Toyota Post

2000 Toyota Camry belongs to a friend. I told her I would post for her since I have posted on this site before.
This car has 200,000 miles…ran great prior to this…is it worth fixing? Camry has been very dependable until now. Is it worth fixing or should I try to sell it for parts (there are tons of these cars on the road)? The a/c, cd/tape/radio, power windows and doorlocks, power seat, entry fobs, etc. work perfectly. What course of action should she take to make a dtermination on what to do with this car? …it is too good to just junk!

In 2000, the waning fortunes of the targa style MR2 meant a radical change was necessary if the Toyota MR2 was to remain on the market. The restyling that occurred saved the MR2 and it went on to become a favourite on the Australian market.

Being a two seater roadster, the Toyota MR2 is strictly for the driver and one passenger only. If you’re looking for luggage space for a weekend away, then you’re unlikely to find much room here either. The Toyota MR2 is strictly a fun car for getting around town in, if you’re after a practical car, look elsewhere. The post 2000 MR2 is available with a 1.8 litre engine, and while it only produces 103 kw, it is a very lightweight car (just 975 kilograms), so it has an excellent power to weight ratio. For the enthusiast, there will be disappointment in the knowledge that the MR2 is only available in a clutchless five speed manual gearbox or a sequential six speed (from 2003 onwards). But while no proper manual transmission is available, there is also no proper automatic transmission either.

With the mid mounted engine, the handling of the lightweight MR2 is tight and responsive. However, with the short travel of the suspension, the car tends to feel very choppy on rougher country roads. It is generally at its best on smooth city and suburban streets.

While the Toyota MR2 is a small compact mid-engined two seater, it has a surprising amount of room in the cabin for both the driver and passenger.

Tips for buying a one owner Toyota MR2

If you are in the market for a sporty two seater roadster and want something with more radical styling than the classic looking Mazda MX5, then the MR2 may be the car for you. Being a Toyota, the MR2 can be counted on for reliability as long as the car has been well maintained. As the MR2 is popular among younger drivers, check for any signs that may indicate that the car has been thrashed about. Inspect for body damage by checking for any colour differences in the body panels. Another indication that the car may have had body damage or been in a crash is signs of any water damage from a leaking roof. The MR2 has a reputation for not leaking, unless of course the body has been bent out of shape at some stage.

Check the servicing log books also. With the engine mounted in the middle of the car, access to some of the serviceable components can be restricted. So, for those that do home services, or for the dodgy mechanic down the road, it may be tempting to just skip a few of the more out of the way components. Having the book stamped by a Toyota dealer will be the best indication that the car has been serviced properly and well looked after.

Toyota Motor Corp. exceeded General Motors (GM) in the 2006 overall sales, making the Japanese auto maker the biggest car maker all over the world. But according to a leading auto industry journal, Reuters reported that many had expected that the surpassing will take place in 2007.

The huge and top Japanese auto maker outstripped GM by nearly 128,000 units last year. The figure was based on a technicality which excludes sales of vehicles at minority-held subsidiaries and this data was written in Detroit-based weekly Automotive News, whose data centre publishes a ranking, which is widely quoted, of the world’s automakers around in the present generation every year.

The Automotive News holds the statement published by Crain Communications that in Toyota’s success, a little-known Chinese microvan played a vital role.

According to the journal, GM included the seven-seat microvan and other Wuling-brand vehicles engineered by a three-way venture with China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) and Liuzhou Wuling Automobile even though it owns just a small part (less than half) of the company. This was based on the Automotive News’ final tally for 2006.

The 420,140 units was credited with a 51 percent-owner SAIC by the Automotive News and this figure represents the venture sold in 2006. As a result, GM had set global sales at 8,679,860 units in 2006, versus 8,808,000 for Toyota.

The Automotive News Data Center includes in its ranking the sales of a subsidiary in the total for the parent company with the majority stake.

GM at present is in the sore of avoiding restructuring but, fortunately, is growing rapidly in China. For 76 years, the car company has claimed the top spot for, including 2006.

