MY06-07 Autos thin on the ground

Ratbag said:
G'day again Guzzla



I wouldn't have thought there would be any great difference between any of the 2.5L models.

A stock 5 bearing 1800 MGB did around 17 seconds for the standing quarter mile, IIRC. Good, usable performance, if nothing out of the box.

Have you got links to any of those tests?
TIA.
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No links sorry just the magazines. XS auto tested in Wheels May 03, XS luxury auto tested in Wheels August 05, X man tested in Wheels May 08 and X auto tested in Wheels Sept 08.

Also interesting what you are saying about your Camry. I also have a Camry as our other car - a V6 manual late 2007 model with 333,000km and I'm attached to it as much as I am to our Forester. Part of the reason is how well it has treated us over the last 15 years with great reliability and the ease of calm, comfortable driving. It's a more relaxing, comfortable car to travel in than the Forester. Also more room including luggage and so much quieter. Also about 15% more economical and that's on 91 RON. My father has a 2.2 auto of the same model and on the open road we get the same consumption but his is a bit better around town. My brother drives the 2.2 mostly now as well as his 03 Forester X manual and his Forester does not get as good consumption as the Camry. Interestingly his Forester gets the same consumption as my Forester XT manual, maybe a fraction better around town and sometimes slightly worse on the open roan. None of them get flogged - in fact they are all driven with sympathy.

btw some of the things I rave about to friends about my Camry are that the air-con has never been touched or regassed (my Foz needed an expensive new compressor the other day) the original cam belt didn't get changed until 292,000km, it has never need injector cleaner or upper engine cleaner, like my 205,000km Foz (and unlike my brother's) it still uses no oil and it's still on its original exhaust and CV joints and covers. It's had a new clutch and throwout bearing, 2 sets of struts, a steering pump kit and a starter motor solenoid. My wife wants to keep it forever which we probably will.
 
I think I am going to jump off a cliff. Well i want to after reading some of this, but there no cliffs around, so i guess I'm out of luck. And if the Forester does not cheer me up, the WRX will.
 
Rally said:
I think I am going to jump off a cliff. Well i want to after reading some of this, but there no cliffs around, so i guess I'm out of luck. And if the Forester does not cheer me up, the WRX will.
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Your not alone. If I hear the word Camry mentioned one more time I will ban the user for a week :lol: :iconwink:

Joking. After driving a mates 04 V6 camry auto though it does have some serious power, well compared to my 2.0l POS foz.
It's got good power to weigth ratio. I do find that it isn't anywhere near as comfortable as my 2001 Forester, the interior is very bland and boring (I thought my Foz was bad but not in comparison). The auto box is quite smooth, although I would never buy and auto but the power is nice to have when you need it.
The fuel economy of it is pretty average though. Probably about the same as a Foz XT or H6 Outback.

Taz
 
Did I mention I'm competing in the WRX this weekend? Anyway Ratbag, sorry for hi-jacking your already hi-jacked thread. Back to you sir, and your very laudable aim of replacing your Toyota with a Forrie. I hope never to see the C word again! How rude!:raz:
 
Gidday Rally

Rally said:
I think I am going to jump off a cliff. Well i want to after reading some of this, but there no cliffs around, so i guess I'm out of luck. And if the Forester does not cheer me up, the WRX will.
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LOL!
We all know how you just LOVE Camrys, mate ... :rotfl:

They really aren't all that bad a car. EXCEPT for the fact that the "recent" ones (i.e. since the early 1990s) have been built in Oz, and we all know what that generally means ... :(

Mitsubishi managed to wreck a great little car (the late 1970s~early 1980s Colt) by building it here ...

Our Camry has had to have new brake rotors at about 90K Kms (!!!). Also needs new pads again at only 165K Kms.
The bonnet stays are appallingly designed, and r**ted. I use an old broom handle instead.
The engine had to have the top and bottom dropped off to be rodded, then flushed several times, to get rid of the coagulated oil (I should have given it some of my Warfarin, maybe ... :lol: ).
It has had the front MacPherson struts replaced.
New water pump.
New alternator.
Timing belt (it is an interference engine, so doesn't make sense to avoid this).
Full wheel alignment (but SWMBO's Dad hit a few things in it from time to time, before he stopped driving and gave it to us - a very generous gift, and very much appreciated).
Couple of reconditioned drive shafts due to broken boots (can happen to any car).
The boot lid sheds any water build up behind the plastic panel with the reversing lights inset into it into the boot, no matter how hard one tries to avoid it (rotten design ... ).
Absolutely terrific air-conditioning, but a lousy heater.
Really crappy interior trim, but it is the "poverty pack" special (I just love your term ... ). I have had to glue bits back in when they should never have come out in the first place.
D/S exterior mirror vibrates. Cannot be disassembled, AFAICT ...
Plenty of bad blind spots ...

BUT:

It is very quiet and comfortable on the open road.
Has excellent fuel economy for a car of its size and weight with a slush box - with air on coming back from Adelaide fully loaded, it turned in a very creditable 8.5L/100 Kms!
Like the Austin 1800/Kimberley (which the design is more or less identical to), it is like driving in a comfortable living room. Very commodious interior.
Handles, brakes and performs very well. Doesn't wander on the road at all. Or wallow through corners.
Simply excellent standard headlights.

