Oh wow I never knew that! I'm glad you told me that. Lexus has amazing resale value. Most of the really nice GS's are around 16k! I was considering a Cadillac Seville (i work at the local Cadillac dealer) but the Northstar (while an amazing engine) needs a lot of maintenance to keep them running and would be pain in the *** to keep up. Plus they have alot of electrical gremlins that I don't want to deal with (you wouldn't believe how many are in the shop)

 

Nice car. Its a Platinum series; very nice car. With pretty low miles for a 2000. I wish my gen 2 had the gen 3 interior, its much nicer. BTW, I noticed the low oil level light is on. Hows that doin?

 

That's a very nice looking Camry. I've never seen one with a two-tone paint job. I thought that was exclusive to Toyota's Lexus brand. I'd really be reluctant to sell such a sweet looking ride.

 

Thanks! I really have been reluctant to sell the car because it was my grandmother's car and when she passed away was sold to my parents as my first car. It only has 60k miles, and is in perfect condition save for some rock chips and a broken sunroof. (More on that in a second). It gets great gas mileage and is unique looking since most Camry's in the area have hubcaps and cloth seats.

As for the sunroof, was told my a local shop that I need a whole new sunroof assembly which is going to run about $1400!!! The sunroof still works fine it's just when you try closing it the roof doesn't match up with the glass and the glass is sunken down. The track on the drivers side is broken and of course you can't just order that whole part. It kinda sucks but it doesn't leak or anything. I'm just gonna leave it like that for awhile until I save up some extra money or find another alternative.

 

What distinguishes the non-platinum edition from the platinum? How can you tell by looking at the pics on Autotrader? Is it the amount of wood trim? The wood and leather steering wheel? The black pearl emblems?
Oh...never mind...I just noticed the extra badge on the front quarter panel
I had a look at a nice 2000 ES a week ago. Pretty low mileage and in very nice condition. The price was $17K Canadian. We get sooooo ripped off on this side of the border when it comes to car prices.
With our dollar having recently reached parity (or higher) with the U.S. dollar, car buyers are flocking across the border to buy at U.S. dealerships.

 

Here is the pic of the interior from about a 1 1/2 ago (only difference is leather is a little more worn and I have new floor mats). I plan on adding some woodgrain eventually and maybe find a Toyota 6 disc CD changer to replace my single slot unit:

 

I believe the Platinum edition has a different alloy wheel design along with the wood and leather steering wheel. I also think it had the Nakamichi sound system (which is supposed to be on par with the '98-'04 Cadillac Seville STS's Bose 4.0 stereo; the best I have ever heard on any car. Period) Other than that, I don't think much else.

 

Sounds like you've been doing your homework

Yep, I think Lexus has the corner on the market when it comes to excellent quality sound systems, especially with the newer ML version! But even the older Nakamichi and even the Pioneer (which was standard in the older ES300) sounded better than most systems out there.

The interior of your baby Lex (Camry) is very nice as well. Shame about the sunroof problem, but at least it is something you can live with and fix when you have the money to do so.

 

Yeah i have loved cars since I could speak. Lexus is one of those brands that never ceases to amaze me. To start with nothing but an LS400 and ES250 and two years after introducing those cars to become the #1 luxury auto maker is nothing short of spectacular. I think that Toyota Motor Company has the most well put together and best rounded cars of any auto manufacturer on the market today. The only problem I see with the current Lexus line is the SC430. I like it, but it's beginning to look dated compared to the new models the with "L" finesse styling.

As for the audio, I did have a chance to listen to a Mark Levinson system inside a 2004 LX470; it had such rich sound quality and was absolutely perfect. The people traded it in for a Escalade (yuck) and the resale of the LX was amazing: $44,995. It also had 44k miles and air suspension (so fun to play with).

As for the sunroof, I was shocked at how expensive it was going to be! I don't think it's worth it right now to get it fixed since it only cost $1000 to install in the first place.

 

Hey, Ryan, nice to see you over here after chatting with you on the Caddy boards.
I recently switched to a low k 2000 LS400 after owning 4 STS' in a row.
My biggest beef with the Seville platform is that the suspension components and ride control becomes possessed after about 70,000k. Lots of strange oscillations, poor shock rebound, weird highway shimmy's. I would pull the codes out of my dash every week just to budget for electronic repairs.

My Lexus was put into service in Jan. of 2000, and has 59k on it.
No squeaks, the ride quality is superb, and the understated elegance and quality grows on me in ways the STS never could.