In April, Toyota and GM posted the first quarter of 2007 sales figures which revealed that the Japanese automaker was edging past by 90,000 units its U.S. competitor. And since it was the first time ever that GM was surpassed by Toyota as the top auto maker, the news triggered extensive media coverage.

Corresponding with Automotive News’ tally, Toyota’s sales figures include those at units Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd. On the other hand, GM is composed of a dozen of brands that include Chevrolet, Buick, Opel and Saab.

Even by GM’s count after it projected sales of 9.34 million units versus the U.S. giant’s forecast for 9.2 million, Toyota is almost certain to take the lead for the entire year of 2007.

About Toyota Motor Corporation

Toyota Motor Corporation, or simply known as Toyota, is a Japanese multinational corporation and the largest automaker (followed by General Motors) all over the world by sales revenue as of the first sales quarter of 2007. Last year, the company along with its half-owned subsidiary Daihatsu was the world’s second largest auto company by revenue, the most profitable auto maker in terms of net income, and the eighth largest company in the world according to revenues.

The company is portion of the Toyota Group and is its biggest company. The brands, divisions and companies of Toyota, Lexus, Scion, and parts of Daihatsu are owned and operated by Toyota. And as a whole, the company has 522 subsidiaries.

Founded in 1937, Toyota was established by Kiichiro Toyoda as a by product of his father’s company Toyota Industries to build automobiles.

For 2007, Toyota plans to produce 9.4 million vehicles.

About General Motors Corporation

Also known as GM or GMC, General Motors Corporation is the 2nd (after Toyota) largest car company based on sales revenue as of 2007. Maker of quality cars and their parts, GMC has around 284,000 employees all over the world.

It was founded in 1908, in Flint, Michigan and has global headquarters located at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, USA. In Zurich, Switzerland is their European headquarters. This American car maker produces its trucks and cars in 33 countries.

GM cars and trucks are sold under Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Daewoo, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall brands.

GM Parts like GMC car cover and accessories are known in the market under GM Performance Parts, GM Goodwrench and ACDelco brands through GM Service and Parts Operations that supplies GM dealerships and distributors all over the world. The United States is GM’s largest national market. This is followed by China, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

GM is the number 1 automaker when it comes to Strategic Vision’s Total Quality Index (TQI).

Hello.

I dont no where els to hunt down (private owners) who are slaing thier 2005 toyota camry

I have try trading post site and carsales.com.au

Not much there at the type of colour and price

Is there more out there to check it out for brisbane region ? can include sunshine coast and goldcoast regions

Looking for
2005 toyota camry (can be sportivo or not)
Looking for private owners..

NOT interested in dealer stores.

So suppose trading post and carsales.com.au are one of the regonise sites for what i was looking for… I cant seem to fine much which of course leads to bad luck when your in a rush to hunt them before the end of the year perhaps.

Who knows

I need your help to search geniune sites that are similar to trading post.

Best regards
Lynda

PS: thanks to all who trys to help and participate.
Just want to check whats available out there and price.
P.S lease dont indicate auction sites such as EBAY as i do not deal that and specialy on cars without looking at them in person.

My recent decision to buy a car was not really a voluntary one. I had a small accident in which my almost 20 years old Honda Accord was promptly written off. With such an old car even a small bend and broken headlight is already too expensive to repair, so the insurance decided they better give me $1,500, which was actually a good deal. But it left me without a car.

So shopping for car was in order. This was certainly an undertaking given that I haven’t been following up on cars at all for about 8 years since I bought Honda Accord. I like driving, and do like good cars, I even like fixing the cars to some extent, but I’m no real enthusiast. I don’t read articles on cars; I don’t buy auto magazines or go to auto shows. I also usually do not start a conversation about latest models and features. Similar to a presidential candidate who is seriously “on top of things” only during the campaign — once elected, the interests and priorities change a bit.

Anyhow, I knew I had to do some extensive research in order to be happy about what I’m about to buy. So I did that, and the amount of new information I’ve gathered was even larger than I expected. You know, today’s cars are completely different things than those from 15 or more years ago. Features that did not even exist before became my main focus and motivation.

