipes themselves might well need replacing.
But wait! There’s more! Not much of any body rust on the car, but the fuel lines were leaking near the rear of the car. Not a big leak (yet), but enough to flunk inspection. My mechanic explained the difficulty and steep expense involved in this common-on-these-vehicles repair. He suggested I sell the car to someone outside the emission-test region. I decided he was right. H’m. Maybe that cars-cost-three-thousand-dollars thing in my head isn’t helping.
I drove to a nearby mall (yes, of course it was called the Galleria; it’s condos now) and Bill took the photos you see here today; I put an ad with full disclosure in the Auto Trader, and sold it to the first looker for $3,000. I owned it for I think about 19 days, and if I divide up what I bought and sold it for plus what I spent on it, that works out to about $19 a day. Not a bad rentcar rate, is how I chose to think about it.
It’s only just while writing this account that it dawned on me: I picked and bought this Camry not too differently badly than my father picked and bought the Stinkoln Clown Car. Each of us just blindly went “I guess one o’ those…okeh, there’s one” despite what should have been glaringly obvious red flags all over the place. His was a 7-year-old Lincoln with something like 50,000 miles, faulty by dint of bad engineering and design and shoddy build; mine was a 14-year-old Toyota. Double the years and triple the miles in a much harder climate, faulty because of long use. Interesting.
Like father-like son, I guess. I also guess I learned, even if not the whole lesson, something important from him: cut and run –sooner– now.
That was my shortest ownership of any car. It was a quick and graphic look through the bent-back tulips to see how the other half live: a beige Camry is going to sell immediately, or at least a whole hell of a lot quicker and easier than any of the unusual cars I was really into; for those you have to wait around and wait around and wait around until the right buyer comes along.
Next week I’ll tell about being the right buyer for an unusual car I was really into.
Doesn’t look like it was a bad car from the outside. Newer cars than the Dart and Valiant have so much “stuff” crammed into tighter spaces especially with front wheel drive. The newer cars also designed it seems without the engineers talking to the mechanics that need to fix them. That makes them difficult and expensive to fix when you need to take half the car apart to get to a part. What were the estimates to replace the EGR and the gas line? The older Chrysler cars with a slant six or the 2.2 liter 4 were designed for easy service and repair. Wish the newer cars were designed that way. Upon entering driving age in the early 1980s, I still remember when $500 would by you a decent used car. You mentioned $3000 the figure you had in your head. Now in the US, it is probably more like $5,000 to $10,000 depending on where you are in the country. Prices are higher here in the “rust belt” in the US and especially here in Maine. Also the price of used cars is currently “inflated” with the shortage of new ones. A crazy time to by a car! Looking forward to next week’s CC.
Fake news. Toyotas don’t break or rust, especially ones with only 150k miles on it. Only GM does that.
This thing moved only 6250 miles per year. That’s a low mileage car, right? That gave the salt some time to do it’s job and the short distance driving helped the egr clogging itself up. It looked good enough and drove fine! And that is all it takes to make for an interesting COAL.
A smart guy learns from his mistakes, a genius learns from someone else’s mistakes. You could have been a genius, Daniel. But then we wouldn’t have a good story today!
Short ownership, but I had a shorter one, I sold a car to some people who didnt quite have enough coin so I took their car as part payment it went ok for what is was the main problem was I already had bought a panelvan the same day oh a
nd the battery was flat it was a push start car a mate of mine had a Holden Premier that used more oil than gas but had a good battery so I gave it to him telling him it was for sale, just swap in your battery and youre mobile again, he came around with the price I wanted a couple of days later and the pink and grey Holden was his permanently, it owed me $150.00 he gave me that so I lost nothing on the deal.
I had one of these, a 95 V6 LE in the same color with the optional third row seat and every option except the moonroof and alloy wheels. Wonderfully capable and spacious vehicle, I got mine for $750 with 150,000 miles.
Two things; the seats on yours look far too dirty for the supposed mileage; even examples nearing 300,000 miles usually don’t look that worn or maybe those mechanics shared it? And also from the pictures I can tell off the bat it received a partial respray around the entire driver and half the passenger side; not sure what that was possibly might have been covering up.
