1998 Toyota Camry

Thanks to this car and the 1990 Camry I owned prior to this one, I'm a devoted fan of Toyota. It's 2009 right now, and my 1998 Camry has over 110,000 miles on it, and has shown no signs of quitting. Since hitting 100,000 miles, I've had to replace some parts (most recently the serpentine belt), but this baby has held up incredibly well over time. I even drove it in Upstate New York for four years! If it can make it through four harsh, salty NY winters, then it can make it through anything.

I first purchased this car used in 2003 when my other, older Camry was totaled in an accident. That one had had some problems in the way of breakdowns, but was generally reliable, so I figured I would buy a newer model of the same car. Boy, am I glad I did! The 1998 is a huge improvement over the 1990. It’s much more comfortable, for starters. I’ve driven this car from California to New York and back, and was perfectly comfy for the whole drive. It also gets fairly decent gas mileage, clocking in at around 25 mpg during freeway driving. I would absolutely recommend this car to people who travel a lot, as the comfortable seats and mileage make it an excellent value.

Overall, the car is a great value. When I purchased mine, it had 44,000 miles on it, and I’ve had hardly any mechanical issues since then. Like I said before, at 110,000 I had to replace the serpentine belt, and at 100,000 I had to replace the struts, but the car hasn’t once broken down. In both cases, I could tell by the feel of the car that something was off, and took it into a garage to be fixed. And trust me, I am not someone who is super in touch with my car – if I could feel that something was off, anybody could.

I think the only real issue I had with the car was that when I first purchased it, at 21, it sort of felt like a Mom Car. It’s not the most stylish of vehicles, though it does look a lot better than the 1990 Camry that I owned previously. It’s also one of the most common cars out there! Mine is grey, and I swear, it seems like every other person in the U.S. has a 1998 grey Toyota Camry. When I come out of a shopping center, I have to look for my bumper stickers or I’ll have no idea which grey Camry is mine. There’s always at least three or four others in any given parking lot. Of course, this is only a problem if you forget where you parked your car. If you don’t, then you can take it as a sign of what I’ve been saying: the car is extremely reliable. It’s over 10 years old and you still see a ton of them everywhere. That many people can’t be wrong, right?