I spent several days online, just reading whatever I could find. And good thing is that all the car makers have very comprehensive websites where you can find all the information you need including the prices. It actually turned out that the prices I got off of these websites matched perfectly what I got in the dealerships — and that is with all the additions like taxes, AC fee, delivery fee, pre-delivery inspection fee (PDI) and such.

I also read other sources, mostly looking for experience of other people. There are a lot of good resources on the Internet, just do a search and you’ll find whatever you’re looking for — there is so much out there. Some of them I found useful are:

Car Buying Tips: http://www.carbuyingtips.com

An excellent website with the world of information about every aspect of car buying process. It will save you some headaches too.

Edmunds: http://www.edmunds.com

Sort of a “traditional” auto portal. Also covers all aspects of the topic — from prices to safety. And, I’ve heard dealers refer to this site.

MSN Autos: http://autos.msn.com

Another general auto portal. I used it a lot when I was comparing specific features of different models — it has a handy comparison little tool.

Automotive.com: http://www.automotive.com

Automobile: http://www.automobilemag.com

These two are also general portals, and I used them mostly to find specifications of older models including my Accord ‘89 for comparison with the new models.

After a few days I arrived to a set of features that I’d like to have:

New car

Or almost a new car. Before I had time to maintain and work on a car myself, but now, with the family and two small kids, I don’t even have the time to think about the car, let alone do some work. And even having a good mechanic is not sufficient. With an old car, there is no mechanic that can guarantee anything — you have to simply accept that you’ll have unexpected problems. Before I was able to take that responsibility, but now, with a family and no time, I can’t. So I needed not only a problem-free car, but also a concern-free car.

Make

I drove domestic, Japanese and German cars before, and thought I’m going to go with Japanese once more. I thought that would give me better probability of a hassle-free car for a good price. I did question this decision during the research, but in the end I stuck to it.

Safety

With the recent car accident I wanted safety above all. Even in a small accident like the one I had, you get to experience very strongly how utterly unprotected we all are on the road. You absolutely don’t need a lot to get killed or injured. And nobody really has to make any mistake, let alone big mistake. One small, almost negligible thing happens, and there you are in a blaze of events ending with a crash.

The guy in front of me stopped short and I was fraction of a moment late to react and kicked him a bit. Not too much — his car didn’t suffer almost any damage except some scratches and dirt on the bumper. But then I started thinking “what if…” thoughts. It was fairly steep downhill, and if it were raining…! If there was a motorcycle in front of me instead of a mini van… If I was going faster and for some reason in a spur of the moment decided to avoid him by switching to other lane (full of cars)… If all of those things happened together… Even now when I think of those things, my stomach aches.

And then later while researching crash tests scores I watched official crash tests videos on the internet. Boy, I would recommend everyone to see at least one or two of those videos — you’ll get much more realistic picture about driving in a car. There are two organizations that perform crash tests and on their websites you’ll find the safety information for many models:

National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA): http://www.safercar.gov

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS): http://www.iihs.org

The information on these websites is very educative and complete. It contains the descriptions of the tests, the results for many models and the video clips. You can also find a lot of general info accumulated in the years of research in this area. For example — what is the impact in front, side or rear crashes, how does impact differ for front and rear passengers, how to protect your children, the implications of increasing number of large vehicles (SUVs in particular) on the road (you better buy a bigger car yourself), etc.

The tests videos can also be found (even more of them) by doing a search on the web. A lot of them are posted on YouTube.

So I figured I wanted air bags — not only front ones, but also side and particularly curtain ones that protect rear seat passengers. The side and curtain airbags are not mandatory and they are not standard equipment. Some of the models do not have them even as an option.

ABS (Anti-lock Brake System) was also a must — I hate sudden stops, and if it’s raining or snowing, ABS can help a lot.

Other safety features like active stability control, traction control, active head restraints, car body designed to absorb the impact were also very desirable.

In the end AWD (All Wheel Drive) was something to consider as well.

