Today she just turned over 200,000 miles. I got her new in 1994--a Camry LE 4-cylinder 2-door coupe, and put mostly highway miles on her.
She still has the old get-up-and-go; I had her up to 100 mi./hr. the other day without strain, and she had plenty left to go. There's a big hill on I-5 which I regularly traverse, and I stay in the fast lane at around 70 mph; in fact, she still has enough power to accelerate to more than 75 mph while going uphill.
This car does not burn oil. I know this for a fact because I have always done my own oil changes (and spark plug changes--no black, oily residue on the old plugs). From the beginning, after the break-in period, I've used nothing but synthetic oil. I really became convinced after my first oil change. Since the car was new, I kept careful track of my gas mileage out of curiosity. After I did my first oil change, my gas mileage increased by
4 mi./gal. (That's with synthetic oil.) At first I used Castrol Syntec, but when I heard (on this newsgroup) that Castrol changed its original PAO formula, I switched to Mobil 1 which still uses PAO. I also use OEM Denso oil filters, which I get online at .I use Mobil 1 ATF, which I also get online at . (Living in a rural area makes it difficult to find locally precisely the auto parts I want. The Internet is a great invention--thanks, Mr. Gore.) I have never had any transmission problems.
I use Denso Iridium 0.4 mm high performance spark plugs, available at . I noticed a small increase in power and gas mileage after switching to these from the standard platinum plugs. However, the 0.4-mm-thin electrode necessitates changing the plugs every
30,000 miles. There is a Denso iridium plug with fatter 0.7 mm electrodes which, it is claimed, needs to be replaced no less than at an incredible 120,000 miles.I had the cooling system flushed and refilled twice at 60,000 miles and
120,000 miles with distilled water and Prestone antifreeze. Never had a problem with overheating.The timing belt was replaced once at about 155,000 miles after the original one broke. Since this is a non-interference engine, there was no damage from the unexpected break.
I have heard a lot of good things about the Techron additive in Chevron gasoline, so I have used Chevron gas exclusively (although once, and only once, I filled it up with Texaco) from the beginning. I don't know if it's the Techron, but I have never had problems with clogged fuel injectors. I guess it at least doesn't hurt.
I use Toyo 800 Ultra tires, which I get from my local Les Schwab. My last set went 90,000 miles and still had adequate tread, but one of them blew out after I accidentally ran over a piece of truck tire (retread); I guess some of the steel belt punctured the sidewall. I get 4-wheel alignments every few months along with tire rotations and balancing, and that keeps the tires in good shape.
The only problem I've ever had with this car is that once the driver's side power window ceased to function. It cost a painful $400 to fix, but it happened only once. Oh yes, also the power antenna is stuck in the raised position. Other than these things, this car has been a pure joy to own and drive, and it looks like it'll go at least another hundred grand.
When I finally do retire her with honor, I'm guessing that I'll get another TOYOTA!