2013 Toyota Camry XLE

Of course the Camry is riding on a reputation that may no longer be deserved. The 1990s have ended, and the competition is either catching up rapidly (Sonata, '14 Malibu) or has passed the Camry already (Fusion, Accord et. al.). If I had to buy one, I'll take an Avalon instead. Midsizers to me are too small these days, especially in the era of the CUV, which was invented by Toyota and Honda as a response to the BOF SUV boom of the 90s.

30 mpg and expected to be reliable with a butt load of room inside. Can be had for good deals.

No nonsense. No risk means big reward.

Is it any wonder they move millions of these?

An American icon. A cousin of mine worked for Toyota in Kentucky building these for the last 20+ years...got a new one every couple of years. I wouldn't want one, but I understand their appeal..

As a mid size sedan, they are not as roomy as people say they are for those over 6' tall. The body is anything but nice looking. One of the most bland, conformist cars you can get.

If you could look at who is buying them, I would not be surprised that most of the buyers are of Asian decent. The drive to fit in and be uniform is what sells this car and it's total false reputation for being so reliable. I think there are cars that are far superior than this one. Eventually it will fail.

Oh... a Camry... how... interesting....

As a mid size sedan, they are not as roomy as people say they are for those over 6' tall. The body is anything but nice looking. One of the most bland, conformist cars you can get.

If you could look at who is buying them, I would not be surprised that most of the buyers are of Asian decent. The drive to fit in and be uniform is what sells this car and it's total false reputation for being so reliable. I think there are cars that are far superior than this one. Eventually it will fail.

helluva lot more rear seat room than a 2013 chevy malibu

Affordable, dependable, comfortable. That defines the Camry and its reputation. You can sell a lot of cars on that definition and reputation, unfortunately you cannot design or engineer a car that immediately takes on that persona in the minds of Camry shoppers. You wanna be a Camry? Go build a Malibu with 99% of the owners not having to see a dealer or a mechanic for 15 years and 200,000 miles, then come back in 2028 and be the new Camry.

OK, I may be exaggerating a bit. But such exaggerations may not be too far off from the perception of Camry owners and buyers as far as the reliability and low maintenance of the car. Such legendary reliability may be legend indeed, but we have a Camry in the family... it's a 2003 model with 190,000 something miles. Never broke, never fixed never failed emissions. My in law takes it to an oil change place maybe twice a year paying little attention to mileage between changes. Never done any inspection, never changed the brake fluid, never replaced the transmission fluid, never touched the powersteering fluid, never services the A/C, never went to the dealer or mechanic for routine maintenance. The steering is a little lose from worn tie rods, the parking brake is out of adjustment & essentially does nothing when pulled, the CV boot is torn but they decided to ignore it until the joint makes noise (it hasn't yet) and the windshield washer tank has been dry for years. I think his philosophy is that if the car runs he's not going to fix it. The car has seen a mechanic exactly twice -- to get new brake pads. And they did it the quick and dirty way without turning the rotors or replacing them for about $100 each time, I think the chinese shop they went to probably didn't even measured the disc thickness but hey it's $40 an hour and the cheapest joint in town. The car just won't die, won't even leak oil!

Your 2003 is the polar opposite of my parents best friends who owned a 2006 XLE V6 that they just traded with 78K miles on the odometer. In that 78K miles there car was in for the following issues- left front and right rear wheel bearings, intake manifold gasket failure, plug wires, alternator and battery, spark knock when using 87 octane fuel, leaking tires on corroded alloy wheels and last but not least transmission chugging in and out of overdrive on the open road which turned out to be a prom update. All of these issues just go to prove that Toyota's supposed reliability is hit and miss and that lately there cars have been cheapened and are no better than most of the competition. This brings me to the last paragraph in this write up. There are better sedans available and folks need to open there eyes when sedan shopping.

Like I said... such reputations took decades to build and takes decades to dispel.