Space

This was a tricky one. I had controversial requirements. Most of the time we need a small city car — going to work, driving small kids to school, shopping, etc. Only sometimes we’ll go for a longer vacation trip when we need larger trunk. Only sometimes we’ll have parents, relatives or friends visiting when we need at least enough space in the back for two car seats and one or more adults. Only sometimes I’ll need to carry a piece of smaller furniture or such. So should I buy a minivan if 95% of the time it will practically be empty? Or should I buy a small car and not be able even to go for a picnic? This question is actually even now, after I bought the car, still unresolved. Time will show how well I did on this.

Convenience

I did not need or even want things like sun roof, leather seats, body collared and heated mirrors, spoilers and such. Even power this or that wasn’t important to me although I’ve learned that these days a number of even basic models include power options to a good extent. So I figured, I’ll accept it if I have to, what can I do.

Fuel Economy

Very important. Gas prices are going up and the oil wars are going on — need say no more. And over the years that you own a car it adds up. It is actually an excellent idea to calculate the total cost of the car over a number of years (including gas, insurance and other maintenance costs) and use that figure when making the decision. So I wanted the best fuel economy possible — another controversial requirement.

I was actually hoping I’ll find a good diesel car, but in Canada there aren’t many of those since we have pretty high emissions standards so some of the good diesel cars do not qualify. And that is too bad. I rented small VW Polo a few months ago in Europe, and drove 900 km with 1.5 tanks! By specs it spends 4L/100km!! That’s a money saver. And it actually produces such a nice feeling of independence — you drive and drive and drive, and then drive some more, and the tank is still full. So sweet!!

With all these requirements I set off to dealerships one nice weekend. I figured I’ll just go to an auto mall, and browse. I figured later this was really not the best way to approach things. After a whole day of looking at cars and test driving them, you get pretty tired and they all look the same at the end of the day. And after doing that for two whole days I got sick of cars and didn’t want to buy one at all! But on the other hand I did collect a lot of information, and got the first impressions about driving them. Then I let that settle for a while and in the meantime explored options of buying a used car, buying one down-south in US, or in a dealership far away from the city where I could get a better price. Then, of course, I also needed to figure out the best way to pay for the car. Boy, this all takes time. It’s a full-time project. But in the end I had my options laid out and made a decision.

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Read the rest on following pages:

Part Two: How?

Part Three: Models and Makes

Part Four: The Dealers

Searching is not any more an intensive work to do. By merely logging in to your favorite website, you can already search on anything and everything under the sun.

With the newest technology that this era has given, searching for a car does not anymore mean standing and going out the house and looking around for an auto dealer. The internet is very much available.

Because almost everybody’s daily routine involves the mode of transportation, people usually search for vehicles. The more the vehicle is searched, the more it is popular. When people search for a car, it can either mean they are curious about it, or they just love the item they are searching.

Two web sites on auto mobiles, AutoMart.com, AutoMercado.com released the lists of the most searched vehicles in their sites.

Based on the list, the Ford F-150 was the most searched vehicle on both sites in the first three months of 2007.

In AutoMart.com the top nine most searched make vehicles were the CHEVROLET (12.95%), FORD (10.84%), TOYOTA (6.82%), HONDA (6.54%), DODGE (5.61%), NISSAN (4.48%), JEEP (4.48%), PONTIAC (2.94%), and the GMC (2.90%). Their model vehicles’ list was composed of F-150M (2.75%), MUSTANG (2.62%), ACCORD (2.52%), CIVIC (2.44%), TAHOE (1.66%), TACOMA (1.46%), WRANGLER (1.46%), EXPLORER (1.42%), and F-250 (1.34%).

On the other hand, the AutoMercado.com had the following vehicles as their top ten: FORD (16.08%), CHEVROLET (13.55%), TOYOTA (10.72%), HONDA (7.75%), NISSAN (7.68%), DODGE (4.77%), GMC (4.27%), VOLKSWAGEN (3.60%), MITSUBISHI (3.29%), and JEEP (2.94%). Their model vehicles’ list was composed of F-150 (3.70%), CIVIC (2.29%), EXPLORER (2.23%), ACCORD (2.16%), TACOMA (1.98%), EXPEDITION (1.97%), TAHOE (1.57%), COROLLA (1.47%), JETTA (1.44%), and SILVERADO 1500 (1.29%).

