buying THREE (3) unusual camrys! HELP!

[jecht]

Hello. My name is Josh and I am a college student in Ohio. One day,looking for a car me and my friend went to some local used car lots in the Kent/Tallmadge/Akron Ohio area. As you know it's kinda crappy weather but the day i went, the girl I was with, Ashley Marie (my friend) was wearing a tube-top-dress and sandals cos it was sunny for once !

Anyway after we looked at the ones around Kent/Tallmadge, we both looked around at roughly 10 used car lots around Southern and Western suburbs in Akron/Montrose and also Akron/Mogadore. At one of them they had a Mitsubishi Starion ESi, a Contour GL Sport, a Lumina 3.4liter, a Grand Am SE1, a bunch of buick centurys, some trucks, a suburban left to dry (body rot everywhere) an RV, and three Camrys, sitting off to the side as if they were left there to rot.

Two of them were 92-96 models because I could tell their rounded shape. The third one was a 97-01 model. We looked through the windows at each of them. All THREE of them had manual transmissions! that must be weird cos I always thought camrys had automatics!
One of them said it was an SE and I could see power windows and locks and a CD player, but the other two had manual windows and one had no tape player and i'm not even sure about air? the third one, the neweset one did have a tape player.

The neweset one the 97-01 was not an SE, it said it was a CE. Is there also a VE Camry during 97-01 like the Corollas?
What was the 92-96 one that was not the SE? Are manual 5-spd camrys rare?
On the back of the newer one it said it was a CE but also a V6. The SE was a V6 also. The third camry, the one without any badging, i assume had no V6. The third camry's side molding was black while the rest of the vehicle was flat gray. The other cars' side moldings were body-colored. (The SE was silver and the CE V6? was blue-gray).

The SE camry was not in as good shape as the other two. its paint was fading and there were a bunch of dents. The SE had some black trim stuff around the windows, but the other two camrys looked regular. There was some kind of spoiler thingy on the back of the SE and it had black V6 badge not chrome.

The owner was dealing with another customer and we were in a hurry to get back home so we quickly left. The asking price for the SE Camry was 7500. (92-96 model). The unmarked 92-96 model was 3300 and the 97-01 manual model was 9000. Does anyone have any experience with manual Camrys? I was looking for an automatic though but the manuals seemed like a fun idea. I might reconsider cos the manual camry might get me my 350 mi/tank like my civic but with camry room and quality. you know with high gas prices and the opec gouging the USA.
I can drive a manual (my friend's 98 cavalier) but i'm not a veteran...yet!

thanks for your time and God bless,

Josh Echt

PS my email is [email protected]

My current car is a Civic but I like Toyotas also. I don't mind American cars but I like the tactility of the Japanese makes after I got hooked on the civic.

PPS My other friend Val wants a RIGHT-HAND DRIVE camry or accord or civic! If you could let me know email me!

[Brian R.]

Watch out for the 97-01 Camry. Some of those models are infamous for having engines prone to sludge. Avoid it.

Manual Camrys are a little hard to find, but not rare. The CE models with manual windows are usually on a Dealer lot for advertising purposes so that the Dealer can say he has Camrys for $16K new or something. Then when someone shows up, bait and switch to a more expensive model. Most people will upgrade.

In any event, the transmissions are reliable if they've been had their scheduled maintenance done.

Here's a site to reference these cars and their value:
http://www.edmunds.com/apps/usedmatr....research..1.*

[WickedNYCowboy]

The Manuals are hard to come by especially around here. But not by anymeans rare. The Manuals and the 6 cyl are alot of fun to drive. I wish I had a manual car.

[zeek1403]

about the sludge.... I have a 1998 Camry (4cyl) and I have run Mobil1 5-30 in it since 26K miles. Now has 47K (not driven much). No sludge problems so far.

[don24mac]

Also about the sludging problem that was mentioned above, it's important that any used Camry you buy from the '97 through '01 models has a good maintenance record you can check. Specifically, has the oil been changed often and at the proper intervals. It seems that the sludging problem occurs when the oil hasn't been changed as often as it should be. If the seller of the car can show you a record that demonstrates oil changes at 3000 to 4000 mileage intervals throughout the life of the car, sludging shouldn't be a problem.

For the record, my 2000 Camry with 88,500 miles has no sludging problem. I use a high quality oil (Vavoline DuraBlend) and change it about every 4k miles.

[Brian R.]

Getting reliable maintenance records from a small used-car dealer falls under the "Fat Chance" category

[visonofdisorder]

hey, i have a 92 camry manual camry with 125k i recently got it from my mom who has owned it since new, its pretty nice i actually plan on doing some stuff to it, though right now it need a new linkage and shifter bearings