It has served us very well, all in all.
Just too old.
AND neither of us is getting any younger, and SWMBO spends a lot of time lifting things in and out of the boot. A flat load area (which the Camry has), with a decent hatch that doesn't drip into the boot space (which the Camry hasn't), with no boot lip, and that is at a more comfortable height to load/unload, and to get in and out of, will not hurt a bit.

I was struggling with the latter with Roo1, and still struggle with the Camry (I am better on the D/S ... ).
 
G'day again mate

Rally said:
Did I mention I'm competing in the WRX this weekend?
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All the best with that, Rally. Take care; have fun :).

Anyway Ratbag, sorry for hi-jacking your already hi-jacked thread. Back to you sir, and your very laudable aim of replacing your Toyota with a Forrie. I hope never to see the C word again! How rude!:raz:
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No worries :cool:.

That sort of thing has never bothered me in the slightest.

Will just have to hope that the repair bill from Thursday (and probably Friday as well ... ) isn't too horrific. IIRC, a car can have minor oil leaks and still get a roadworthy certificate here. Ross may be able to slacken off the bolts and force some Silastic into the joint, but I doubt it ... :(.
It needs a service anyway, and almost certainly new brake pads.

After that, and his opinion on what needs to be done (if anything) to make it roadworthy, I can then start looking seriously.

A huge benefit of trading it in to a dealer is that there is no need for us to have a roadworthy certificate done.
 
I can only assume with the MY03. Just a guess though
 
Gidday mate

Rally said:
I can only assume with the MY03. Just a guess though
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I seem to recall something about this as one of a number of ways to reduce the weight of a somewhat larger vehicle. However, I don't actually know.
 
Mine as well. I assume it came in with the introduction of the SG shape, which I presume would be roughly late 2002. (MY03 I believe was the first run of the SG)
I would even take a guess that our MY02 RS Impreza was an alloy bonnet as well. Don't quote me though as it was traded for the MY05 so it has been a while.

I remember that friends of ours in Canberra had to get a new bonnet for their MY03 X because the dealer pushed down on the bonnet when closing it, causing the bonnet to be damaged.
 
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What a dope. Very few car sellers know anything about cars- least of all about the ones they sell. I know with the WRX's they went to aluminium bonnets from the bugeye (MY01).
 
Rally said:
What a dope. Very few car sellers know anything about cars- least of all about the ones they sell. I know with the WRX's they went to aluminium bonnets from the bugeye (MY01).
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Yes, this particular dealer was useless. We had cars from them before, and with the purchase of the MY05 in 2005, we went to the other Canberra dealer. then moved to Sydney a year later and haven't had to worry.

The first dealer also managed to stuff the clutch master cylinder whilst doing work on a service bulletin for the MY02. Very competent dealer all round......
 
thunder039 said:
i am yet to personally test out the self leveling suspension in our forester with a load but i am hoping it works well
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Ratbag said:
Seems to work very well indeed, AFAICT.
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Interesting words on the self-leveling suspension, Thunder and Ratbag! I am considering replacing my self-leveling rear struts with new KYB after-market ones, so that I can install King Springs.

My assumption was that self-leveling suspension was just a marketing gimmick. But if they actually work to level out the tail with a heavy load, then I would definitely want to keep it.

A week ago, I went to the big box DIY store (Home Depot), and bought 10 bags of lawn soil and a new toilet. My impression was that the back-end was drooping under the heavy load. Now I will have to check with a measuring tape the next time I overload the Fozza! :biggrin:
 
Was your back end drooping under the heavy load before or after you used the toilet? Sounds like you could have done without the lawn soil anyway!
 
Gidday Escher

Escher said:
Interesting words on the self-leveling suspension, Thunder and Ratbag! I am considering replacing my self-leveling rear struts with new KYB after-market ones, so that I can install King Springs.

My assumption was that self-leveling suspension was just a marketing gimmick. But if they actually work to level out the tail with a heavy load, then I would definitely want to keep it.
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If you read up the manual, it says something about giving it a short time driving to adjust. This applies particularly if you overload it with 10 bags of soil and a dunny - it specifically says so on Page 7-38 in my owner's manual :poke: :rotfl:.

But seriously, with around 100 Kgs of recovery gear, fuel and a cross-cut shredder ( :lol: ) in the back, and parked nose downwards in our driveway, the rear wheel centre to top of the wheel arch is 405 mm. Seeing as how our drive has a bit of a slope on it, this may not be the same as if measured on a level concrete slab. I will try to remember to measure it when we drop the Camry off at the garage tonight.

The main benefit apart from the overall vehicle dynamics is that the headlights "stay" adjusted ...

A week ago, I went to the big box DIY store (Home Depot), and bought 10 bags of lawn soil and a new toilet. My impression was that the back-end was drooping under the heavy load. Now I will have to check with a measuring tape the next time I overload the Fozza! :biggrin:
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Like I said, the owner's manual specifically states "Tell Escher not to overload his Forester" ... :iconwink: :ebiggrin: :raspberry:
 
ROTFL, Ratbag! :lol: :lildevil:

Pictures to come in my build log... :biggrin:
 
The Bad News ...

Well, Folks

No upside to this ...

The Camry was serviced today.

The oil leak?
What oil leak?
There are three of them -

  • main crankshaft seal and bell housing seal;
  • distributor;
  • oil pump ...

Engine repairs will cost $1300~1500 alone. Money straight down the drain, that will not increase the trade in value one single cent!

All the external drive belts are cracked ...
The brake pads need changing at the next service (10,000 Kms away).

It will be residing at a car yard well before then ... :( :(

Bugger!
 
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