I understand rusted fuel and brake lines when the body isn’t. My departed 2007 Lucerne had both. A rusted out fuel line against the firewall right under the master cylinder. The plastic quick disconnect near the fuel tank broke apart when I tried to remove it. Then, while I had the car in the air to replace the fuel line, noticed the crossover brake line leaking over the exhausts. A quick check of junk yard resident revealed that ALL Lucerne brake lines rusted out in the same place. GM had plastic coated the first 6 inches of the line from the caliper on out, but not anywhere else. The replacement line I installed was 100% coated.
When I went to sell the car shortly thereafter, the first potential buyer noticed rust on the ABS brake line under the hood, said no thanks, and left. The next buyer didn’t notice and bought the car.
A great, if short story! I don’t really have any personal experiences that can directly compare, since I managed to keep every car I owned longer than 19 days. But there were a few “almost happened” moments, like the time I almost bit on a sixteen-year-old Mercury Tracer for $500 (with unknown rust, no air bags, and mouse belts that had a 50:50 chance of failing) because “it’s probably a good car.”
I’ve often wondered why the 92-96 Camry wagon was endowed with such odd and dowdy rear styling, considering that the sedans looked fine and the contemporary Corolla wagon (93-97) was (IMO) one of the best-looking wagons ever. The worst part of the design are the horizontally-oriented taillights: They don’t match the form of the rear, and look as if they were grafted on from a sedan (even though the actual Camry sedan had different taillights).
I have done the 3 weeks of ownership thing, but the circumstances involved people and not so much the car itself.
It is one thing to settle for a boring beige transportation pod, but quite another to settle for one without the sole reason to do so – that it is totally and boringly serviceable and reliable. Good job for cutting your losses quickly and not succumbing to the “oh, if I fix this one thing I will have a great car” disease.
The window sticker in the back, for the radio station, CJRT-FM, was, and is, a Jazz station, one which you would possibly find some music that you would like. I have it on my radio buttons in my car, and stop there now and then.
However, that sticker may have been there already when Daniel purchased, and sold, this Toyota.
I don’t go in for bumper (or window) stickers; that was there when I bought and sold the car.
There’s still a number of these running around Denver. Back when new they were popular with skiers, as the only real Toyota alternative was the spacy Previa. Inexplicably, in the US wagons could only be had with an auto trans.
You could get a 1992-96 Camry wagon with a manual transmission if ordered with a 4 cylinder engine, I remember seeing one or two of these with a manual.
I didn’t think so. The original dealer brochure I got with my ’94 XLE shows only two wagons available, the four cylinder-only DX and the LE available with either the four or six. All three models are marked N/A in the 5-speed manual overdrive transmission row and in the EPA Mileage Estimates row. Looking at all the models, the brochure indicates that the five speed was only available in the lowest DX trim, either two- or four-door sedan. I guess that could have changed in ’95 and/or ’96, but I was looking for a that gen Camry wagon back ten years and never ran across one with a manual trans on nationawide CraigsList/SearchTempest searches.
There are a few manual swap threads on the Camry forums. Or maybe Canada?
I’m not seeing any manual ’92-’96 Camry wagons on FuelEconomy.gov. The Transport Canada fuel economy guide only goes back to ’95 online, and doesn’t break out the listings by body style.
We shopped for a car near the end of model year 1993, with some ‘94’s already for sale. Definitely no manual trans Camry wagon anywhere in the US, nor manual Accord wagon, in California. We would have bought one if possible; got a Corolla wagon instead. Escort, Subaru, Saturn, and Colt were the only other four cylinder manual trans wagons sold here then, plus maybe some GM J car which didn’t get anywhere close to making our list.
It only moved an AVERAGE of 6250 miles a year. If that had been spread out, being driven only every several days (perhaps sharing duties with other, less boring vehicles) but enough to get its juices flowing and warmed up, things might have been different. I suspect this one was driven, never really getting any exercise, deteriorating until things started to go wrong, and then was put away dirty, perhaps after collision damage that required work and the visible partial respray to make it sellable. Somebody figured that they’d better get $3000 for it, now rather than later. Sitting around inactive but out of the rain and away from road salt would also explain the absence of ugly brown flakes, which also made it show better than if it were an $800 beater with holes in it. As it was, this Toyota was a $3000 beater. As the Toyota USA jingle went, “Oh, what a feeling to own a Toyota!”
