My friend inherited that same model from his mom when she passed away and he calls it a “Japanese Buick” so seems it would be a perfect marriage for you! Touring models is desirable... quality should be fine the Camry is USA made and doesn’t have much in the way of issues. Good power and nice luxury options, I think this gen came standard with remote start and laser cruise control etc on the Touring model +

The Avalon should not have any issues. There was a Revscene member who had one since brand new and was a US-built vehicle. I believe several years ago, he mentioned it has 280,000KM on it, and all they did to it was the usual oil change, spark plugs, filters, and wear-and-tear items that come with age. Last I recall, his family still owned it, and his parents went on road trips regularly across the US on it.

so much plastic doe

https://images.craigslist.org/00O0O_...z2_600x450.jpg

No major quality issues that I know of, some of them have sunshade tabs that break, and with any 2GR-FE, the water pump can start to leak at that age.

Are they pigs on gas though?

19MPG city/28 Highway. Marginally worse than the equivalent V6 Camry.

My family got one as a rental, back in 2007 or 2008. We drove it 5000kms around Eastern Canada (Toronto to PEI and back) and it was comfortable. Good car for highway.

my dad has a 96 toyota avalon with 400,000 ish kms on it i think and its still going strong whenever he boots around in it.

Thanks for the info! I dig the Touring spec

I might just go take a look at it anyway and make a possible cash offer :considered:

Haha! Awesome. Baja package is worth the money. We're heading to Harrison East this afternoon for the weekend. FSR FTW!!

Well, here's my 2017 Corolla iM.

I brought it in for a thorough wash after a road trip and had it cleaned up nicely. I also had the car lowered on a set of H&R sport springs, which lowered it about 1.4", and dialed in the alignment to really bring out the suspension capabilities of the car. It went from a Plain Jane grocery getting Toyota to a go-fast hatchback. Turn-in is nice and crisp, and taking those highway exit and entry clovers are so much more fun now. Still a Corolla though. And in the background is a 993 which you can kind of see a hint of red just above the front hood. :alone:

You got a body in the trunk?

Something like that :inoutugh:

I have an 09 Corolla S(Sport) 5spd, sunroof, boring grey/silver, Definately shows Toyota's cost cutting measures in its efforts to become the #1 manufacturer. My biggest complaint is this was the only model year where they didn't include a dash clock. Instead of being provided useful information like outside temp, mpg, how many kms I can go based on current fuel level , etc., I have to have the clock displayed instead. Sure I could buy a clock and mount it on the dash, but I'm not a fan of cheap add-ons. I drove a basic model 2013 as a courtesy vehicle and I was definately jealous of the heated seats and traction control (and clock of course). Spirited acceleration from a stop tends to get nothing but wheelspin and and very little in forward momentum, where traction control would make a huge difference.

Before that I had a 97 Tercel CE in a weird salmon-pink-red colour. Great on gas, very reliable. So lacking in features, it didn't even have airbags. Until owning this car I had always thought a driver-side airbag was mandatory at the time.

My first Toyota was an 88 Celica GT-4 (All Trac). I named her Cecilia after the Simon & Garfunkel song because she was always breaking my heart. Bought it off somone on RS who concealed that it had overheating issues. Went from driving an air-cooled Beetle with virtually zero chance of overheating to spending a lot of time and money trying to fix a water-cooled system.

shot in the dark but does anyone know if 2020 RAV4 Hybrid will still be built in Japan?

this article from 6mos ago says they're expecting to shift to Kentucky but i wonder if there's any delay

https://kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-...ernor&prId=905

helping extended family cross-shop CX-5, Forester and this, thanks

2019 Canadian-market hybrids are built in Canada, since they're using two Ontario factories to turn out a combination of the gas model and the hybrid. I believe 25% of the components used are from Japan, however.

Currently, the only new vehicles that are Japan-built are all versions of the Prius, C-HR (shifted away from Turkey), 4Runner, and Corolla Hatchback.

any known issues on the new architecture?

After towing our camping trailer this summer I'm strongly considering the Magnuson supercharger. It's fine on the flat but any hill climb will have you in 2nd gear doing 60kph. Not terrible but it's hurts the ego. Lol!!

Other than that, the 4Runner is easily the best vehicle I have ever bought.

The GA-K platform has been out for a couple of years with the Camry/ES350/Avalon so platform wise, it's been solid. The main issues I've been hearing on it relate to the gas model with the torque-vectoring front diff (Trail and Limited trims), and the odd noise from the rear springs on both versions. Otherwise, nothing has come up about them.

went to a vancouver dealer hoping to try one, they don't even have a demo around
lmao @ waiting 6mos for a rav4