Our 2011 Toyota Camry: Fifteen Years Later, Our Third Camry Is Still A Good Car

2011 Toyota Camry LE after ten years on the road.

We had bought our third Avalon in the summer of 2013, a good family hauler. Elsewhere in our fleet, miles were accruing, however. But being a Toyota family by then, why not a third Camry? We skipped the Fifth Generation (XV30) because we didn’t need a new car during that period, which coincided with peak expenses as our children grew into adulthood. (Toyota’s ad agency filmed an ad in Akron in 2001 on the Innerbelt –now closed– that was to be part of the kick-off for the new Fifth Generation. But after September 11, for some time, new 2002 car models weren’t on many people’s radar.)

The first car my wife bought back in 1977 was from the College Town Toyota dealer, so that was the first place we looked. Online sleuthing determined that all local Toyota dealers had plenty of Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) Toyotas in stock. And 1.9% APR wasn’t too bad either (thanks, Mr. Bernanke).

We briefly considered a RAV4, but my wife’s boss at the time had a RAV4, and it would have been “too cute” for both of them to have a RAV4. Plus used Camrys were, and are, less expensive. When we were negotiating, the dealership took $1000 off the price because I mentioned that other area Toyota dealers had more competitive prices. The dealer had this strange way of appraising your trade-in — we would give you $4000 for your trade, but… we have to take off $200 for reconditioning, $600 for tires, $200 for the broken seat belt harness, etc. So our 2001 Camry was only worth $1500 on trade because it was rusting around the windshield area, and was not a low-mileage car. 

Twin of our old Fourth Generation Camry on the left, our Sixth Generation Camry on the right.

We bought a Classic Silver Metallic 2011 Camry LE. They left the original window sticker in the glovebox, but cut off the selling dealer information.

A Car and Driver article goes through all the years of Camrys, about the sixth generation it says:

“By the end of the noughts, redesigns of the Camry had become a predictable affair. Each one was bigger, more powerful, and better equipped than before, and the sixth-generation car was no different. When the new Camry arrived in 2007, Toyota promptly sold more examples in the ’07 calendar year than any Camry before, sending 473,108 units to new homes. The base 158-hp 2.4-liter four-cylinder was mostly carryover, but the 3.3-liter V-6 was dropped in favor of an all-new 3.5-liter engine with a whopping 268 horsepower that endowed the Camry with serious speed. We pit one Camry so equipped against a turbocharged all-wheel-drive Subaru WRX in our “Surprise Speed” tournament, and the unassuming Toyota easily kept up, sprinting from zero-to-60 mph in 5.8 seconds and running the quarter-mile in a scant 14.3 seconds at 99 mph.”

A cousin had a Camry with the stick shift, but after this generation, stick shifts were no longer available. They were certainly rare at the dealerships.

Analogue picture of the Camry, last year

The Camry was my wife’s commuter car and in the time we owned it, it only failed to start once when the battery died. The Insurance Company with the Obnoxious Emu sent a gentleman driving a Prius and a jump starter box. Jumper cables are so lo-tech! This was the second battery, and we are on our third one.

Now, when I drove, I had to duck my head to get into the Camry in a way I didn’t have to, to get into the Avalon. The Camry’s seat and headroom were ok, especially if I adjusted the seat back. And why do the consoles have to be so wide? Driving with your leg against the console can be irritating.

The Camry has a CD player and an auxiliary port so we can plug in an iPod, or play MP3s.

We had four good months with no issues with the Camry. However, five months after purchase, we got our first snow and when I made a turn into our housing development, I skidded right into the snow bank. This car, which had spent some time in the Sunshine State, had summer tires. According to the Toyota online service record, the tires only had about 10,000 miles of wear, so we bought new all-season tires at the dealer (buy 3 get 1 free promotion).

Meanwhile, what to do with the summer ones? I found a place in Cleveland that would buy used tires, and Igor was in charge of the warehouse area. There were rows of tires in their storage, probably stacked 10 feet high and inventoried by aspect ratio, wheel size, etc. His tire installer checked all the tires and we negotiated a price of $70 for the four tires. We went to the office to get the cash and a very beautiful woman, wearing a fur coat, was in charge of the cash and paid me promptly. As I was there, a local customer was getting tires installed. You have to love Cleveland, and I do, because it welcomes diverse ethnicities.

