The quietest year of the old Camry — buy the last of the seventh generation with confidence.

The seventh generation's U760E six-speed automatic is, in the words of a Toyota master tech, 'bulletproof — nothing really goes wrong with these.' The one caveat mechanics add: ignore Toyota's 'sealed for life' fluid guidance and change the fluid around every 60,000 miles, because past 100,000 the old fluid is where the rare problems start. On a test drive expect smooth shifts; a brief light-throttle shudder at 25–50 mph is the only known quirk, and it's uncommon on 2015–2017 cars.

As on the 2016, some owners report the four-cylinder using more oil than expected — there's no Toyota program for this engine, so screen with the dipstick. Mechanics add the aging-car checklist for higher-mileage examples: the valve-cover gasket is prone to weeping oil, the water pump and cylinder-head coolant pipe can seep coolant, and uncoated brake lines can rot in salt-belt states. All are maintenance-grade, not defects.

Worth stating plainly, because it's the reason to prefer this year: the 2017 predates the eight-speed automatic and its whine-and-failure pattern, the coolant flow-valve program, the low-pressure fuel-pump recalls, and the piston and engine-porosity recalls — all of which arrived with the 2018 redesign. If the paint is Blizzard Pearl or Super White, note Toyota's ZKG program covered factory paint peeling on those colors through 2017.