m_luke

There was definitely a difference in fit-and-finish when I compared my 03 Camry to a Japan-built 05 Corolla. I can only guess that QC in Australia is lower than in Japan! As for tyre pressures on my 4-Cyl Camry: Front: 40 PSI Rear: 35 PSI I also notice that the window sealers on the outside are misaligned and it is common to all Gen 5/5.5 Camrys even if they are brand new at the dealerships - difficult to describe this one... where the door panel means the window frame, there is a rubber strip that 'scrapes' against the window. One end is always wedged opened by the external window frame. One can only hope it does not corrode anything on the inside! I too am getting rattles somewhere - seems to be coming from somewhere forward of the dashboard...

High fuel prices and the fact that Toyota had a sale that lasted for the whole of September as they are the main sponsor of AFL probably helped out a little. Still, I have to agree that there are a lot more of them around now - both pre and post-facelifted versions. Hopefully, the world-wide recall of the pre-facelifted version does not tarnish its reputation too much.

After two weeks of mucking around, purchasing additional wiring harnesses and light blubs, I have finally swapped the taillights! This exercise cost me under AUD500 and when combined with the Gen5.5 chrome Azura grill, this really makes my Gen5 Camry a one-of-a-kind! B) Thanks Terry for providing me with the taillight bulb sizes. I couldn't find them in Autobahn or Super Cheap Auto so I had to get the light bulbs through Toyota.

Will definitely try and ask some people when I go to the Toyota open day on Sunday. ← Open day at Toyota on Sunday??? Which Sunday - 14/10/2005??? What time and place as I would like to come along, especially if it is in Melbourne somewhere... ← It's already passed... it was on 18th Sept. ← ...[sigh]... was it simply an open day at the Altona factory or something like that?

Will definitely try and ask some people when I go to the Toyota open day on Sunday. ← Open day at Toyota on Sunday??? Which Sunday - 14/10/2005??? What time and place as I would like to come along, especially if it is in Melbourne somewhere...

Hi, Couldn't help but add my two cents worth in this discussion... In my research when purchasing a car, I repeatedly hit RACV's online insurance quoting system; got quotes for various cars and found that although driver age, history, location and theft appeal plays a factor in calculating the insurance premium, the biggest factor is actually how 'popular' the car is in 'the general population'! Trust me! I was taken aback by this when I noticed this, but it does make sense in a strange way. The cars that I got quotes for were 3-year old Commos and Falcons, Camry Touring, an Integra (DC2, I think and it wasn't even a Type R), and later, 2004 Camry 2.4L, 2005 Corolla, 2005 Liberty, 2005 Mazda 6, 2005 Accord Euro. The one with the highest insurance premium was the Integra (about $1000), followed by the Camry Touring, 2004 Camry 2.4L, 2005 cars (Corolla, Liberty, Mazda 6, Accord Euro) (about $800) and the 3-year old Commos and Falcons (about $600). I think the insurance companies primarily look at cost and availability of parts, followed by driver age, history, location and theft appeal. Engine capacity does not even count!!! I know this sounds ridiculous, but it makes sense in a weird sort of way.

Brilliant... so that means I have to get the complete wiring loom as well... and the lightbulbs! I would be a great help if you can provide me with the lightbulb codes so I can get them third party rather than go through Toyota. Where does the dual filament lights sit - on the inside close to the license plate or outside. I'm transforming the rear end to look like the Gen5.5 to divert attention from the fact that the entire Gen5 series has a really huge a***. As such, I've also got the colour-coded rear garnish (license-plate holder) and this is another remove-old-and-fit-new exercise, but you need to reposition the Gen5 worded emblems (I was going to post another informational topic about this) I'm the guy from ToyotaNation with the same username who performed the grill swap from Gen5 standard grill to Gen5.5 Azura grill and at the moment, this particular swap is still rare, which is good! B) I'm hoping that when the Gen6 Camry is released, Toyota might have another 'fire-sale' to clear old stock - and finally be the pound owner of the final V6 Camry!

You have no idea how good it felt to stumble from ToyotaNation into a Toyota Forum for Australian Toyota owners! :D ...only to see most of you own V6s and I'm still in a 4-banger - tried to negotiate a changeover price with a dealership during the recent September sales, but it fell through primarily because of results caused by a ****** brazen learner driver in a white Commo station-wagon; not showing any L-plates, was driving alone and lost control whilst making a right-turn at the traffic lights. OUCH!!! For anyone wanting to perfrom a taillight swapover: Gen5 and Gen5.5 taillights have mounting bolts at identical positions so they can essentially be swapped by removing the old and fitting the new. The trouble is the securing mechanism of the wiring harness to the taillights as they are different (3-notches in Gen5 compared to 4-notches in Gen5.5) although you can 'force' Gen5 wiring harnesses into Gen5.5 taillights albeit with the help of a soldering iron and spare wires to perform necessary cable extensions. Furthermore, you *will* need to purchase a pair of yellow lightbulbs for the indicators as Gen5 taillights have a yellow shield to allow for the use of clear lightbulbs, but Gen5.5 taillights lack this 'feature'. The above is what I have found out so far. Hope that this is useful to someone...