Toyota Camry Convertible?

[Ufatz]

One of the family young ladies has picked up a cute little Toyota Camry Solara convertible.....essentially a Toyota Camry with a canvas top!! There must be Camry owners in here so I'll ask.....what major problems have you had. This little car has 100,000 miles, It is a 2001 is spotless with white leather interior, JBL sound, all sorts of options. But of course we KNOW there will be troubles with it.

Owner reports if you have time please?

[Jeremy airjer W]

Throw a timing belt in it, change the oil every 3-5, top off the oil when needed, and post this again when you hit 200k.

[BoxMN]

Looks like a good endorsement!

[Jeremy airjer W]

Depending on the motor you will probably have a check engine light here and there. Its pretty common to see codes for the EVAP system and typically they can be fixed for a couple hundred bucks. Most of the time its because one of the vacuum hoses got knocked off the air filter box or the VSV attached to the box when the air filter is checked or replaced.

Other than basic maintenance (brakes, shocks, struts, tires, etc) the only other thing that comes to mind, again depending on the motor, is some ignition issues, occasional a water pump or radiator, and the occasional "thats odd" type of repairs.

I will stress again it is vitally important to keep oil in these cars. We have many older camrys that come in for service on a regular basis that are over the 250k mile mark. on the other hand I have replaced a few four cylinder engines because they either ran out of oil or they overheated the engine.

[Ufatz]

Thanks Jeremey. Got to see the car last night. Clean. No oil anywhere on engine and no sign it had been "scrubbed" clean before the sale either. At 100,000 miles I'm guessing a new timing chain/belt would be a good idea. And I am ruthless about clean oil in ALL engines: boats, planes,cars so I'll be reminding her of that! Ha!

Am going to research trouble areas as I get time.Am surprised at all the features on this little car and they all work. Even the convertible top goes up and down smoothly and cleanly.

[Jeremy airjer W]

4 cylinder or v-6?

[quickfish6]

What motor does it have ?

[Ufatz]

It is nice quiet running little six, but if there are several sixes I don't know which one this is. Turns out same person owned if for most all its life and I popped for a CarFax which shows good service record and no accidents or "other" events. Top looks pretty good with one small pea sized hole. And from my examination I confirm it has not been hit and has no structural troubles. I think she has a nice little car.

[deadeye]

They are really pretty solid. As Airjer said they have minimal problems.

I had my mom get one of these and she's nearing the 200k mark and it has been just had simple maintenance and wear items. Really a pretty nice solid car.

[sparkyaber]

My wife had a 2001 solara hard top sedan. 3.0 liter SLE. What a fun car. The only problem we had with the car were the original tires were garbage, replaced them with 18000 miles on the car. Defiantly nothing with the car itself. We traded it in with 64K on it for a Sequoia when the little one was on the way. Hope she enjoys the car!

[LightningBG]

My mom drives one. A little newer though. I think an 07. We (myself and significant other) sold it to her. No problems so far except a tire inflation sensor.

[Ufatz]

As a final note: I drove her little car today and it is a very very nice solid little car. Quieter than I expected for a rag top and not a rattle in it!! Plenty of smart acceleration (all she'll need) and that little V6 is quiet and smooth running. I think she has a dandy little car and while I am not a Toyota driver I am surprised they quit making such a nice looking and well made little convertible. I told her to hang onto it....it just might become collectible!!

Thanks for your comments fellas.