The Top Five Toyota Camry Models of the 90s
The Toyota Camry is a car that has been around for a very long time. Today, it’s easily one of the most well-respected and most popular models to hit the roads. There was a time when the car was not really as well regarded as it is now. In fact, it came from extremely humble beginnings. Back when the first Toyota Camrys were made available in the United States, people had the tendency to think of them as cars that were only driven by people that couldn’t afford to drive something better. The general thought process back then was that American cars were almost always better than foreign automobiles, so no one would choose to drive a Camry unless they couldn’t afford one of the larger, more luxurious American-made cars.
Obviously, times have changed. In fact, the current version of this car is one of the sleekest and most well-designed automobiles to hit the roads in quite some time. It also offers all of the bells and whistles that anyone could ever hope to find on a car and then some. With that being said, the Toyota Camry models of the 1990s were far more basic than the models that are made today. Below, you can find five of the best Camry models that were made during that particular decade. They may not be much to look at and by today’s standards, they’re extremely simple cars, yet they’re so reliable that you’re likely to see a number of these same automobiles that are still faithfully performing on the road today.
1. 1990 Toyota Camry
This particular model marked the first time that a larger body style was used as opposed to the relatively cramped body styles that were popular during the 1980s. It was a no-nonsense car that provided the basics with plenty of reliability to boot, but there wasn’t much else. The car could be purchased with a 2.0 liter 4-cylinder engine that produced 115 horsepower or a larger 2.5 liter V6 that was capable of 153 horsepower. Either way, the car was severely underpowered when compared to the larger American-made automobiles. However, it completely dominated the gas mileage category, getting a whopping 20 to 30 miles per gallon.
2. 1992 Toyota Camry
In 1992, you could buy a Camry as a four-door sedan or as a station wagon and the biggest engine you could get was a 3.0 liter V6. Toyota decided to provide additional horsepower when compared to the models that were provided a couple of years earlier, so you could get as much as 185 horsepower in 1992. The thing that the car became best well known for, however, was that it could literally turn on a dime. In fact, Toyota rated its turn radius at just 36 feet, making it one of the most maneuverable automobiles on the road.
3. 1995 Tot
Toyota decided to add another addition to the Camry family so in 1995, you could purchase the sedan, the station wagon or the two-door coupe. Engine sizes included a 2.2 liter V6 that produced or rather wimpy 125 horsepower or a 3.0 liter V6 that came close to 190 horsepower, something that people were extremely happy to see. Toyota also managed to increase the horsepower without sacrificing fuel performance. Even the more powerful engine was still capable of getting 18 miles per gallon, making this a car an option that more and more people were starting to pay attention to.
4. 1997 Toyota Camry
In 1997, the nose of the car was redesigned to provide a slightly more aerodynamic appearance. There were also a few additional redesigns to the automobile concerning its performance. You could still get the same 2.2 liter 4-cylinder or 3.0 liter V6 engine, but you could decide whether you would prefer to marry that engine to a 4-speed automatic transmission or a 5-speed manual. Fuel mileage was also significantly increased. Drivers that spent most of their time in the city could expect 23 miles per gallon, which was nothing to sneeze at. For anyone driving on the open highway, the car could average a whopping 31 miles per gallon.
5. 1999 Toyota Camry
For the last year of the decade, Toyota decided to upgrade the Camry slightly. They gave it a sleeker front end, making it more aerodynamic overall and it also featured a somewhat sportier look in the back. It still had the same engines as the 1997 models, but Toyota managed to tweak those engines in order to get some additional horsepower out of them. As a result, the four-cylinder engine was capable of about 133 horsepower and the larger V6 engine could crank out 194 horsepower without even trying. The most important thing they accomplished was increasing this horsepower without sacrificing fuel economy. In fact, this car actually averaged about one mile per gallon more on the open road than the 1997 model.