Au Revoir. Or maybe Sayonara is more apt?

Chris Skelton · May 9

Just taken possession of an immaculate 3 litre Camry, 1998, so my thoughts of coming back to another LS 400 are void- hope I’m not tempting fare here. 69K miles, amazing paint ceramic coating -apparently - plus (messi rated?) Lano sealed underneath. All I have to do is get reacquainted with the size again! It purrs, said deliverer!

I’ll still be popping up on here, I’m sure.

Steve2000 has a link to a YouTube vid (as I’m too Luddite to know how to post it now.)

Spottedlaurel · May 10

Sounds very nice! I've had a total of five Camrys, including a V6 of the previous generation and a 2.2 Sport of the model like yours. All of them fantastic cars, definitely some Lexus DNA in them.

I suspect there may be another one in my future, especially if I found one as good as yours sounds!

Chris Skelton · May 10

if you have 20 minutes......

now venturing into #your business is important/we are experiencing busy......i.e looking for insurance!

cruisermark · May 10

Oh WOW!

Thats is a rare breed - and I as an LS430 owner am jealous!!

I wish I could buy these cars and park them up in my own museum

She's beautiful!

The-Acre · May 10

Simply superb. We drove one of these across Western Canada and I can honestly say it equaled my various LS's, I'm envious! Obviously it would be good to know how much you paid!

steve2006 · May 10

I’ve edited your post Chris with the embedded link 😀

Bob King · May 10

9 hours ago, Chris Skelton said:

if you have 20 minutes......

now venturing into #your business is important/we are experiencing busy......i.e looking for insurance!

That’s a very very tidy example 👍🏻..sadly so many got scrapped for their engines …MR2’s do a conversion to fit the 3.0 V6 ☹️

Malc1 · May 10

What’s even better …… a garage customer of mine had a Camry Estate, about that era …….. it was absolutely STUNNING a FANTASTIC BEAUTIFUL MACHINE in light green …….. one of the best cars I’d ever seen tbh

Malc

messi · May 11

19 hours ago, Chris Skelton said:

if you have 20 minutes......

now venturing into #your business is important/we are experiencing busy......i.e looking for insurance!

This is very nice, I'm jealous too

Spacewagon52 · May 11

That looks a peach Chris. Were you particularly looking for a Camry? Or did this just come up?

Chris Skelton · May 12

18 hours ago, Spacewagon52 said:

That looks a peach Chris. Were you particularly looking for a Camry? Or did this just come up?

Both! Had had Messi’s LS400 hovering in my brain though, but thought I’d go for a slightly (!) smaller car. Has a road-induced rattle I need to investigate, but otherwise, lovely. I expect to have to do bushes etc., but the overall condition is great.
it WAS a bit of serendipity; I wondered if I’d find a Camry in UK, looked on Autotrader and …..got instantly in touch, staking my claim, so to speak .

Redefined · May 13

My first proper car was a Carina e (2, I think). 1.6L and twas amazing. The seats I conly assume were similar to the wool stuff they have in the Toyota Century and indeed it used to purr.

I'd grown up seeing it outside my mates house as it was his dad that owned it. Lasted me about 3 years or less untilt local mech told me the fuel tank had a hole. What a shame and a waste of luxury car!

Congrats on your new Camry 👏

Sherra · May 15

My 2.2 Sport I had for 10 years

Chris Skelton · June 21

Well,it turned out that the Camry wasn’t as good as it appeared!

After my local mechanic came out from under it asking’. ‘’Did you buy this from a dealer? You know you can take it back within 30 days?’’

it’s crusty!!

so I did.

it’s a puzzle just how it went through several MOTs with NO mention of corrosion! The rest of the car (above the ‘waterline’) was in great condition.

currently considering a Honda CR-Z.>…..maybe a hybrid Lex for ‘best’.

dutchie01 · June 21

Chris, why not go for the safe option another LS400?

BarneyTT · July 15

Sorry to hear the Camry didn't work out Chris.

It looks lovely in the video and with such a comprehensive video it's a shame he "forgot" to include footage of the underside...so much for not wanting to waste people's time as mentioned in said video😠.

As for the MOT, my RX had an 11 month MOT when I bought it from a non-franchised dealer, when it went into Lexus for a service a month or so later they found a broken coil spring, which they said had been broken for a long while. Luckily I had most of the work covered under warranty but it would never have passed a legitimate MOT and was sold to me in a dangerous condition...most car dealers simply don't care about their customers, just their money.

Anyway, wishing you all the best with your continued search.

Scribe · July 17

Your Camry is back on sale for £4,950. The ad doesn't say anything about corrosion or work to remedy it.

Chris Skelton · July 24

I had the timing belt changed too! They still owe me…….

I doubt whether they’ve done anything, but have no knowledge.

it WAS lovely ‘above the waterline’ maybe a generous splashing of Lanoguard all over would fix?

Back to LS series 4 for me; a bit bigger than I’d anticipated, but hopefully smooth and comfortable-and trouble free?

Coming this w/end,hopefully.

see Dutchie comment above!

Malc1 · July 24

Chris hi ……. any more info yet about your” new “ Mk4 Ls400 coming this weekend …….. maybe one we’ve seen before on here ?
A discerning purchase I’m sure 👍
Malc