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It’s not really a question if it being reliable, it’s just that if you do have an issue it can be so incredibly expensive like Striker said, it’s just not a Lexus
I’ve averaged about 15,000 miles a year on this car, which is low for me, but I don’t drive as much as I used to because I’m not on the road selling as much as I used to be. 39,700 miles right now in 32 months, so that’s 14,900 a year. I have 10,000 miles before I have to commit to a warranty (factory warranty is gone at 50k, so is the powertrain, so it will be basically out of warranty entirely where Lexus would at least have a powertrain warranty still) if I kept it another 2 years beyond 50k (so 30 months or so beyond now) it would have about 80k on it. I don’t see me keeping it longer than that…
Yes easy. $15k for turbos is nothing.....I have seen $27,000 level bills for stuff in this class of cars. It can get insane really fast and if one system goes it can really take stuff out. For example you lose PCV and now you blow out the rear main and valve seals. 50+ hours at the dealer rate and labor alone is your whole 9k warranty.....
It may sound expensive but you are dealing with 100k+ cars with insane systems.
Here is my rear diff price for more context
Can you take this class of diff apart and replace the individual parts if there is an issue? You think a dealer tech would/could? Nah, they would just order the whole unit and if you have a warranty great...if not good luck!
Now any kind of a failure like that is VERY rare, but it’s possible
Yes but damn it's bad if it happens.....you would need a specialist in your pocket to deal with it outside of a warranty for any sort of sane price.
That's actually part of my reason for picking an R8 as my first supercar, it's just more sane to get parts etc vs something like a McLaren/Ferrari. I know those are beyond what I can afford since while I can work on them I can't summon parts out if thin air. I would need a warranty of some sort or it is way to much risk.
Even my W12 is lightly terrifying since I'm very aware of how expensive the engine is and I already had that scary moment when I found the drain plug finger tight! I can rebuild an active diff, trans, etc but I cant do anything for an engine like that. Same applies to the 4.0tt engines, you cant rebuild them and new units are deep $20k at least and the cars are still so new used engines are $10k
Normally you have seen me advise against warranties on here, I won't do that when it comes to cars like this. You NEED some sort of way to deal with these cars, be it skill, a pile of cash, or warranty.
There are (at least) three brands of vehicles that I would not want to be driving around in with an expired warranty or no free-service....Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW, and, in some cases, Audi. Anything significant happens...there goes your bank account.
In fact, that is one of my (very few) pet-peeves with Buick. They used to give you a luxury-grade 6/70 and 4/50 warranty like Cadillac, Lincoln, Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti...until the bean-counters won out three or four years ago. Now it is the standard mainstream 5/60 and 3/36.
Last edited by mmarshall; Jul 12, 2023 at 07:21 PM.
Striker makes a lot of good points. I didn't realize the cost of those systems was so high. I just didn't figure any of those insanely expensive issues would crop up before Steve traded in his S for another vehicle. I may have missed it, but are you looking for a warranty for your remaining time with the S or for your next car?
I just put 230 miles one way on a 2023 Camry rental. This is night and day better than the 2022 Altima rental I drove 950 miles last week. Quick Google search appears that the base price for a Camry is somewhere between $3k-$5k more than base price of an Altima. I can't believe the difference in the feel of these 2 cars for effectively the same price.
Striker makes a lot of good points. I didn't realize the cost of those systems was so high. I just didn't figure any of those insanely expensive issues would crop up before Steve traded in his S for another vehicle. I may have missed it, but are you looking for a warranty for your remaining time with the S or for your next car?
It would almost certainly not happen in the time I would have the car. I would buy a warranty if I bought this car out of the lease and kept it a while, which I am leaning towards.
Originally Posted by jrmckinley
I just put 230 miles one way on a 2023 Camry rental. This is night and day better than the 2022 Altima rental I drove 950 miles last week. Quick Google search appears that the base price for a Camry is somewhere between $3k-$5k more than base price of an Altima. I can't believe the difference in the feel of these 2 cars for effectively the same price.
That surprises me, I hate the current Camry…
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I just put 230 miles one way on a 2023 Camry rental. This is night and day better than the 2022 Altima rental I drove 950 miles last week. Quick Google search appears that the base price for a Camry is somewhere between $3k-$5k more than base price of an Altima. I can't believe the difference in the feel of these 2 cars for effectively the same price.
It would almost certainly not happen in the time I would have the car. I would buy a warranty if I bought this car out of the lease and kept it a while, which I am leaning towards.
That surprises me, I hate the current Camry…
That's a good idea. You said you didn't like the current gen S and that you really like yours. You also said a lease on a 2023 would be considerably more than your current rate.