From these lists, it can be deduced further that Chevrolet follows Ford in the top rank with its Tahoe and Silverado. These Chevrolet cars have quite the same parts as the Cavalier performance parts.

Similar popularity was shown by high-end brands on both AutoMart.com and AutoMercado.com. An example is the BMW which was the 11th most popular make on both sites.

There were, however, differences between the search patterns of the Spanish speaking and the English speaking consumers. Example of these is the Ford Mustang. It appeared as the second most searched vehicle on AutoMart.com. However, as to its popularity with Spanish speaking consumers, it fell 9 spots down. At AutoMercado.com, the Mustang, the Camaro, and the Corvette were all less searched than on AutoMart.com. But in the case of the Volkswagen Jetta and the Toyota Corolla, the cars did not appear in the top 20 list on AutoMart.com. Nonetheless, they were included in the top 10 most popular vehicles on AutoMercado.com.

The Vice President of Electronic Media at Auto Mart, by the name of Skip Dowd, said that for the most part, the demand is very similar on the two sites. Some of the things that the vice president noticed are that AutoMercado.com shoppers are searching for family utility vehicles, either family sedans or SUV’s, and for pickups.

AutoMercado.com was launched last spring by AutoMart.com as United States’ first fully translated, fully functioning national web site that exclusively targets Spanish speaking consumers.

Dowd added that they were pleased that their choices of vehicles are attractive to a wide range of clients. He said these selections allow both of their companies – AutoMart.com and AutoMercado.com – to remain leaders in the field of online, automotive classified advertising.

About AutoMart.com

AutoMart.com is the largest dealer and exclusive automotive website featuring new, used and certified pre-owned car listings. With more than 1.3 million vehicles for sale, it has an amazing 8 million Auto Mart Magazines monthly and a dominating paid search marketing effort. To over 15,000 dealers nationwide, AutoMart.com drives phone, website, email and cutting edge instant messaging.

It is owned by Cox Auto Trader which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, Inc.

About AutoMercado.com

A fully Spanish-language automotive website, AutoMercado.com features new, used and certified vehicle listings. It exudes listings provided by Auto Mercado® Magazine, and Auto Mart Magazine; and that is through a database of more than 750,000 cars for sale.

AutoMercado.com is owned and operated by Cox Auto Trader which is a division of Cox Enterprises, Inc.

I have done so many searches and usually come up with only post 81 parts… or more links to later model parts. everything from door window internal hardware to parts cars, motors, interiors… anything and everything. If anyone can help lead me to a good source or a number of legit sources It would be greatly appreciated.

Imported cars are making waves in the US market, thanks to their fuel efficiency and competitive prices. This year, major Asian car manufacturers posted a jump in their January sales. The Toyota Motor Corporation seems to be setting the pace by breaking its sales record for the said month.

The influx of imported cars in the United States is felt so much by the three biggest car manufacturers based in the country. General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler this January only managed to get a little more than a half of the market share for the mentioned month. In contrast, the demand for imported cars, most notably Japanese ones, is continually growing. This is evident in the 49.4 percent share in the US market of all overseas car manufacturers combined.

The American International Automobile Dealers Association recently released a newsletter that predicted that total sales of all imported cars will amount to more than fifty percent of total sales in the market. The forecast, as stated by the industry’s experts, reported that as soon as March of this year, the Big Three will lose their grip on the major part of the market. One of the main reasons for the prediction comes from the high anticipation of the public for the redesigned Honda Accord. The release of the Toyota Tundra is creating so much hype in the motoring public that it, too, will play a big role in the taking over of import cars of the US market.

