Fizzboy7

Toyota's 3.0 V6 is indeed one of the best engines anyone has every made. From my memory, it was so smooth and quiet, you'd have to look at the tach to see what was going on. Even at full throttle, it did not sound or feel strained. Amazing engineering. Today's 3.5 V6 has less refinement and sounds odd at higher rpm's. Since most people don't drag race from stop light to stop light in their Camry's and RX's, I think we were better off with the 3.0.

Johnhav430

Today I passed two 91-96 Camrys on the way to work. That shows how well those cars were built...I really liked those when they came out, but by the time I was ready to actually consider a new one, it was the '97 model, which I think looking back does not look good. The current one looks good. Who knows, maybe if 2-4 yrs. in there's a new powertrain, it will be an appealing car to people like me...never say never...(except the price)

Again looking back, the 2006 was difficult to get when it came out. So that's interesting that those days are gone--even for a 2 door BMW. 3 (or now it's called a 4). The 4 came out, and just go and buy it off the lot. Back in 2006 when the E92 came out, it was a 8-10 wk. wait, not a dealer in the nation had one to sell in October...sometimes I think the je ne sais pas is gone with cars....

Johnhav430

I saw a comment here that the I6 IS Lexus used a lot of gas, as much as a V8? In general, the V6 lacks balance, but there is stuff that is done to try to help with that. But having to have counter balance shafts obviously is not ideal.....

If BMW were to go V6, we all know the fat lady has sung. imho there is a huge difference taking a I6 to the redline, and a V6....that's just physics...

Toys4RJill

Thought I would point out one thing about the two tone black roof different color body Camrys. The different color roof or black part is a tape. It's not a different color. Not sure how other makers do the roof, but I thought it was a little disappointing on the part of Toyota. Very similar to how the new Tacoma has a taped on black background pillar.

My0gr81

Price list posted earlier in the thread mention 2 tone paint, not vinyl wrap. If Toyota did vinyl, then that's just lazy.

Toys4RJill

It's def vinyl. Now I can but sure the roof part is not paint or perhaps a black plastic part. The upper door frame or whatever it's called that runs the A to C pillar is definitely a wrap.

Fizzboy7

So fifteen years from now we'll be seeing peeling/faded vinyl roofs on 2018 Camrys. I can't see this lasting the test of time compared to paint. Poor move.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I'll say again, manufacturers don't care about future 15 year old cars. With self driving cars there may be little of the current auto industry left.

Fizzboy7

You don't think the current brands would be the ones supplying the self-driving cars? If any of them have the means to do it, it's the big (wealthy) brands we have now (like Toyota/Lexus). I don't see any of these going anywhere anytime soon. The quality of what they produce today will have a hand in what is bought 15 years from now.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I'm responding to your point about peeling vinyl on 15 year old camrys in the future... i don't believe toyota cares much.

Johnhav430

Even without the paradigm shift, they didn't even care about it on the LS430, which was the flagship car. The vinyl peels off on the drip rails (which are pretty costly at around $208 each), based on this forum and dates, as early as 6 years in service....so 15? You are on the money.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

exactly. sure car companies love the PR that comes from people keeping brand x cars for zillions of miles and years, but it doesn't help the company's bottom line much (may even hurt it) because i believe you can't be successful in the car business if the majority of your customers keep their cars a decade or more. dealers love used car sales (they make more money) but mfrs love new car sales and leases (that and parts are the only way they make money), so a perfectly reliable vehicle that most customers want to keep for a decade or more would be a disaster for a car company. looking at a brand like subaru, which i bet has a long period of ownership for a majority of cautious sensible type customers, they've (subaru) HAD to expand their appeal to get more sales, which they've done by making their vehicles more mainstream.

back to the camry, this applies to it too... toyota's 'shaken it up' with the new one, to hopefully entice new first time camry buyers and maybe get some existing owners to trade in their stodgy boring old ones for a new one with a bit more style and comfort.

mmarshall

Actually, manufactures sometimes lose money on leases. Unlike with a brand-new car, right off the assembly-line, where the manufacturer and/or dealership knows how much money they made on the deal, with leases, it's basically a guessing game, based on projected residual values at the end of the lease-term. Usually, the manufacturer guesses correctly, and a profit is (ultimately) made on the deal, but not always. Nissan, for example, lost a lot of money on leases when the value of their used products unexpectedly plummeted. It was one of the reasons why Carlos Ghosn had to order that stringent cost-cutting that we discussed here on CL so much.

JDR76

According to Automobile Magazine, the roof is painted, not wrap.

20 Things You Didn't Know About the 2018 Toyota Camry

Toys4RJill

My fingernails will tell you that the A, B, C pillar above the doors is a tape. I am not sure about the roof part as its hard to tell.

Not exactly true. For the longest time, Toyota and Honda cars cost more than their competitors. Toyota makes more money off their vehicles than their competitors and they often sell for higher prices and perhaps they cost even lower. Toyota's reliability is baked into the price of the product, as long as they charge more they are making more money. For example and I use Tundra vs RAM as the extreme example, at the right time, you can get a RAM with up to $25K in Canadian discounts, Tundra you can get about $5K at most if you are lucky. You can fix a RAM how many time with the $25K in your pocket? You don't do such a thing with a Tundra as you have already paid for the future repairs in the MSRP of the first sale.

I am pretty confident that the average selling prices of Accord/Camry vs competitors or Corolla/Civic vs competitors will be higher for Toyota and Honda if most trims are equal. Same for most of their lineup.