1994 Toyota Camry

It survived several hurricanes, flooded engine, an accident, slashed tires and a smashed window (theft of the car's contents) and kept on going until it stalled badly and died a quick death. I was the second owner, buying it from my cousin at 32,000 miles and proceeded to drive it until my mechanic told me it was unfixable. By then it had accumulated over 247,000 miles.

I drove mainly highway miles, or near highway conditions. It hauled a lot of video equipment and I never failed to reach a presentation due to car trouble.

This car gave a smooth ride. Its 4-cylinder engine gave me decent acceleration and 450 miles on its 18-gallon tank. When I first bought it, I was disappointed that it only had 4 cylinders, but after gas prices began to skyrocket, I was very glad for those same 4 cylinders.

Over its long life, I replaced a lot of parts but the only premature part failures were the front door window motors and the rear passenger electric lock.

In the fall of 1998, Hurricane Gloria left deep puddles and my car stalled as I tried to drive through it. I did not know enough to stop driving, so I tried to restart the engine several times. Eventually, it was towed to my mechanic who could not believe that my engine did not crack with water in it. He showed me other cars with cracked engine blocks.

The oil was easy to change, its filter accessible from above. I liked its full-size spare. It had a tendency to wear out tires a little fast.

I was disappointed in its lack of wiper delay - it only had slow and fast wiper speeds. But I loved its ventilation options - fresh or recirculate, AC or no AC. Many American cars are very inflexible. If you recirculate air, the AC turns on whether you want it to or not.

I would not mind owning another Camry, but my mechanic advised me that he made most of his money fixing Toyotas and Hondas.