Glad to find this forum. I've been lurking the past few weeks gleaning info. The firm I work for has changed they vehicle policy. No more rentals - employees must provide their own cars. The firm will reimburse x number miles per week at x cents per mile. So I've been hunting for something big enough to be comfortable yet easy on the gas. Something with a good track record as far as reliability etc yet affordable. I've driven too many Chevy, Chrysler and Ford rentals the past several years to know I wasn't going to waste time looking there. The Ford Fusion was fairly close but Ford & I parted company years ago over the C4 transmission problem. Checking various web sites & forums as well as friends/neighbors, I found that the Honda Accord & Toyota Camry are well thought of, about the size I feel I need and just a little more than I wanted to spend.

My wife & I had been looking at the Odyssey minivan at the local Honda dealer before my company announced the new vehicle policy. So the grandsons will just have to continue riding in Nana's '93 Cougar for a bit longer. We began looking at Accords but none on the lot in our price range at the time we were finally ready to buy. Salesman called that they had a 2004 Camry just in on a trade so we went in and looked it over. Nice, clean with 53,000 miles. After the usual afternoon of wrestling and quibbling over price, financing & dealer added crap like clear coat treatments etc, we struck a deal, signed more papers than our last house deal and were the proud new owners a "CERTIFIED" used car. ("we checked 120 points and can honestly certify that, without a doubt, this _is_, indeeed, a used car")

A fewdays later, I headed to my next project...Longview, Tx. Stopped at Pep Boys and picked up a big can of TECRON to help clean out the injectors etc. Also replaced the cabin air filter for $21 (easy to get at thru the glove box and was REAL filthy)

Drove from Phoenix, AZto Longview, TX in 2 days. Stopping twice for gas. Trip used about 2 2/3 tanks of CHEVRON gas. Just over 35 mpg on one tank full. Around the area here, 70 percent city/30 percent highway, I'm getting around 24 mpg. Am I happy with the Camry? YOU BET!!!

Thanks again for the great forum & to all who have posted the many items I've found valuble while researching as I lurked.