The Tercel I owned had a similar issue. Smoked like a bugger. Common problem with the EGR being clogged. The new EGR part was something $500. But I took it apart as well as the pipes. The pipe passages were tiny which likely contributed to the issue. I cleaned them all out and the smoke was gone.
Great writing as always, and the part about needing a car made me realize something- I have the same anxieties re: transit, but in the opposite direction. “What if I can’t find parking? Oh, I think there’s a street fest over there this weekend. What if someone hits the car when it’s parked? Screw this, I’m just gonna take the bus.” And that’s one reason the car gets about 2500 miles a year on it.
I was kind of that way too, before the COVID concerns started here in Mar 2020, I would use the bus even though it often took longer to make a trip, but I had plenty of time (plus I could listen or read a book on board, making use of the time). So I didn’t put many miles on my car even before COVID.
It wasn’t always like this for me; I’m retired now, though I still live in the same city when I was working, of course the time issues are different. The biggest problem for me is that I live in the sunbelt, and sometimes I arrive pretty disheveled and sweaty…which is a problem when looking for a restroom to clean up a bit when a lot of them were closed during the COVID concerns.
The big change for me is the traffic, the city I live in has about 10x the population it did when I moved here, didn’t used to give traffic much of a thought and now it is a really big deal. Some trips I will only make by bus, such as jury duty as our courthouse is downtown but they don’t have any parking for jurors; for some reason I got in the habit of taking the bus to go to my dentist, though the trip isn’t particularly straightforward from my home there. I’m very resistant to using a park and ride, which is similar to my thinking when I used to ride my bicycle (when the city was much smaller)…I had a big bias toward trips using one mode (or two if you include walking as a mode) to get from my home to my destination; if I use my car I have to use it all the way to my destination instead of leaving it at a park and ride (or carrying my bike on the car and taking it off at some location where I ride the bike then return to the car.
The big questions is : did you / will you learn ? .
I have not as of yet, to prevent wallet imploding idiocy I stopped buying used cars .
Here in the Los Angeles basin there are metric crap loads of $500 ~ $1,000 klunkers for sale, a guy down the block almost always has four or five, I think they’re impounds he beats the junkyards out of .
As far as public transport, if you can spare the time it’s interesting to say the least .
-Nate
RE: clogged up E.G.R. systems ~ I have had great luck in cleaning the clogged up pipes using coat hangers or mechanic’s wire .
The valve , as long as it holds vacuum, is normally easily if filthily cleaned .
-Nate
My memory is not sharp on this, but I think either the valve was actually broken, or (along with the pipes) it was completely clogged with rock-hard carbon.
Dig it ~ sort of like the 1970’s MoPar V8’s with the intake manifold exhaust crossover passage, it would get coked up after a while and cause failures to pass emissions testing, I’ve had to dig those clean too, why I mentioned coat hanger wire ~ long ago coat hangers were very stiff indeed, chipping all that crud out was tiresome and _filthy_ work .
For whatever reason the Japanese cars of the same period clogged up with semi – solid carbon sludge ~ easier to remove but still a nasty and filthy job no one ever wanted to do .
-Nate
I bought a 2010 Cadillac STS V6 in 2013 450 miles from home, and almost immediately regretted it. It turned out it had the stiffer springs from the STS-V, which made it uncomfortable, particularly as my allergies were acting up. Plus it would upshift if you took your foot off the gas, and the engine would then lug at 1200 rpm until it downshifted. A month later, I traded it to CarMax for a 08 DTS Platinum and a $3k bath.
Thinking out loud: how many among the masses, faced with a choice between this Toyota and its contemporary GM car we saw a few days ago on CC at:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-cohort/cohort-pick-of-the-day-the-nicest-1995-or-so-buick-regal-left/
…would go see the Camry (“Toyotas are so wonderful”) and never give the Buick a thought? Would they pay $3000 for a mere GM car?
I would totally check out the Buick. I try to keep an open mind even though I am a Toyota advocate.
My 2000 Concorde with the 2.7L has been a wonderful car for me, as was the 2003 Avalon before it.