Originally Posted by mmarshall
How do you find the Camry superior?
Yes, my thoughts exactly. The Camry, prior to 2018, has always been about comfort, quietness, and reliability without standing out. The current gen has failed on 3 out of the 4, and I'm not so sure they are going to be as reliable as older models because of all the new tech (8 or 10 speed autos, direct injection, electronic gizmos, etc).
I rode in a 2021 Camry recently and it was awful. I would have rather walked the 15 or so miles. Felt nothing like my 2005, nothing. It was all about trying to be a sports car and a cheap one at that. I was not impressed with the materials, the ride was harsh, I felt every bump, and a lot of design elements on the inside and out were horrific. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing the Camry has going for it now is the ability to whip around a corner as fast as possible. Big deal.
Seat comfort, engine response (gigantic difference), ride quality at every speed, interior layout, interior quality just to quickly name a few things. I also much prefer the exterior styling, but that isn't something I complained about in the Altima post. I didn't check MPG of the Altima last week (I know it was good), but I got over 30MPG in this Camry today. Another car in this general price range that I have to imagine is superior to an Altima is the Kia K5. I just don't understand what Nissan is doing...
Which got me thinking, Nissan has a weird car lineup that doesn't go apples-to-apples with a competing brand like Honda or Toyota. For ICE, they have a Versa, Sentra, Altima, and Maxima. There is a $5k difference in price between all models until you get to the Maxima, which has a $10k difference in price from the Altima. I wonder why they have both the Versa and the Sentra..? I don't view it the same way as a BMW or Mercedes strategy (ex: 1 series, 2 series, 3 series, 4 series, etc) because I'm not sure that people would stay in the Nissan ecosystem long enough to graduate up the levels like someone would do with BMW..
Seat comfort, engine response (gigantic difference), ride quality at every speed, interior layout, interior quality just to quickly name a few things.
There is no ride quality! What are you possibly talking about? You feel every single bump in the road. Every slight imperfection ripples through the cabin. It doesn't matter what it is. Even a crack in the road, you're going to feel. Night and day different than a 2005 and you can make a case the 92-01 gens had better ride quality than the 02-06...
The interior materials are also subpar. Again, I don't know what you see but they are clearly not up to par with past Camry's..
Engine response, who cares. It's a Camry. If you want performance, get a Bimmer or something. Even a Civic lol
There is no ride quality! What are you possibly talking about? You feel every single bump in the road. Every slight imperfection ripples through the cabin. It doesn't matter what it is. Even a crack in the road, you're going to feel. Night and day different than a 2005 and you can make a case the 92-01 gens had better ride quality than the 02-06...
The interior materials are also subpar. Again, I don't know what you see but they are clearly not up to par with past Camry's..
Engine response, who cares. It's a Camry. If you want performance, get a Bimmer or something. Even a Civic lol
If you read my original post, I'm not comparing this to any prior year of a Camry. I'm comparing it (as a rental car that I had today for 200+ miles) to a 2022 Altima I had as a rental all of last week. To me, there's no comparison. Camry is far superior to Altima for the reasons I stated and the 2 cars are within $3k or so of each other price wise.
If you read my original post, I'm not comparing this to any prior year of a Camry. I'm comparing it (as a rental car that I had today for 200+ miles) to a 2022 Altima I had as a rental all of last week. To me, there's no comparison. Camry is far superior to Altima for the reasons I stated and the 2 cars are within $3k or so of each other price wise.
Well I'm not sure of any Altima (Nissan's have mostly always made trash so you probably do have a point there) but I'm here to tell you that they completely ruined the Camry from what it used to be for many years. Completely ruined it in every way. It's not even the same car. They shouldn't have even used the same nameplate because the current gen brings shame on all those past generations.
It was the summer of 2017. We had just bought our wife's new RAV4 and we were driving one day, thinking about what we were going to do with my 12-year old Camry. I knew they were going to release an all-new model for the 18 year because they typically did every 5 years but that generation ran an extra year, to 2017. So that summer I was excited to see the new 2018 Camry, even if it was a bit bolder exterior wise to every other one. Looking inside and sitting inside, I was even more disappointed. I had no interest in driving one or riding inside until recently I had a ride in that 2021.
Glad you like your car and that you found it exciting but for me, a long time owner of a Camry that was built at a time that Toyota was known for the smoothest riding, quietest, no "look at me" details, not trying to make everything sporty, etc, it was a major disappointment and one that I have not got over in 6 years.
. I consider you lucky!
