New Camry?

Trust me, there are alot more Toyotas out there than Hondas. Toyota produces roughly 7.1 million cars/light commercial vehicles each year, the 2nd largest in the world after GM which makes about 9 million. Honda is ranked 8th in the world at about 3.3 million each year.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_autom...by_manufacturer

 

I don't like the new Honda Accord design, with those big, ugly taillights. I guess its that I don't like Honda in general. Its just my personal bias. Thier designs and cars are just bland and unoriginal. In my opinion, Toyota/Lexus has made much better cars than Honda/Acura. Toyota has made so many legendary cars like the Supra, the Celica, the Lexus SC400, and the Lexus LS400. Along with that, the Corolla has maintained itself as the most successful and best selling nameplate in automotive history at 32 million. The Civic is far behind at just 16 million. Also, the Camry has been the best selling car in the last 10 years, taking the lead over the Accord. Sure Honda makes reliable cars as well, but it takes more than reliablity to create legends.

Those statistics are from 2005, which are probably still close to todays figures.

 

There may be more Toyotas out there, but in my area, I notice more Hondas than Toyotas.

I think Toyota design is much better than Honda, as well.

g'day,

camry gain half the pie in medium car category (4cyl) here in state of queensland australia, and i think it is also gaining the same in other states.

the toyota aurion ("first light" in greek) also shared the same platform w/ the current series camry and w/ V6 engine clinch the best large car of the year (07) beating the new series billion dollar baby of GM holden the commodore. it is voted best by majoritty of the motoring organization. only the rev heads from wheels magazine voted for the commodore.

rey t

Another update - GREAT NEWS! We got a new stick shift Camry last week, and still have the stick shift Corolla. 2 Toyotas and both manual - doesn't get any better.

I see a lot of Hondas being driven around. The Accord seems pretty common.There are probably more Hondas around here than Toyotas.

I think the top selling vehicle in Canada last year was the Ford F150. The Honda Civic...70,000 and the Corolla...40,000. In answer to my buddy at work's question..The reason you seem to see more Corollas on the road is that they have kept the body style the same for the 5th year in a row now. I don't mind that as it doesn't age your car that much. It's like being born on February 29th.

 

 

Another update - GREAT NEWS! We got a new stick shift Camry last week, and still have the stick shift Corolla. 2 Toyotas and both manual - doesn't get any better.

I suppose your wife settled for a standard to keep you happy.

 

Maybe she will actually like it and learn to have fun driving it.

After a while a stick shift gets to be like a habit to drive - easy.

I think the top selling vehicle in Canada last year was the Ford F150. The Honda Civic...70,000 and the Corolla...40,000. In answer to my buddy at work's question..The reason you seem to see more Corollas on the road is that they have kept the body style the same for the 5th year in a row now. I don't mind that as it doesn't age your car that much. It's like being born on February 29th.

A 5-year production cycle isn't that uncommon. Year-to-year, cars always get newer features, facial upgrades, or engine tuneups. The changes in generations have more to do with the new movements of automotive styling. For instance, look at many cars of the 1970s and 1980s. Back then, automotive styling became stagnated on simple to build boxy designs, a backlash from the overly rounded "futuristic" designs of the 1950s and the muscle car fade of the 1960s. Many cars in the 70s-80s had huge generational production cycles and even when they were redesigned, the newer design was almost a copy of the old one. It wasn't until the 1990s that challenges came to the auto industry to begin making more complicated, modern designs. The best example is the BMW 7-series. The E3 (1967-1976) and the E23 (1977-1986) had huge 9 year production cycles. Since then, the generations have been redesigned every 6-7 years.

 

It seems today, the designs are beginning to stagnate again and production cycles are growing. Alot of the more revolutionary designs that came out around the turn of the millenium are bringing less "wows" than before. For instance, the new Audis look almost the exact same as their precessors.

Autos - like many other items - have planned obsolescence.

That means they are designed to be out of style and a 5-year cycle is a reasonable time frame.

People (in general) do not keep their cars for more than 5 years.

I have had a a van for 12 years and also have had some cars for 6 months.

Average it all together and (for me) it works out to just over a year per car.

I have had over 28 cars since 1975 (when I got my first car).

Usually I have more than 1 car at a time - one project car and a daily driver.

Sometimes one for sale when I purchase another one - hence two at the same time.

My plan is that I don't buy cars until they are obsolete

I let other people depreciate them prior to me taking ownership. I then drive them 2 to 3 times further than the odometer stated at purchase.

I'll probably buy newer vehicles when my commuter miles lessen but as it stands today, I'll keep buying 7th gens until they aren't available.

Jay in MA

Autos - like many other items - have planned obsolescence.

Another update - GREAT NEWS! We got a new stick shift Camry last week, and still have the stick shift Corolla. 2 Toyotas and both manual - doesn't get any better.

I suppose your wife settled for a standard to keep you happy.

 

Maybe she will actually like it and learn to have fun driving it.

After a while a stick shift gets to be like a habit to drive - easy.

 

Actually, she decided to get the manual Camry because of cost and because the automatic seems to have issues, but really liked the Camry otherwise. Of course, I am really happy because I will get to drive it often!!

I still have to do some re-training with her on how to properly drive a stick, though.