1995 Toyota Camry needs new tranny - car isn’t beautiful but it’s paid for, treated it to new brakes a few weeks ago… has @212K miles…
If the car is in otherwise good condition and is up to date on all of its maintenance, then…why not?
Certainly putting a rebuilt transmission into this car is cheaper than buying another car. The odometer mileage would give me some hesitation, but if everything else on the car is good, then I would suggest that you get a rebuilt trans put in it, rather than a new trans.
good point, but I’m worried about the timing belt, the other pumps and hoses… for example, the power steering has a leak that the shop says isn’t worth repairing - just top off the fluid every few weeks…but there are new CV boots and other things I’ve been fixing over the past year… apart from a $2-3K transmission, can you tihnk of any other expensive repairs that might be lurking in the next 12-24 months? I was really hoping to make it to the next gen hybrids…
and thanks for your opinion, by the way!
If the timing belt is due for replacement and you don’t want to proactively replace it on schedule, then I change my answer!
212k miles? How much is a 75k miles of the same car worth? My thought is that you are on the winning end of repair and maintenance and if you keep it you will soon be on the loosing end.
My 1995 Camry had water pump fail which took out the timing belt. The car had 249,992 miles on it when this happened. Missed the quarter million mile mark by eight miles. And like yours, it wasn’t beautiful either. What vehicle is beautiful after that many miles? But I decided that was enough. You treated yours with new brakes? I treated mine with a new clutch assembly kit a month prior. But even with that, I knew it was time to put the ole girl to rest. Use the money that you’ll spend for a replacement transmission towards a replacement vehicle.
Tester
You might want to look at getting a lower mileage USED tranny.
If you make the needed repairs, that implies you want to keep it for 3+ years to get your money’s worth. If that’s the case, you will want to replace the timing belt, water pump (while you’re there), transmission, and maybe replace the coolant hoses. You’re looking at a few thousand bucks even with a used transmission, unless you do most of the work yourself.