This Camry Look Good? What to look for when buying?

[NJshadow93]

Im helping a friend look for a car and since her budget is low, I told her getting a Toyota would be the way to go. I found a nice looking Camry with a 3.0 V6. It has over 181,000 miles on it. I was wondering if you guys can tell me what to look for in this car in particular to see if it's a good buy. I bought my 4Runner recently, but it is a truck and I have no experience in buying a car like this. Thanks for any help.

Looks like its in good shape. CarFax shows no accidents, but also no maintenance history. Here's the car:

1998 Toyota Camry New Jersey is located at James Toyota Scion along with other similar vehicles to 1998 Toyota Camry Flemington

another friend of mine has a '98 Camry. Its a 4-cylinder though with only 90,000 miles and all is well with it.

 

[03L4RUNNER]

Im helping a friend look for a car and since her budget is low, I told her getting a Toyota would be the way to go. I found a nice looking Camry with a 3.0 V6. It has over 181,000 miles on it. I was wondering if you guys can tell me what to look for in this car in particular to see if it's a good buy. I bought my 4Runner recently, but it is a truck and I have no experience in buying a car like this. Thanks for any help.

Looks like its in good shape. CarFax shows no accidents, but also no maintenance history. Here's the car:

1998 Toyota Camry New Jersey is located at James Toyota Scion along with other similar vehicles to 1998 Toyota Camry Flemington

another friend of mine has a '98 Camry. Its a 4-cylinder though with only 90,000 miles and all is well with it.

My neighbor had that year V6 and had no problems up till 200k, although I believe the timing belt has to be replaced every 60k miles and not a mile over what I hear

 

[Glock_19]

Maybe try to get the dealer to throw in some new tires? Those are looking worn.

 

[Flyer]

That's a lot of miles AND marked up at the dealership. They probably paid $1,200 - $1,500 for it on trade or auction. Anyway, here is my advice for her...look for a Corolla or Civic with lower miles, or even the Accord or Camry but look for a sale by private owner. That will be cheaper than the dealer.

I am not mechanically inclined but I look for rust underneath, varnish and black tar-liek stuff on diptstick/underneath oil cap, and sounds when driving. I also look for leaks underneath. I floor the car and hit the brakes hard to check for engine lag and for brake problems.

EDIT- it is not a really bad deal but look for a car with slightly lower mileage.