Nameplate does mean something, but its definitely not all or nothing.
Once cars become a couple decades old, it’s much more important to examine each potential purchase on its own merits, certainly including how well it has been cared for, not just the reputation of the brand.
As we all know from CC, “Every car has a story.”
Exactly right. It reminds me of a perpetual question on the Slant-6 boards, whether the Carter BBS or the Holley 1920 carburetor is preferable. If we have the luxury of picking between a new one of either, we can talk about relative merits and drawbacks of design and engineering, but at this late date, mostly we don’t have that luxury. Then the answer becomes “whichever one can be had in better condition when one is needed”.
If a Bonneville or Park Avenue or something along those lines with the 3.8 V6 had come along, I’d’ve given it a serious look. A 4-cylinder GM car, or one of the extra-ugly ones, or one with a 3.1 or 3.4 V6, etc, I wouldn’t have.
There were some 60 degree V6’s that easily rivaled the 3.8 for durability. It was one of those cases where GM got the kinks worked out and made decent power and economy (Generation II), then sorta lost the trail (Generation III). The early multi-port 2.8 and 3.1 have served myself, family, and friends extremely well over the years… I have a 1991 Lumina that I’ve owned since 1997, that steadfastly refuses to die.
Hi Daniel.
I remember “Glass Onion” from the Beatles song (good rocker BTW) but just now looked it up for the meaning. I found many different definitions and descriptions both literal and slang, so if you don’t mind me asking…
What were you referring to when you used it?
Pretty much all my other cars were ones not a whole lot of people are interested in: 4-door 6-cylinder Darts and Valiants and that kind of thing. A beige Camry, on the other hand, couldn’t possibly be more mainstream. The glass onion reference is to the line in the song lookin’ through the bent-back tulips to see how the other half live, yeah!
Okay now I get it. Great use of the phrase!
I probably over-thought it. Lennon even said he wrote it to have fun with the people always over-thinking his song lyrics’ meanings. Seems the Beatles invented high-profile trolling.
Good writing is the gift that keeps on giving. That’s why you and your work is so valued on this site. I appreciate that you always take the time to give genuine, thoughtful responses to everyone’s questions and comments.
Id rather hear you talk about a brief ownership of a beige Camry than hear most people discuss a classic Ferrari.
»bows, doffs cap« Uhhhthenkya. Thenkyavurramuch.
There is much to be said about buying a new car, because it means you won’t have to wrench on it for a while. In my experience, it’s about five years.
My rule is this: if you are spending more than $2000 a year wrenching on your beater, you are throwing good money after bad. Toss in another $2000 and you’ll have a reliable car, a car that will always start up when you turn the key.
Vancouver has an excellent public transportation system. Should I need to go downtown (which is rare since much of it is an open sewer), the bus stop is 100m from my door. My children have no intention of driving.
Based on my more recent experience (since the mid-2000s), I think it’s possible to go longer.
On 3 successive Toyotas (I know, boring and all that, but don’t need the drama):
9 years, 73,000 miles
7 years, 63,000 miles (son now has this and it’s approaching 70K miles)
6 years, 65,000 miles (current ride)
All have gone the distance with no issues other than fluids, filters, wiper blades, and tires. I proactively replaced the battery in the first one (got a deal at work) and paid for a new one in the second.
We don’t get much snow here any longer, and the cars were garaged.
Then there’s my all-time champ, 1998 Nissan Frontier; minimal repairs in 23 years of ownership.
When I bought my Acura TL, it had 67,000 km on it. I drive it daily for four years and as a weekend car for another two. I sold it with 140,000 km on it.
I did ZERO work on it, not even the brakes. When I paid $9000 for an eleven year old car, I was widely ridiculed for it. After six years, I sold it for $3000. I expensed it all to my business. With the tax credit applied, it cost me $500 a year in depreciation. Alas, its fuel consumption and age made it economically more sensible to buy a new, fuel efficient car. With 0% financing over six years, I basically get a free car, because I can keep the purchase price generating investment income, as well as the business tax credit.
This is why I think beaters aren’t worth it.
My 2005 xB is now 17 years old, and has had exactly one “repair”: a leaking water pump after 16 years. Otherwise only minimal (easy/cheap) replacement of wear parts. I trust it totally, including taking it on the Nevada overland trip.
