I will be buying my first car soon and have narrowed it down to the Camry and Civic. The years I will be able purchase will be around '97 through '01 since I want one with less than 100,000 miles. I will mostly be using it for going to and from school and fishing trips within about 120 miles. I'm looking for advice from owners on which would be the better choice. Thanks.

Never owned a Camry.  I used to have a Civic that I beat the tar out of.  Those older civics were great.  The B series engine really was a fantastic series of engines.  For some reason Honda swapped to the K series.  The older ones would handle 200k on the odometer without much trouble.  Just do the normal maintenance and you were good to go.

Whichever you chose, make sure you use every tool available to you.  Make sure you thoroughly check out the car, give it a good test drive.  Have a mechanic take a look at it if possible.  There is nothing wrong with buying a used car.  There is a problem buying a used car that had it's teeth kicked in by some kid on a regular basis.

Camry's a little bigger; the civic might get a little better gas mileage.  We drive a 99 Camry and I have no complaints (other than that it's not a truck).  I'd do the Camry, but you're not going to notice a huge difference either way. See what you can get the best deal on.  ALso, the Camry has a timing belt replacement at 100,000 miles that costs about $1100, so that may be something you want done before you buy the car

You are probably going to have a hard time finding a 10 year old car with less than 100,000 miles on it, but that doesn't mean you can't get a good quality car. I bought a 1997 Honda Accord with 125,000 miles on it about 3 years ago and as of right now it has 190,000 miles. I have only spent about $1000 in repairs for it over the 3 years I have had it.

Both cars you mention are very good cars. The camry is significantly bigger than the civic but will get less gas mileage. My mom owns a 2001 camry with over 100,000 and hasn't had many issues with it.

My truck was in the shop, and the only rental they had was a camry back when I drilled gas wells. I don't know about long term quality, but I had that camry on well locations where trucks shouldn't be. ;D

Used to have a Civic (2 to be exact) beat the living s_

- t out of them. Great cars, over 200,000 on both. Now have a 96 Camry that I am beating the s_ _ t out of. Love this one too. You can't go wrong with either one. Just make sure you do the scheduled maintenance religiously and they will last forever.

2 different class cars

Honda Civic competes with Toyota Corolla

Honda Accord competes with Toyota Camry

Have owned both brands, never a problem with either.

Either one should work well for you. If they have been properly maintained, they are just getting broken in at 100,000 miles.

Taken care of, both should get 200,000 or more miles of engine life w/o burning or leaking oil.

If you can find one with service records, all the better.

Have a 2001 Camry with 118,000 miles. Solid car. Runs as good as the day we bought it. 31 mpg hwy. I did have the timing belt replaced but I did not pay $1,100 as someone said. I only paid $450 and had them put a new water pump on it since they had it tore down. Well worth it. Never had to repair nothing. Just new wiper blades, oil changes and installed new brake pads my self.

Camry's a little bigger; the civic might get a little better gas mileage. We drive a 99 Camry and I have no complaints (other than that it's not a truck). I'd do the Camry, but you're not going to notice a huge difference either way. See what you can get the best deal on. ALso, the Camry has a timing belt replacement at 100,000 miles that costs about $1100, so that may be something you want done before you buy the car

I have a 2000 civic that I love.  Bought it in 05 with 107k on it.  Got the timing belt replaced right away for $500ish.  The AC went out on me around 140,000 and would have cost 1000+ to fix.  I've been without AC for 3 years lol.

I'm pretty rough with it.  I bought a CAI for it and love to hear it revved up.  Just started to leave a little oil... not sure where it's coming from yet, but i have 198k on it now.  Besides those two things it's still holding together great and I recently got 37 mpg on it.  Norm for me is 34 or 35.

I've owned 8 Toyotas. Everything from an 81 truck to a 2006 Van. I've put many, many miles on them and you can't go wrong with a used Toyota. My travel car is a 94 Corolla with 198,000 miles on it and it still runs strong. I bought it used in 2001 and I'm glad I did. Find the best deal you can and get it checked out thoroughly and you won't have any regrets.