Buying a new Toyota Camry. What extra options if any?

[wabbajack]

How about a crossover?

[Texanbybirth]

Do you think the prices at this site are for real?

https://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchres ... 2&zc=30083

BSM, convenience package, and audio upgrade are things that would interest me.

I wouldn't pay over $22k for the car brand new.

[William4u]

... plus over the life of the car the extra gas efficiency saves you more than $1000/year.

That assumes some interesting assumptions. I spend between $400 and $600 a year on gasoline.

I was using the average annual driving mileage that is on fueleconomy.gov (which is approx 15k/yr). Assuming average annual driving and an average cost of gas at $3/gallon over the life of the car (a conservative estimate to be sure), it comes to about $1k/year difference between the hybrid and the less fuel efficient camry.

[Valuethinker]

order to not pay for factory navigation (googlemaps on a smart phone works better). It can take two to four months, but so what?

This was the standard process for buying cars when we were living in Europe. You order exactly what you want and get it in a couple of months. They rarely build to stock. US wastes a lot of capital on automotive inventory.

That's interesting. It's been a long time since I bought a car, but generally I think in Europe they now come in 1-4 standard packages.

This was looking at BMW & Toyota. The choice is stark: head says Toyota, heart says different. But in both cases there were a set of option packages and that was it.

So I am not aware that you can still customize in Europe.

But my dataset is sparse. Anecdote, really.

I think what happened is the manufacturers did a study and found:

- 90% or 95% of cars fit within same feature set
- you could optimize production schedules around say 4 versions of a car and thus increase productivity & reduce parts inventory
- you could systematically upmarket the consumer that way - base model lacks some very desirable features, but by "blended" package pricing you could raise the average sale price in a way that the customer was less sensitive to (that's a general feature of package/ blended pricing; all the evidence shows that people are sensitive to the base price of a product or service, but less sensitive to the "extras")

[finite_difference]

Don't drive the v6 - it isn't an option on the LE. And after you
drive a v6 it is hard to want the 4 cylinder.

The 4-cyl is underpowered. But I hear you can get it going 80mph going down a mountain.

This one made me laugh

Also don’t forget to checkout the Hybrid?

[SpringMan]

You will have to add sales tax to get drive off prices. The combined sales tax rate for Atlanta, GA is 8.9%. This is the total of state, county and city sales tax rates. The Georgia state sales tax rate is currently 4%. The Cobb County sales tax rate is 3%. Also check out the dealerships "doc fee". In Michigan, where I live, the maximum doc fee is $240. Sometimes dealerships include discounts in their best price that you may or may not be eligible for such as employee, military, etc.

[MichCPA]

... plus over the life of the car the extra gas efficiency saves you more than $1000/year.

That assumes some interesting assumptions. I spend between $400 and $600 a year on gasoline.

It might save you over 1,000 a year if we are talking about fleet mileage. If you increase fuel economy from 25MPG to 30 (20%) on the 15,000 average at $3 gallon, you only save $300 a year. If you want to get a larger mileage differential you either need to change car classes or go hybrid. My take is that mileage is something to consider when you buy, but not a reason in itself to change cars.

[Slacker]

IIHS numbers:

Blind Spot Monitor reduces lane change accidents by 14% and reduces lane change accidents with injury by 23%
Automatic Emergency Braking reduces front to rear accidents by 50% and reduces these accidents with injury by 56%
Lane Departure warning reduces single vehicle, sideswipe and head on crashes by 11% and the same with injuries are reduced by 27%
Rear view cameras reduce backing accidents by 17%
Rear cross traffic alert reduces backing accidents by 22%

The insurance data seems pretty clear that these electronic aids give great advantages. I personally will not buy a car without some combination of these features ever again. I'd appreciate it very much if others did the same as it clearly would be in my own best interest as well.

Source: "IIHS summary of crash avoidance technology benefits data"

[snackdog]

We had a 2018 as a rental last weekend and it was thoroughly underwhelming. It had all sorts of ground effects - lip spoiler and trunk spoiler, but apparently a 4 cylinder motor. It was completely anemic, even on level ground. Interior was really grim with hard plastic everywhere and stiff, flat foam seats. The controls for radio, etc were also pretty sucky. The volume button was sort of hidden behind the steering wheel.

On the plus side, it got decent mileage.

My high mileage 2010 GS350 is more comfortable and enjoyable to drive by a vast margin and also does well on gas.

[Slacker]

We had a 2018 as a rental last weekend and it was thoroughly underwhelming. It had all sorts of ground effects - lip spoiler and trunk spoiler, but apparently a 4 cylinder motor. It was completely anemic, even on level ground. Interior was really grim with hard plastic everywhere and stiff, flat foam seats. The controls for radio, etc were also pretty sucky. The volume button was sort of hidden behind the steering wheel.

