2012 Toyota Camry Review
They made a Camry Sporty?
By Imthishan Giado
Like Bigfoot, the Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster, there are some things you never expect to encounter. Well, having seen a Camry successfully attack an autocross circuit, I guess there’s nothing for it but to pack up and head to Scotland to find Nessie. Our first drive (with video) of the brand spanking new Camry, after the jump.
You first caught a glimpse of the new Camry at the Dubai Motor Show last month (LINK) and I maintain now as I did back then: this is the most important car going on sale this year. In fact it is the one car that nearly every resident of the UAE is guaranteed to experience at least once – with the exception of the silver spoon set of course, who would never deign to be seen in something as plebeian as a taxi.
This is the seventh generation of the Camry, a venerable nameplate that dates all the way back to 1982. We missed out on the earlier, boxier car and had to be content with our Cressidas until 1990, when the ‘widebody’ third generation first arrived on our shores.
Again, it’s hard to understate how important this car is Toyota. More than 14 million Camrys have been sold since launch, and today, together with the Corolla it accounts for half of Toyota’s sales here. So you can kinda say, it’s a big deal. For the seventh generation, there isn’t a world of difference. The exterior proportions are broadly the same, with length and height identical to the outgoing car – except for the 5mm of greater width for improving the handling? Improving the handling? In a Camry? Read on…
The styling takes cues from the smaller Corolla with more angular surfacing for the nose and the tail. There’s a new sports bodykit which will be standard on all but the base S model (one way to differentiate your private buyers from the taxi fleets) and it fills out the car in all the right ways, adding enough visual heft to the chiselled front fascia.
Unlike the old car’s forgettably blobby tail, you won’t forget when the new Camry pouts past. Those oversized hockey-stick taillights dominate the entire tail and together with the new front end, have the neat effect of making the Camry seem smaller than it really is. It’s all rather striking, but is it enough to draw you away from the Sonoptima twins?
Toyota’s betting big that you will be, and it’s got two cars up its sleeves – first of which is this new interior. The old car was rather indifferently finished and famous for having a centre console which rarely lined up, but this new car is an altogether different story.
Properly put together at last, it also features some rather dramatic intersecting lines, not least of which is that prominently-stitched leather pad on the dashboard. Everything’s old-people simple to figure out with huge, tactile buttons and clear, unadorned gauges. Ok, you’re unlikely to leap out of bed with excitement to sit in it in the morning, but you won’t be embarrassed to spend many thousands of kilometres in it, either.
The other trump card is the handling, which we’re here to test at the Dubai Autodrome. Al Futtaim’s Andy Squires lists two new key features which should in theory add up to a better drive: a more efficient electric power steering rack combined with a retuned suspension, and a new 2.5-litre engine with 178bhp and 231NM of torque, versus 156bhp and 218NM for the old car.
The anoraks will know this isn’t a ‘new engine’; the Americans have had it for years. But now it’s our turn, and together with a six-speed auto, it’s good enough to deliver a claimed 7.8L/100km. Good numbers for a relatively ‘big-block’ four. Enough with the figures – it’s time to hit the Autodrome track.
The first test is brake avoidance – slam on the brakes hard and try to control the car in an emergency lane change. This proves pitifully easy for the new Camry and as I pirouette through the cones, the first clue emerges – this helm is actually talking back. I have steering feel, in a Camry. Stop the presses.
Next test is a quick autocross course. It’s a short, low-speed affair, but again the Camry surprises, changing direction quickly and the chassis refusing to get flustered or get bent out of shape. Low down in first, there’s plenty of pull from the ‘new’ engine, certainly more than enough for the economy-minded Camry driver. We turn in what I believe to be a respectable time – although the marshals beg to differ.
You can spend hours on the track in a car throwing it around, but there’s no real substitute for spending time on real roads and real speeds. And so we depart for the final section, a 160km drive during which we explore the full dynamic envelope of what precisely the new Camry is capable of, from lift off oversteer to blistering top speed runs…
Of course, we did none of those things. What Shahzad discovered (as our Youtube followers will know) is that the new car has rather a good stereo; easy to set up and a cinch to operate in motion, able to deliver plenty of car-filling sound. The top-spec SE we drove used the same crisp touch interface you get in Lexuses (Lexii?) and at this price point, you won’t find better.
As for me, I can’t say the tweaks has suddenly transformed the Camry into a sport sedan, but it’s a pleasant thing to drive that won’t compel you to sniff out corners on your morning commute, but at least it won’t be undone by any that crop up. The steering feels good, but the same can’t be said for the new steering wheel, which sports some chunky and awkward volume controls on the left spoke.
The new engine is definitely more responsive than the old one, but it’s tuned for midrange rather than high end power; something the new automatic ‘box wisely understands, keeping the mill in the meat of the power band of all times. You won’t be hunting down left lane stragglers, but it’ll cruise respectably at the legal limit and beyond, sipping petrol all the way.
The big question for Toyota and distributor Al Futtaim is, is this new car good enough to fend off the challenge of the approaching Koreans? Well based on this short first drive and anticipating the usual solid residuals, I’d see it easily sees off the indifferent Accord and the aging Altima, but the Koreans have a dangerous dollop of style which may yet lure punters into showrooms.
This is the easily the best Camry yet, and good enough to stay on top – for now.
Specs
Price:
S – AED88,000 ($23,900)
SE – AED93,000 ($25,300)
SE+ – AED101,000 ($27,500)
Sport – AED102,000 ($27,700)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder, 178bhp @ 6000rpm, 170lb ft @ 4100rpm
Performance: 9.3secs 0-100kph, 200kph (est), 7.8L/100
Transmission: six-speed auto, front-wheel drive
Weight: 1447kg
Let us know what you think of the new Camry below