While that may be the case, the difference between domestic and overseas car brands is getting smaller. This is due to the fact that auto manufacturers based in the United States produce cars from their plants located in other countries. Meanwhile, Asian car manufacturers have also their plants located in the United States and from there, they can produce the cars that will be sold in the country. As a matter of fact, Asian car manufacturers combined to sell four million vehicles in the US last year and these were all assembled in North American plants. Such is the trend now in the automobile industry therefore expanding the market globally for all car manufacturers.

The report comes on the heels of sales reports posted by different car manufacturers. Toyota has set a new sales record for the month of January with a jump of 9.5 percent over their January 2006 sales output. Honda also sold 100,790 vehicles for the first month this year which is their best ever performance for that period.

While Japanese car companies are racking up huge sales and besting their January 2006 outputs, General Motors and Ford has seen their sales slide from last year’s figures. General Motors posted a drop of 16.6 percent while Ford sales fell 19 percent from January of 2006. With the success that Toyota is enjoying, the carmaker is set to take over the spot of Ford Motor Company as the second largest car manufacturer in the world.

If the current trend continues, Toyota will surpass even General Motors in the leader board. Also, it does seem like increased sales from Honda will help overseas car manufacturers take over the US market. The demand for fuel efficient vehicles are being addressed by these companies hence the continued demand for their cars. Indeed the climb to the top of Asian car makers seems unstoppable and may take an EBC brake rotor and a high quality brake caliper to halt their momentum. But one thing is clear about this, the consumers are the biggest winners in the said scenario, their demand for high quality vehicles is being answered by different car manufacturers whether they are based in the United States or in any other country.

The latest results of the annual J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey of U.S. drivers released Thursday last week has four Honda models topping the rankings for their vehicle segments — more top rankings than captured by any other automaker.

Among the winners for their respective categories were Honda Motor Co.’s newly redesigned CR-V small crossover sport utility vehicle, Ridgeline truck and Odyssey minivan while the subcompact Fit tied with Toyota Motor Corp.’s Yaris for a top spot.

The annual J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey is now in its 12th year – measuring, according to the company itself, “owner delight with the design, content, layout and performance of their new vehicles.” J.D. Power also focuses on the first 90 days of vehicle ownership. The 2007 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout Study is based on responses gathered by mail between February and May from more than 91,000 people who bought or leased new 2007 model-year vehicles.

On the other hand, Mercedes-Benz and BMW AG each had three models topping the premium segments. Mercedes-Benz was also a winner with its midsize E-Class car and large S-class car, and its GL-Class sharing another top spot with General Motors Corp.’s Cadillac Escalade EXT in a segment that includes large luxury SUVs and crossovers. Meanwhile BMW’s 3 Series and 6 Series cars, and X5 midsize crossover SUV also all received top rankings.

GM, Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG each had two vehicles topping the rankings, which were divided into 19 segments.

Porsche AG was once again the highest-ranking nameplate — its third consecutive year. Toyota’s Scion nabbed the category for the most improved nameplate, with BMW close at its heels at No. 2, followed by DaimlerChrysler AG’s Mercedes-Benz, Ford’s Jaguar and Toyota’s Lexus.

Meanwhile, American Honda Motor Co.’s luck seems to continue on from the goodwill from its owners to its sales, as it reported sales that were up 7.3 percent to 140,935 units.

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. also had brisk June sales, posting a 245,739 unit sales — up more than 6 percent compared to 223,018 a year ago. Toyota’s Tundra full-size pickup truck led the pack, posting its best month ever with sales of 21,727.

Honda – maker of quality Honda window regulator and Toyota are both benefiting from the fuel-conscious U.S. consumers who are now choosing lighter vehicles and hybrids over most automakers’ trucks in June.

Domestic automakers on the other hand, reducing their reliance on sales to rental-car fleets, continued to post declines. But Ford Motor Co. managed to hold off Toyota for second place, with an advantage of less than 2,000 vehicles.

I am looking to purchase a 2009 Toyota Camry SE. I just went to the dealership and they gave me a $305/mo for 48 months with 5K down and 3K net of a trade in (I am getting 10K for my 2005 Toyota Camry).

That’s $22,640 post tax and all the costs. This would be off the lot price I would pay.

Is it this good?

Thanks!