The pristine body condition was disturbed, and our streak of being rear-ended continued. On our way to Lynchburg, Virginia, via Winchester, Virginia, we were rear-ended by a sheriff’s deputy vehicle while signaling to make a left turn in front of the White House Foods factory. The bumper was barely kissed by the sheriff’s vehicle, and the State of Virginia paid my deductible –as with most of our other bumper bumps, we didn’t bother to get it fixed. Later, I realized we could have gone to the Patsy Cline Historic House.

Road trips to Virginia, Georgia, Upstate New York, and Massachusetts were uneventful. Leaving the hotel one morning, in New Hampshire, I left my coffee on top of the car and drove a few doors down to the gas station and pulled up to the pumps and when I got out, realized that the coffee had not spilled — the attendant came out from the counter area to compliment me on my steady driving. Just a fluke, I think.

There are many silver Camrys of this generation, this is not ours. Note two blimps just above the tree line.

As many can imagine, coming across a silver Camry like ours was not hard, as it sold in great numbers. Camry sales figures for sixth generation, model years 2007-2011.

2007	472,808
2008	436,617
2009	356,824
2010	327,553
2011	306,510

Right around the time we got a clear title, we got into the phase of car ownership (at about 100,000 miles), where a several hundred dollar car repair is cheaper than a car payment and the niggly things bother you so much you get them fixed.

When the vehicle was a little over ten years from its birth in Georgetown, Kentucky, the rear door lock actuators gradually stopped working and the windshield washer pump stopped pumping. We got the windshield washer pump fixed, and the mechanic quoted us $1000 to fix the actuators. However, “new” parts weren’t available in those post-COVID “supply chain issues” years. Most of 2023, I lived with the door lock issue, especially when the car was no longer a daily driver and was driven 2-3 days a week, and the driver’s door could be unlocked with a key (imagine that)! But not the passenger side, because Toyota was phasing out passenger side cylinder locks because the customer has remote access with their key fob.

My wife has better mechanical ability than I; an ability that was inherited by our son. We had talked about going to Pull-A-Part to find actuators, so one afternoon he came over and took the rear door panels off. Winter arrived and in the early spring, I ordered actuators from the Pacific Rim, via Amazon — a plastic flap bent off before installation. Found rebuilt actuators from an eBay seller near Cincinnati, along the I-75 corridor where the auto plants are located. Installed the driver’s side rear door actuator, as that was the door that was most inconvenient to unlock manually. That actuator went in fairly easily (don’t you love the YouTube “how to fix it” videos where they leave out the 15 minutes of dropped screws, cussing, reviewing your steps, retrieving the dropped tool, etc.), considering my barely adequate mechanical skills.

Eventually went to Pull-A-Part after checking online that they had Camrys of that generation. I was able to pull out the shotgun side rear actuator and also from the shotgun side front door as that panel had been removed already. Thought for awhile, but not too long, about grabbing the high-end audio system, but some of the speakers were gone already. However, I did get the Petrowood gearshift knob. And the actuators were fixed. Didn’t spend more than $100 on parts, and I’m retired; my time is billable at $0/hour.

For 50 years I couldn’t have a front vanity plate. Check the front if you can’t remember which Camry is yours.

In March 2024 the Camry came into my possession and I had to switch license plates. The old plates were on too long, so I had to drill out the screw heads. Mercifully, the front plate was not needed and I could mount my front vanity plate.

Replaced the front sun visor since it would not stay up; Toyota was starting to decontent their automobiles — no more side extenders on the visors, but driver and passenger have lighted vanity mirrors!

Had to replace a busted shotgun side mirror, found a local young man who was buying mirrors from the local Pull-A-Part and reselling them on eBay. Who says the young kids don’t want to work?

And since this car has always had synthetic oil changes and is not driven that much, it no longer gets the every six months/5,000 mile oil changes. It is about time for its yearly service. 

Sharing space with my Trek bike and Ariens snowblower. Didn’t come from that dealer, but I like his license plate frames.

We have had this car 12.5 years and it is fifteen years old. We have never had a car that long. Other than the alloy wheels it has not started to rust. It has almost 150,000 miles and we are driving it 5,000 miles a year. What came between the 2008 Avalon and this 2011 Camry as my daily drivers? Next installment will be from freeway cruiser to city runabout.