Spotted a unicorn: 2011 Camry with a manual

[Elkins45]

A semi-local dealer has a 2011 Camry listed with a six-speed manual and 95k miles. One owner, no accidents, asking price $9900. There aren’t pix on the website so I emailed them and someone verified it’s actual a manual. I can’t imagine they sold very many Camrys with a clutch.

I already have an (actual) Japanese mid-sized sedan with a manual. I need this thing like a hole in the head…and yet I can hear it whispering to me.

 

[D60]

A semi-local dealer has a 2011 Camry listed with a six-speed manual and 95k miles. One owner, no accidents, asking price $9900. There aren’t pix on the website so I emailed them and someone verified it’s actual a manual. I can’t imagine they sold very many Camrys with a clutch.

I already have an (actual) Japanese mid-sized sedan with a manual. I need this thing like a hole in the head…and yet I can hear it whispering to me.

4 or 6 cylinder?

I service an '11 with the 4cyl and auto and think it's decently powerful for what it is. With a manual it would be fun. A 6 would be downright sporty.

 

[hank2]

A semi-local dealer has a 2011 Camry listed with a six-speed manual and 95k miles. One owner, no accidents, asking price $9900. There aren’t pix on the website so I emailed them and someone verified it’s actual a manual. I can’t imagine they sold very many Camrys with a clutch.

I already have an (actual) Japanese mid-sized sedan with a manual. I need this thing like a hole in the head…and yet I can hear it whispering to me.

That sounds like a tasty transportation model. Priced high but likely pretty thin on the ground for a 2011. My ex-in laws had a new Camry, way back, a 1985 model. 2.0 lt. sohc with a 5 sp. manual. Manual trans Camry's were considered very stylish in some circles for middle aged and senior folks. Into the 1990's. They were in their 60's at the time. That Camry easily bettered 30 mpg on road trips, but they were so much smaller and lighter back then.

 

[The Critic]

I think @supton used to own one.

 

[The_Jeff]

My mom had an 02 with the 4 cyl/ 5 speed that I inherited. Clutch was heavy, replacement clutch was heavy.

I flipped another 02. Heavy, slipping, clutch, replaced with a normal feeling one. Forget what brand, but I only really buy LUK or Sachs.

The drive-by-wire throttle didn't work well with idling along in first gear, was pretty jerky. And I cleaned the TB. Car did a nice pull from 25-75 in third gear though.

 

[John105]

Just get it lol before it’s gone.

Funny we think alike, how it would be nice to drive a manual. I have 1 left as I junked the Maxima SE last year.

mid 2000s I had a coworker with a Matrix that was a 6 speed manual. There was a time when everyone I knew, their car was a stick. Late 90’s…

I was btw contemplating a new ‘97 Camry CE with a stick but back then Camrys were like BMW 3 coupes when they came out. Sold sight unseen from a list. Hard to believe but no Camrys were on lots as they were sold before they arrived.

 

[RooflessVW]

For $10k? Not a chance

 

[atikovi]

Manual on a sporty car is fun. On an appliance car, tedious. The price is stupid to boot.

 

[joekingcorvette]

The price seems a little high but what the heck pull the trigger if you want it.

 

[macarose]

I sold plenty of third and fourth Gen that were sticks. The 97 thru 01 models were very easy to live with.

One unique vehicle I have bought and sold a few times now is a first gen Solara with a stick. I recall a red and a gold SE which were excellent highway cruisers. The later I took from Atlanta to the Detroit Auto Show and back 10 years ago in the dead of winter.

It could stay on 80 like it was nothing. An SE model that was surprisingly spartan and I think had wheel covers too. I ended up financing it to a guy and repoed it before heading on that trip. Back then you could finance a stick to an older customer and not worry about it. Today? Absolutely not.

 

[cptbarkey]

Back in 2006 the local Toyota/Honda dealer advertized a brand new 2006 (same body style) stripper with a stick for about $16k. I dont think it had cruise control. The shifter was numb and the shifter gate felt huge. The same dealer also sold Honda's. I test drove a 6 speed Accord right after that and it was a night/day experience. I ended up buying a 2007 Accord VP slushbox instead and enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

[JavierH19]

9 grand? That is way too much.

 

[DriveHard]

You want to see a RARE manual transmission...I had no idea they even THOUGHT of making a manual Buick Regal in 2012.
https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/cto/d/dekalb-2012-buick-regal-premium/7757045334.html

 

[jeepman3071]

9 grand? That is way too much.

Welcome to 2024, where anything that still has 4 wheels and most of its doors is over priced.

 

[ecotourist]

One unique vehicle I have bought and sold a few times now is a first gen Solara with a stick. I recall a red and a gold SE which were excellent highway cruisers. The later I took from Atlanta to the Detroit Auto Show and back 10 years ago in the dead of winter.

It could stay on 80 like it was nothing. An SE model that was surprisingly spartan and I think had wheel covers too. I ended up financing it to a guy and repoed it before heading on that trip. Back then you could finance a stick to an older customer and not worry about it. Today? Absolutely not.

I owned a red 2000 Solara SE with a 5 speed manual and a V6 from new. It was a terrific highway cruiser. Lovely smooth V6. Lots of power. Lots of leg room and head room in the rear for adults. Mine had 4 alloy wheels and a full size steel spare. The 1999s had 5 alloy wheels.

My only knock against an otherwise terrific car was that the transmission was occasionally (3 or 4 times) a little hard to get into 1st gear. My 2007 Honda Accord V6 6MT has a much smoother gear box. And for the record the Solara's turning circle was quite wide.

I gave it to my daughter when she needed a better car.

 

[PF52]

A semi-local dealer has a 2011 Camry listed with a six-speed manual and 95k miles.

It's gotta be a total base-model stripper, right? Does it even have AC? That's the kind of car that would appeal to my parents; save a buck no matter how draconian and bare-boned the car might turn out to be. They had an Accord with a 5-speed and no AC, no center armrest, no passenger-side mirror.... I can't remember if it had a radio or not. It was tedious and fatiguing to drive but they loved to remind everyone how much money they saved vs. the "loaded" models on the dealer's lot, filled with frivolous options.

 

[Elkins45]

I bought my first automatic vehicle in December of 2017. I’m used to it.

I agree on the price. $9900 is what they are asking. I would be curious to see how little they would take.

Here’s the listing if one of you wants to go snag it out from under me

https://www.performancelexus.com/inventory/used-2011-toyota-camry-le-fwd-4dr-car-4t4bf3ek7br097388/

 

[john_pifer]

Manual on a sporty car is fun. On an appliance car, tedious. The price is stupid to boot.

I did find this to mostly be the case with my 2004 Accord EX-L 4-popper 5-speed.

It was pretty slow.

Still, better than the alternative.

 

[fdcg27]

Seller probably figures he'll be able to lure in some manual enthusiast and get a good buck for this car.
Problem is that for every driver who wants a stick and knows how to drive one there are eight or nine who either never learned to use three pedals or are no longer interested, especially in an appliance car.
My guess is that this dear thing will go for well below asking. In this car the stick is more of a liability than an asset.

 

[PF52]

Manual on a sporty car is fun. On an appliance car, tedious.

+2

For awhile, I had an S-10 pickup 5-speed. Perhaps because it was so under-powered, it was agonizing to drive. Heavy rush hour traffic would nearly drive me to road rage. It was well-equipped and comfortable otherwise, and would have been a nice truck if it had an automatic.