Hello all! My wife and I have been gifted a 2000 Camry LE American Edition (5S-FE automatic) with only 76K miles by my parents after they recently moved into an assisted-living facility. I was primarily a Honda owner, having owned five CRX’s over the span of 29 years, now driving a ’97 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T Spyder (convertible). The Camry will replace my wife’s ’02 Saturn SL2 w/ 147K miles. She loves the Camry already.


BTW, I’m a 64 year old mechanical engineer living in Newark, DE, USA, working for a German engineering firm, designing medical analyzer fluidic sub-modules for one of their diagnostic healthcare divisions. I try and do as much car maintenance as possible myself.


How common is it for the headlight stalk to lose the “lock” function for the high beam switch? I gave the car a good inspection during and after the drive home to Delaware from Louisville, KY (667 miles), and noticed that the high beam switch would flash, but not lock on in high beam mode. I’ve already ordered a replacement and have viewed a Richpin Youtube video on how to replace it (very similar to the procedure that I went through to replace the similar stalk in my Eclipse when the turn signal switch failed a couple of years ago).


My dad bought the Camry new at Xmas of ’99 and the car has had very few problems in the nearly 16 years he has owned it. I believe that the only service work needed (other than expected regular maintenance) was an oxygen sensor and for a power window failure. The car's reliability had been a pleasant change for him compared to the many General Motors cars that he had previously owned before getting disgusted with GM (last straw was a transmission problem at only 40K miles!) and buying the Toyota (the last GM car that I personally bought before acquiring the wife’s used Saturn in 2013 was a ’82 Camaro Berlinetta that seemingly was always needing something worked-on).

 

This may seem silly, but I'm gonna say it just in case... if you pull the high beam stalk, the high beams will be on as long as you hold it. If you PUSH the stalk forward, it should stay there with the high beams on...

Sorry if you already knew this, but I'm not familiar with how other cars operate...

 

Thank you for the tip about the high beam switch, richj11. Apparently Toyota chose to design the operation of the Camry's high beam switch COMPLETELY OPPOSITE FROM EVERY OTHER CAR THAT I HAVE DRIVEN IN THE LAST 20 YEARS. Honda, GM, Mitsubishi, they ALL use a switch that the driver PULLS ONCE to engage high beams, then a SECOND PULL disengages them. Pushing the stalk towards the instrument panel is something that I never would have discovered on my own.

A reversed switch operation is the sort of backwards thinking that Ford used years ago when they placed the horn button on the end of the stalk! Occasional Ford vehicle drivers (like rentals) could never find the horn when it was needed! That asinine design only lasted a few years, as it was lambasted thoroughly by the automotive press as a copycat design from some French cars, and a stupid one at that.

I wonder how many other features on the Camry are ***-backwards from the rest of the automotive world? The 5S-FE engine's upside-down oil filter that, when removed, will most likely drip oil down onto the engine block casting doesn't seem like a real smart move, either.

If it sounds like I'm overly critical, I'm an engineer, and its my job to critique poor designs (or designs that are likely to confuse those using them)... and design better, not repeat mistakes. Things like the operation of standard safety features (like headlights) should be just that- standard across an industry, unless there is a damn good reason to deviate. This is the first non-std high beam switch that I've seen since car makers quit using a floor-mounted button to switch high beams on/off.

 

I kind of miss the old floor mounted high beam switch...

I've been nothing but a Toyota guy for about 24 years now (FJ40 Landcruiser, FJ80 Landcruiser, FJ Cruiser, Tundra, Tundra DoubleCab, 4Runner, Spyder, Pickup, Tacoma, Camry(s), Celica, Supra, Corolla and a Lexus thrown in there).

I've had my share of domestic vehicles, and was nothing but disappointed over that time period. I'm sure their quality has improved over the last couple decades, but I'll stick with my tried and true Toyota reliability.

Speaking of that upside down (or right side up, I guess) oil filter, I very recently changed mine and it was a very clean evolution. I've read about these filters having a "drain back valve" to prevent the oil from draining out after turning off the engine, but I do not know it for a fact.

 

I had driven the Camry several times before my dad gifted it to me, mainly to ferry my parents on out-of-town trips (he started to get into accidents- he's now 92), but I had never attempted to use the high beams before.

Regarding GM cars, yeah, I quit buying them after replacing my '82 Camaro with a '85 Honda CRX DX 5-spd. Was really fed-up with having to have repairs made on a regular basis. Damn car had to have the posi-traction differential rebuilt within weeks of taking it home (new from factory), and that was just the start of its problems over 4 years. I must say that GM finally got their **** together with the '02 Saturn SL2 that my wife has been driving- other than having to replace a water pump and the A/C's clutch in the two years we've owned it, the car has been pretty reliable, considering it has 154K on it now. A lot of things on the car are of rather flimsy construction, though. I still would only recommend buying a GM car produced in the last model year of its run, that way GM will have finally corrected all the crap they missed or ignored during the first years of production.

The Camry definitely is a better car than the Saturn, with a higher-quality interior, riding smoother, quieter, and having a smoother-shifting auto transmission, too. Of course, weighing about 600# more, fuel economy takes a 2mpg hit, but is still better than my Eclipse, that although it has only a 2-liter engine, is turbocharged (205hp) and only gets about 25mpg highway compared to the 29-30 of the Camry.

The important thing is that my wife likes the Camry, since she will be the primary driver. And that knowing the history of this particular car, I am confident that it should prove to be a reliable transportation appliance.