From a financial viewpoint, I think you're wise to stay with the Toyota, as you know the complete service history. If you truly have car fever, then stay with the ES300. My coworker went from a 2004 Solara to a 2002 ES300 last year, and really feels a substantial upgrade in quality of materials and workmanship.

Good luck.

 

Hey ryannel200 welcome to cl. There isnt much difference between say ur camry or my es300. Different gauges, sound system, abs, and whatever. Is that really worth to spend say 2-3 grand more on and one with 20k more miles?

In result there nearly the same car. Little different on looks, but ultimately the same. I dont think its worth to pay 2-3 grand more for that small of a jump. Now it might be worth it if your looking to get a gs300, gs430, ls400, or ls430. But from camry v6 xle to es300....Not a very big jump. Just my opinion. BTW clean camry, Ive got a 01 4 cyl, it rocks on mpg!!!

 

Speaking of good audio you have to hear the harmon/kardon that bmw has now its amazing.

 

Good to see you over here too! I love the Cadillac brand and image that it possesses, but I can't worry about spending tons of money on repairs on a car that is already almost 10 years old! I love the Northstar and the overall execution of the Seville, but I realized it's not worth the trouble for me to swtich over from my boring, but extremely reliable Camry to a beautiful, but troublesome Seville. I do believe I will own a Cadillac in the future, and most likely a Lexus of some sort as well, but teh best thing for me right now is to stay with my Toyota and then see what my options are for the future.

 

Yeah I think your are right about that. Sometimes I just get bored with my car, but thats what I love about it as well. It is pleasant to drive, and when I push it hard doesn't give me any lip. I have never driven an ES300 before, but I would really like to so I can compare the cars directly.

I love the GS300's and 400's. I think the older body style ('98-'05) is much more attractive than the new cars. However, it's hard to find one with a lower mileage in my price range. Most have around 90k miles, and that's just to high for me.

There story behind my car which involves my neighbor. He is a Toyota man for life. When I first moved to the neighborhood he had a gold '97 Camry LE with alloy wheels and a rear spoiler. Beautiful car, and extremely clean. He drives alot so it had about 160k miles when he traded it in. The car he traded it for was a 2000 Camry LE V6 in... Super White/Oak. My grandmother had been car shopping (needed an upgrade from '92 Accord LX) and had narrowed her search down to the Accord and Camry. Well I wanted her to spring for the Accord since it was sportier and at the time I was a Honda guy. She decided to spring for the Camry but didn't know what color. She really didn't like the color selections that Toyota had for that year. As soon as she saw my neighbors Camry she just had to have that color. His car had cloth seats and wheel covers, but had a sunroof and the woodgrain. My neighbor let my grandmother drive the car and she was sold. At the time, she didn't need the V6 (sure wish she had gotten it) but knew that leather and sunroof was a must have along with alloy wheels. Once she got the car I knew she had made the right decision. You should have seen it when she first got the car! It was so beautiful.

My neighbor kept the car for about 4 years and in late 2003 purchased a Classic Silver 2003 ES300. What an upgrade! The interior of those cars are beautiful and so simple at the same time. The ride was so smooth and extremely quiet car! He told me that he had also been looking at the 2004 Camry Solara, but liked the Lexus better (duh). That car had about 100k, and he told me sometime next year he was going to get a new car (wife has '03 Highlander Limited with 150k miles and she needs a new car first)

Ok guys i'm done rambling!

 

Very nice looking Camry. You know im more of a gen 3 Camry guy but I really like the 2 tone paint of yours. It looks more high-end like combined w/ the leather & sunroof. But I used to have a 94 Camry LE with the same 2.2L 5S-FE 4 banger you have and in 170K miles it only ate a flex pipe, power antenna, valve cover gasket and brake light switch. But the ES300 is just a high end Japan built V6 Camry pretty much. Actually i think that 94 Camry rode a little bit better than my 92 ES 300 i have now. You also said that you wouldnt consider the GS if it had 90K miles, but if the car was maintained and taken care of, 90 thousand miles is nothing in Toyota land. The older Honda Accords can get to 200K like Camrys can but only after about 8 distributors, half a dozen exhausts, and 3 or 4 bondo jobs to the rear quarter panels. Maybe some trannys if its a V6.

BTW i dont know if anybody has driven a gen 2 Solara but the interior quality is right up there with Lexus. I hope they dont discontinue the Solara due to lack of sales but they are very nice cars.