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Originally Posted by jpchleapas
True but if you factor in the monthly car payments for the cost of new Camry diesel will that offset the extra money we spend to fill up our MB diesel cars?
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Originally Posted by t walgamuth
this camry thing is brand new?
what do they cost?
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Take it easy guys. Indeed, very few people know that this car exists. LOL Unfortunately it won't be mine for much longer. Even I didn't know they made that car until it was brought to my attention.
Here's the story (long): I have a friend that works on cars big time. He is a big Toyota fan and owns many of them (three Camrys, two trucks, one of which is a 1981 diesel truck). One day he came to my house unannounced and asked me to help him out. He saw the Camry for sale on eBay and wanted to buy it but had no money. So, since the Camry still needed some work to be fully operational, we made a deal: I pay for the Camry initially, he'll fix it up and after that I'll keep it until he comes up with the money to pay me back, after which he will then take the car. He will raise the money by selling off some of his fleet of cars. I figured it was a good deal because I'd get the chance to live with the car for a while and besides, I still would have lent him the money he needed without even wanting those terms as he is a good friend of mine and I've done it many times before. But we did it anyway. Car was bought in Milan, TN and we there a month ago and picked it up. Took quite a lot of work to get it running perfectly and to fix all the electrical nightmares on it but this guy succeeded at doing all within 5 days.
When we got it, it wasn't running, but that was because of the diesel. Horribly bad!! Wasn't even green, it looked purplish.
Brand new diesel, new fuel filters, air filter, battery, killed the EGR and some vacuum lines, Amsoil in the engine after engine flush, differential and transmission, new timing belt and water pump, coolant flush, timing adjustment, some ALDA tweaking, some IP adjustment and the car was not just running, but running smoothly with very little smoke and good power. Get this: the injectors were so dirty that it took three rounds of diesel purge to have the diesel purge being returned looking clean!! Engine has zero leaks and the car has low mileage for its age. Much in the engine bay looked like MB's own layout: the IP looks exactly the same and is from Bosch, etc. Engine has valve lashes and doesn't need valve adjustments. In the auction, the seller mentioned that he nearly overheated the engine a few times, so we sent off a sample of the oil in the engine when we purchased it for analysis. Sample came back with 0 coolant, so no damage was ever done.
So I am in possession of the car now.
I've driven it for 3 straight weeks and over the same type of driving in which my 300SD does just 22-24mpg, after 3 tank re-fills and 840 miles this Camry has done 40.8mpg, 40.7mpg and 41.1mpg. It is EPA rated 30/36 mpg but it is whooping butt.
And oh, it isn't a new car. It is a 1986 Toyota Camry diesel with a 2.0L SOHC 8 Valve engine with an aluminum head and iron block. Power is just the same as that for the 300SD as both cars have the same power/torque to weight ratios. In actual driving, they felt the same power wise. The Camry engine is somewhat louder due to less soundproofing than the MB but it isn't unbearable. Car drives quite well overall. The car has much better gearing than our MBs though, doing 65MPH at just 2,000 rpm in overdrive. 80MPH is at 3,100 rpm. But due to having less soundproofing, the engine and the wind give it a noisier interior on a highway cruise.
Too bad I can't keep it, but it has been nice driving it. The guy has already come up with the money so I should be handing it over in the next few days.
But he deserves the car. He spent about 6 hours each day for 5 days fixing it up. That's a lot of labor. Total cost of car, excluding labor but including purchase price, parts and cost of pick up: $2300.
tom w, the Camry weighs 2400 pounds. And sorry, but it has discs all around and no mushy rear suspension. This was a well equipped Camry for its day, as indicated by the fact that it has discs all around as well as a tachometer.
1986 Toyota Camry Turbodiesel