My wife found a 2003 Camry in the this Saturday's paper for $8980. We got lucky. The paper was a freebie being given away by the publisher at a craft show we decided to visit at the last minute. Had my wife declined the paper or we not even had gone, we would've missed this deal (as of last night, it was still on autotrader.com at $10980). It has a 4cyl engine with 5spd manual, 71k miles, excellent condition, single owner, etc at a Ford dealership. They had just knocked 2k off the price. Around here, similar 2002-2004 Camrys run $12k-18k. This one has a clean Carfax, no obvious problems, and drives like a dream. I had planned on getting a Corolla for the gas mileage, but even used Corollas (2003+) are running 10k+. The money we saved on the Camry will pay for the difference in fuel for quite a while. Even better, this car is actually comfortable to ride in. It has power locks, power windows, AM/FM/Tape/CD stereo, and tons of storage (I can fit two bodies in the trunk!.
I love buying Toyotas at Ford dealerships. We bought our 4Runner from another Ford place for several thousand less than the same vehicle at a Toyota lot. The Ford folks get them as trade-ins and try to dump them quickly. Oh, they gave us $400 for our POS Nissan.
Even though it's a largish car with a 4cyl engine, it's quite peppy thanks to Toyota's new variable valve timing technology and the 5spd. I won't win any races, but I won't have to get out and push either. Based on the highly accurate "seat of the pants" measuring method, I'd say it's faster than our 4Runner and the POS it replaced.
It was nice to be able to clean the oil/coolant spot (2'x3') from the driveway and not see it reappear.
Chris
