Quote:
Edmunds has an '07 in their long term test fleet.
This may be a good place for you to get started.
Yes great place to start indeed .
In fact , they are directly linked on toyotas website .
Like any tool , its more about how you use them .
Also like any tool in life , either you use them or they use you .
For instance , edmunds can link you one way or another with just about any 07 camry currently for sale .
In their system that can be broken down into three categories ;
new
used - certified
used .
Supply is plentiful in all three .
There is more useful information at edmunds besides where to buy and useful ways to put it together .
For instance ;
According to the edmunds blog on the long term camry report , thru APRIL07 the camry had sold 143,774 and its next closest competitor the Honda Accord 121,516 .
Now , go to edmunds listings themselves and look up how many 2007
USED (non certified) camrys and Accords ARE FOR SALE .
camry : 3660
Accord :
623
Now in a useful but PR oriented kind of way divide 3660/143,774 (camry) and 623/121 ,516 for the Accord .
For the camry this gives 2.586% and for the Accord
0.513% .
Don't worry about using APRIL sales data with JUNE listings ; it usually takes a min. of three months for a private party to buy the vehicle , develop a problem , deal with the dealer/factory , become disappointed and disillusioned and finally get the 07 up for sale .
Thats an expensive "problem solution" no matter the vehicle .
Then there are those that would , but can't .
So the useable PR statement would be this ;
if you buy the camry you are 2.586/.0513 =
5.0410 times (close approx.) more likely to be wanting to sell your brand new 07 camry than if you had bought the Accord .
Thats huge , and that tells you something .
As a consumer in this segment ,I wouldn't be concerned about Accord Hybrid sales numbers - but I would be very concerned about the number of owner originated used 07 camrys for sale - and what that means .
BTW , to really understand this , one of the best groups to read from are the people that have owned many , many prevous toyotas (happily) and aren't happy with their 07 camry or toyota - to the point of getting out .
Many of them post eloquently and intelligently - all of them are in pain .
If you were to take the worst of these related experiences you could say going from a 2000 Malibu to a 2007 camry whatever you have going on there and why , might end up comparable to going from the the pot to the fire - and spending money to do so .
I haven't looked at all the other vehicles in this segment in exactly this way , but thru FEB07 every single one of them had much better ratios (ie at least 2.?x) than the camry in this regard .
People "vote" with their wallet .
People also "vote" with their feet .
Finally , you might want to explore your familly members many fine options at Ford , Mercury , Hyundai , Kia , Chrysler , Mazda , etc , and esp. GM .
If you go to yahoo autos dot whatever you will find that with the exception of the Accord ,the rest of the camrys competitors are ( owner self rated ) enjoying a "star" rating of 4.5-5./5.0 vs the camry at 2.5/5.0 , also owner self rated .
There maybe some "owner loyality" money available at GM .