The xB is a Toyota of the old school. Simple and reliable as a rock.
Toyota old school, reliable and simple, with questionable water pump durability. We’ve only owned two 4 cylinder Toyota’s; both had water pump failures as their ONLY mechanical issue, one while still under warranty (40K?) and the other at about 120K.
Buy a used car (or marry) in haste, repent at leisure. Looks like you didn’t need much leisure time to fully repent.
It is fun seeing the TTC bus. I grew up in Toronto and my father worked at the TTC for his whole career. Up until the 70s it was an excellent system, but then the investment dried up and it did not keep up with the growth of the city. Even so, I would always take transit when I went downtown as it was quicker and cheaper. I no longer live in Toronto but when I visit I park near the end of the subway and take it downtown rather than driving. Traffic is now quite a bit worse, so the subway saves quite a bit of time.
The first subway opened in 1954 and because of my dad was involved in the design and building of it, I got to ride on the inaugural trip. It was my moment in the spotlight. I got to ride in the driver’s room and push the horn. Very exciting experience for a 4 year old.
As I understand it the Toyota was 14 years old when you bought it, not 24 ?
So average mileage was about 10700 not 6250 as mentioned above.
Uff, da…please pick one:
• Oops, typo.
• I went to school in America.
• The camera adds 10 years.
• We use metric years in Canada.
• Oh, base 10? Yeah, that’s 14. Sorry, I was using base 5.
Anyhow, I’ve fixed it.
Dan – I live in Denver’s south suburbs and maybe things have improved appreciably since your tenancy here. There’s RTD buses running east and west on Arapahoe Road every hour with connections to two (2) light rail lines. Grocery runs are a breeze – weather permitting – with a basket and backpack equipped bicycle run which beats the angst of low dollar beater ownership.
Light rail was still a pretty new train-to-more-or-less-nowhere when I left. And when we arrived, well…!
My mother bought the sedan version of this car in 1993. It was the same color, which Toyota called “champaign”. She paid extra money for the ridiculous “gold package,” which just meant that the logos and badging were in gold color rather than silver.
That Camry was a great car for her with zero mechanical faults. It was replaced by another gold Camry of the subsequent generation, which was replaced by an Avalon. All of those were great cars, too. I learned to drive on the Avalon, which was basically a Lexus in drag. Today, she drives one of the more angry and sporty looking Camry’s, but it has still been a solid car. I guess the secret is not keeping them for 20 years if you can afford to upgrade.
Great read Daniel. A friend of mine bought a similar Camry when it was about 13-14 year old for cheap too. He had fond memories of owning one previously. The body looked solid and mechanically was good, but the undercarriage rust made it not worth keeping. Basically the car had one foot in the grave. He also ended up flipping it shortly after buying.
” His was a 7-year-old Lincoln with something like 50,000 miles, faulty by dint of bad engineering and design and shoddy build; mine was a 24-year-old Toyota with something like triple that mileage in a much harder climate, faulty because of long use. Interesting.”
This is an interesting statement, in particular the comments about the harder climate. Those who don’t live in an area that has harsh winters don’t know how detrimental environmental damage is to older cars. It is far more damaging than mileage or just simply aging. The salt destroys so many parts that would normally be fine in a more inclement weather. You can’t compare long term vehicle durability without factoring in environmental damage.
The environmental damage can cause bearings to fail earlier, due to the sales failing, brakes to need more frequent replacement due to parts rusting out before they wear out, brake lines and fuel lines failing, suspension/steering components failing due to corrosion or seal failures. The list goes on and on. And modern cars aren’t immune either. In my area once cars get over a decade old, rust becomes a major issue that either causes component failures or makes a car no longer worth repairing. At the very least it makes repairs a whole harder due to rust, which is why all technicians are here are experts with a torch.
Sorry you got a dud that wasn’t maintained well…otherwise, this model is considered to be one of the best Camry generations…the XV10 – because subsequent generations were decontented in terms of materials used…
What’s going on with the paint in the rear-three-quarter view? It looks like the front half of the car is a darker colour than the rear half. Collision?
Donno, probly. Didn’t own it long.