Old Man Bored to death by Appliance Camry.

I agree totally....silver and gray cars are abundant and boring IMO.....I like red, bright blue and green etc.....even white....

Since the states are desperate for road dollars and want to tax everything from fuel economy to battery size they might as well make a “grayscale tax”

$250 a year if your car is not a real color, that would get rid of all the white and gray crap plugging the market.

Since they already tax a particular type of transmission they should go full out and tax automatics and AWD as well then tax how many doors your vehicle has,

Could have lots of fun with all these extra taxes.
 
Interesting. I have migrated in exactly the opposite direction.

The older I get the less concerned I am about economy of a car. I'm more willing to take some risk with my cars. I want excitement out of them. I want comfort that my earlier cars never gave. I want to be surrounded by a beautiful interior. I want to enjoy the beauty of the styling when I look upon it. I want a fantastic ride and respectable handling when I go from A to B. Make the journey a pleasure, not just a chore.

. . .
+ 100 Many people would think a Buick LaCrosse is "vanilla," but I love mine for the reasons you mention: comfort, 300 hp worth of excitement, a great cream-colored interior, and I still grin when I walk up to it. It doesn't handle like an MB or BMW, but it rides serenely and gets decent mileage on regular.
 
+ 100 Many people would think a Buick LaCrosse is "vanilla," but I love mine for the reasons you mention: comfort, 300 hp worth of excitement, a great cream-colored interior, and I still grin when I walk up to it. It doesn't handle like an MB or BMW, but it rides serenely and gets decent mileage on regular.
Isn't that the most important part? :)
 
My Soul repair is done. Took the Camry back to Enterprise/the Geico preferred body shop--very good experience. About ten minutes to get in and a couple of minutes to get out.

Can't figure out why it would barely fit in my garage when its interior space was smaller than my Soul. Had a Malibu Maxx* that had no trouble fitting in. Maybe I added the shelves after I ditched the Maxx. Experience was OK, liked it better as I drove it, the Soul seems a bit twitchy after the Camry but that's to be expected.

Three years is a long time when it comes to safety advances. It beeped at me if I hit the lines, that didn't bother me. Liked the bar graph that showed fuel economy by ten minute segments. I'm sure it gets better mileage than the Soul. Still an appliance but a very nice one. I kind of miss my Malibu Maxx and it's too bad that there aren't mid sized hatches. A Camry hatch or wagon would be very nice indeed.

* Length: Camry 193 inches, my girlfriend's '17 Optima 191, my '05 Maxx 188"--- guess hatches are always shorter.
 
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You need a car that breaks down on a regular basis and leaves you stranded .
 
The new ones seem to have dialed back their fun quite a bit though. More focus on technology, features and comfort.
I find mine rather fun. 0-60 in 5.8 isn't shabby when I also get mileage like this driving across a hilly area like northern Arkansas (this trip from Bentonville, AR to Mountainview, AR)
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in an awd suv...
 
Some people don't seem to understand just how many people see a vehicle as only an appliance. My next door neighbor is a perfect example. They own 3 Camrys. They love them. They couldn't care any less about "soul" in a car. They serve a purpose as conveyance. That's it. They're expectation is that they startup every time. That expectation is easily met.

And I just read somewhere the other day that Toyota sold nearly 30k Camrys last month....on a model in it's 4th year.

That said....have you driven a V6 Camry? That thing will scoot. Makes for a spunky grocery getter.
 
Some people don't seem to understand just how many people see a vehicle as only an appliance. My next door neighbor is a perfect example. They own 3 Camrys. They love them. They couldn't care any less about "soul" in a car. They serve a purpose as conveyance. That's it. They're expectation is that they startup every time. That expectation is easily met.
I've sadly realized that I need to keep my '99 around, it has more towing capacity than my '11 does! At least if you go by the manual that is (I'm extremely dubious about this). But they have been pretty good appliances. No idea about the newer ones though, they got tarted up and fancy and I'm not sure I'd buy another one.

