- Doors and Seats
4 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
2.2i, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
93kW, 189Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (91) 7.7L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Manual
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
Toyota Camry 1993 – 1997
Watertight value at fire-sale prices
It's becoming something of a theme in this column, but wander down to your nearest non-dealership, used-car yard and it's a fair chance you'll come across older cars from marques such as Range Rover, Benz, and even V8-powered Holdens and Falcons.
Just a few short months ago these were worth proper money, but are now priced for a fire sale.
Petrol prices are what it's all about, with used-car buyers flocking to smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient models.
The smaller used cars are holding more value than they have in the past, but there are a few caught in the middle between big and small that are also suffering.
A good example is the first wide-bodied Camry. Toyota pushed it as a big car, even in its four-cylinder form. After all, you wouldn't market a vehicle as "the wide-body Camry" unless it was to make a point about its bulk, would you?
And so, a model whose residual values have held up better than others is now scratching around in Brand-X car yards with the most wretched of them.
This is good for used-car buyers because the perception about the wide-bodied Camry being a big car is only partly correct.
Its bodyshell is undoubtedly long, wide and roomy but the basic car is still a four-cylinder Toyota, with much better fuel economy than its six-cylinder or V8-powered Holden and Ford rivals.
It's not a driver's car, but as a family vehicle for less than $6000 the Camry takes a lot of beating.
The V6 versions don't use much more fuel than the four-cylinder engines, and are nicer cars to drive, but they are more expensive to buy.
The V6 engine is smoother and more powerful but the overall package is much the same as for the four-cylinder versions.
This makes the four-cylinder Camrys sold here from 1993 to 1997 the best buys. The latest models are a decade old but this is where Toyota's reputation for going the distance counts.
The 1993 line-up kicked off with the Executive, a fleet favourite and popular with private buyers who wanted a cheap Camry.
This means a second-hand Executive, with its standard power-steering and mirrors, is likely to have a five-speed manual transmission but could be missing air-conditioning.
A step up is the CSi, which adds central locking and metallic paint.
Next is the CS-X, which came with the sort of kit most buyers will look for, including driver's air-bag, cruise control, power windows and a half-decent stereo - look for one with air-conditioning.
The top of the four-cylinder range is the Ultima. It included standard air-conditioning, alloy wheels and an alarm system. The Camry's trim is dull, grey and plastic but the dashboard layout is logical and the front seats are quite comfortable.
The rear seat is a little more cramped than some other big cars but this is only a problem for large adults travelling long distances.
A four-cylinder Camry won't sip fuel like a small car, nor guzzle like some of the big sixes.
Expect to use about 11.0 L/100 km around the city, and less than 9.0 L/100 km on highway runs.
Don't be put off by a Camry with about 200,000 kilometres on its odometer. If serviced properly, it is easily capable of twice that distance. A car with about 170,000 kilometres clocked up can rightly be regarded as a baby.
We can't even tell you what's likely to go wrong with a Camry, because nothing seems to. Not with any frequency, anyway.
What to pay
Prices for an exceptional choice of good, clean examples hover around the $5000-$6000 mark. You can spend more, but why bother? Spending less will depend on finding a private seller who is desperate to quit the car.
The competition
The Mitsubishi Magna is the hot tip but the Camry is a more mechanically proven package and may still being worth something in a few years. A tougher decision would be a '93 Camry versus, say, a '98 Magna with fewer kilometres for a surprisingly similar price. Even then, we'd probably still take the Camry.