On the plus side, it got decent mileage.

My high mileage 2010 GS350 is more comfortable and enjoyable to drive by a vast margin and also does well on gas.

Just curious, but which Camry LE options are you suggesting?

[new2bogle]

I didn't look at the options that are options and are not standard, but I will say that I drove a 2018 Camry rental car for over 400+ miles and it had the safety features such as adaptive cruise control, lane change alert/assist, parking assist beeps, backup camera, navigation, reverse automatic braking, lots of airbags, etc. I will say the car was squirrelly driving at 80 mph coming down the mountain, so if there was an option to fix that, then I would get it.

This is a user error, not a fault with the car. Unless the brakes failed...?

[new2bogle]

We had a 2018 as a rental last weekend and it was thoroughly underwhelming. It had all sorts of ground effects - lip spoiler and trunk spoiler, but apparently a 4 cylinder motor. It was completely anemic, even on level ground. Interior was really grim with hard plastic everywhere and stiff, flat foam seats. The controls for radio, etc were also pretty sucky. The volume button was sort of hidden behind the steering wheel.

On the plus side, it got decent mileage.

My high mileage 2010 GS350 is more comfortable and enjoyable to drive by a vast margin and also does well on gas.

Even though your Lexus is 8 years old, are you really comparing a $20k car vs an ~$60k car?

[snackdog]

Even though your Lexus is 8 years old, are you really comparing a $20k car vs an ~$60k car?

No, I am comparing a new $20K car to a used $10K car because that is what I paid for it.

[Coinsinthefountain]

For what it's worth, we bought a 2016 Camry LE with no options except we wanted nice looking wheels that didn't have hubcaps. They threw these in at no extra cost. Ours is a four-door, by the way. They wanted something in the mid-$23,000 neighborhood but we got them down to $21,000. We also insisted they take our new American Airlines credit card for $3,000 of the purchase price, which got us 60,000 miles, a free roundtrip to Europe. That alone was worth $1,000. Car is running great and we especially like the adjustable driver's seat.

[new2bogle]

Even though your Lexus is 8 years old, are you really comparing a $20k car vs an ~$60k car?

No, I am comparing a new $20K car to a used $10K car because that is what I paid for it.

Still not apples-to-apple. A not too used car sold new for $60k is better than a new car sold new for ~$20k (or $25k, not sure of 2019 camry pricing). A lexus is not a toyota.

[jimb_fromATL]

I didn't look at the options that are options and are not standard, but I will say that I drove a 2018 Camry rental car for over 400+ miles and it had the safety features such as adaptive cruise control, lane change alert/assist, parking assist beeps, backup camera, navigation, reverse automatic braking, lots of airbags, etc. I will say the car was squirrelly driving at 80 mph coming down the mountain, so if there was an option to fix that, then I would get it.

Top-rated tires from Tire Rack?

Livesoft, why were you driving 80 mph on a mountain?

This problem is caused by a loose nut at the steering wheel. It can be solved by an impact adjustment with a manually-operated attitude adjustment tool that can be obtained very inexpensively at virtually any lumberyard or home improvement store.

Simply put, the next time it happens, somebody needs to gently whomp the driver upside the head with a 2x4.

jimb

[Dottie57]

I didn't look at the options that are options and are not standard, but I will say that I drove a 2018 Camry rental car for over 400+ miles and it had the safety features such as adaptive cruise control, lane change alert/assist, parking assist beeps, backup camera, navigation, reverse automatic braking, lots of airbags, etc. I will say the car was squirrelly driving at 80 mph coming down the mountain, so if there was an option to fix that, then I would get it.

Top-rated tires from Tire Rack?

Livesoft, why were you driving 80 mph on a mountain?

This problem is caused by a loose nut at the steering wheel. It can be solved by an impact adjustment with a manually-operated attitude adjustment tool that can be obtained very inexpensively at virtually any lumberyard or home improvement store.

Simply put, the next time it happens, somebody needs to gently whomp the driver upside the head with a 2x4.

jimb

You confirmed my thoughts.....

[monkey_business]

OP,

Some might want the most stripped down Camry they can buy, i.e. just a pure appliance. Some might want leather. Some might want an upgraded sound system. Some might want more power and want the V6 version.

What do you want? It's impossible to answer what options you should pay for without knowing what you're after.

[sport]

What do you want? It's impossible to answer what options you should pay for without knowing what you're after.

Also, what can you afford?

[dustinst22]

lexus is not a toyota.

Actually that's precisely what it is, no matter how much lipstick.

[eddot98]

OP, if you live in a place where it gets cold in the winter, consider heated seats. Until we bought a used car that had them, we hadn’t realized how nice they are. Now, it’s a must have for any car we buy.