Ours have been so-so on reliability. Wife's car has needed a set of brakes and a battery in our time. Mine's needed a slew of work. Technically it probably needed at least two tows, if I wasn't handy that is (alternator and shift cable). So it averages out to middling I guess.

Wife's Civic needed a tow when it lost an axle shaft and my VW needed two tows. We're busy raising kids and at the moment, prefer our vehicles to be like the refrigerator. Especially during this pandemic where we don't have anyplace to go.
 
I've sadly realized that I need to keep my '99 around, it has more towing capacity than my '11 does! At least if you go by the manual that is (I'm extremely dubious about this). But they have been pretty good appliances. No idea about the newer ones though, they got tarted up and fancy and I'm not sure I'd buy another one.

Ours have been so-so on reliability. Wife's car has needed a set of brakes and a battery in our time. Mine's needed a slew of work. Technically it probably needed at least two tows, if I wasn't handy that is (alternator and shift cable). So it averages out to middling I guess.

Wife's Civic needed a tow when it lost an axle shaft and my VW needed two tows. We're busy raising kids and at the moment, prefer our vehicles to be like the refrigerator. Especially during this pandemic where we don't have anyplace to go.

Their Camry's are a '12, and 2 '17s. The '12 has 190k on it, one of the '17s has 100k and the other one is around 75k. Been bullet proof. I help him wrench on them from time to time. All have lived on 0/20, almost always SuperTech and a Fram TG filter....on a 10k interval.

I personally wouldn't consider brakes and batteries as a problem....but rather wear items.
 
I personally wouldn't consider brakes and batteries as a problem....but rather wear items.
I agree, but... The problem becomes, what is expected wear and tear versus what is considered a repair? Most of would think an engine being worn out at 50k is beyond awful--but somehow it's ok if it has 500k? So when does a repair become ok?

At the moment, in lieu of a better definition, I figure anything not on the service schedule is a repair. Otherwise we'll go around in circles about how this or that is "expected" and should not count against the vehicle.
 
As I always say, "Buy what makes you smile." In my case, I'm two months shy of 64 years old and I've been a car nut since I was a toddler(My parents said when it came to gifts I always told them I asked for "something with wheels on it"). Ever since I was a teenager people have been telling me that when I got older I would get tired of "those little foreign sports cars" and start buying Barcaloungers on wheels- but all these years later I'm currently giving a hard look to a CPO F-Type S and a CPO M2 Competition.
 
BTW drove my girlfriend's '17 Optima to take her to the hospital for an outpatient procedure. With the exception of three years worth of electronic goodies, I think I liked it better than the Camry. Slightly better driving dynamics, seemed slightly smaller although it's only an inch shorter. The Camry certainly beat it in mpgs. Both were ok, still prefer my Soul.
 
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I own a newer Avalon...after owning a Lexus LS460 and 2018 Silverado...I’ll take a boring appliance. I’ll take something that doesn’t drink a couple quarts between oil changes or cost me $2,000 a year in out of pocket repairs.

I‘ll take something I can drive up and down the highway without a torque converter shudder or misfire. Something I can step on the gas and floor it and the thing doesn’t hesitate...just does what it’s supposed to do.

But part of me does miss the better looking Lexus or owning a full sized pickup. Not sure how long I’ll take boring over exciting, but exciting comes with its own set of headaches...and I’m taking a break from that.
 
Sorry you lost your Soul.

I was going to suggest a used Mercedes. Way more fun driving and has lots of features, never really get bored in it. Sound system is Harman Kardon. Everyone thinks they're expensive to maintain but I've just done average stuff on mine for the last 6 years. Depreciation is extreme on used cars so you can pay about a 1/3 when they're at 5-6 years old and have maybe 2/3s of their life left.
++, I drive a 06 E-Class CDI (diesel) fun to drive and would out run any sedan from the line, Harman K is an add on to leather and other goodies + solid 36+ MPG as highway cruiser and 26 in city.
 
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