Notice my Toyota Link built into the rear-view mirror (if it is visible)

 

Hahahaha, some Australians are difficult to understand! The middle-class typically have a more moderate and neutral accent, whereas some of the country and working class boys might as well be speaking a different language!

I think most people have at least 2 cars in Australia. But it is expensive, petrol is really expensive and the cars are probably 30% more expensive that in the States..

 

Congrats on new car and house! Interior of the Camry looks really nice.

Can you share what a loaded Camry costs there?

 

Actually a loaded 05 Camry with leather is a much nicer place to be than last gen GS IMO. That GS still uses plastics from the early 90s, looks cheap on a luxury car costing 50K, when you apply armor all to protect it, you get glare like a ****. A V6 camry SE is probably faster than a GS300 too. Smart choice.

 

Do you guys get the 3.3L 3MZ-FE or the standard 3.0L 1MZ-FE?

 

Here are the specs from Toyota of Australia

http://camry.toyota.com.au/TWR/vehic...04_283,00.html

 

cannot go wrong with a camry, one of the best cars ever built. But you must have beat the living hell out of ur GS for it to need that much work at 80K

 

congrats.

the first time that i drove a good car was 2002, it was a 2001 camry 2.2 that we rented from Hertz in the USA....literally speaking, i felt in love with the smooth handling and effortless in picking up...when we returned from the US we bought a 1995 ES300

btw, i like the look of 2005 camry much more than the ES

 

I blame the first owner of my GS!

 

My model is the top-of-the-range Camry in Australia (although there is a sport model with a crappy body kit and sports suspension which is a few grand extra) and it lists for $46,000 AUD plus a couple of grand for on-road costs (registration and state taxes). You can get a few grand off the list price though without much haggling.

$46k AUD is about $35.5k USD. A simlarly featured ES300 is around $65k USD.

So cars are pretty expensive, but it's all relative.

 

but i do remember in Australia---food was much cheaper.

cars were ridiculously expensive...i remember even in 1995-6 that a top-line accord cost over $40K AUD.


i still miss the country. i'd go back if i could.