Toyota Camry first drive

That's the remarkable thing about Toyota's Camry (and that adjective sharing the same sentence as this car is, in itself, rather remarkable). Despite being as commonplace as sand in the Simpson, despite the plethora of four time owners for whom Camry is synonymous with “car”, some 60 per cent are white entry level jiggers flogged to fleets.
These then proceed into the used market and faithfully serve their undemanding owners for up to a decade or far more. You see them daily, an endorsement of Toyota reliability but not a boon to Toyota profitability.
The real money is yours and mine; that of the private new car buyer.
But when it comes to the middle-size class segment, we're apt to head to the showrooms of Mazda, Honda, Subaru or if we've about $40K to spend to those of the German duo, Ford Mondeo and Volkswagen Passat. If this crowd was not enough, Camry's traditional constituents are being targeted by Hyundai's i45.
These mid-size sedans are all visually appealing and (excepting the i45) dynamically adept, discernibly beneath the Euro prestige set, but commanding a bit of badge respect. This no one can plausibly claim for the Camry.
If common associations include: another is: “bowling lady's car”.
The difficulty for Toyota in grabbing a slice of the private pie is enticing first time buyers without alienating core punters.
So how do you make vanilla interesting? It seems an insurmountable ask.
Carsguide was among a select group of Australian journalists the first invited to Toyota's vast North American Proving Grounds outside Phoenix, Arizona to sample pre-production examples of the new generation Camry two months before this today’s worldwide unveiling.
To the plethora of existing specification levels - some of which won’t survive - comes the new Atara, one crammed with standard fruit, very much the anti-fleet Camry. Its comparative opulence is reflected by the name.
Camry as few of us know means “crown”. Atara is Hebrew for “new crown”. So a Toyota Double Crown needs to be fit for household's king and queen at a plebeian price.
The latter we won't know until this week, but it's reasonable to guesstimate that while the range will continue to kick off from about $30K, the Atara will be in the region of 40, certainly in Hybrid form.
For that, the user chooser will get kit that until recently was the preserve of prestige machines, including a blind spot monitor with wing mirror warning light, touchscreen audio, auto high-beam, shifting paddles and wing mirror integrated indicators.
Moreover the Ataras we sampled were of a palpably improved, almost Lexus level of quality.
 Head engineer Yukihiro Okane

the key words in developing the new sedan were “rational” and “emotional”.

While hardly inspiration for lyric poetry, this Camry is more distinctive at any rate not invisible with a more purposeful front and angular rear. Aerodynamic measures,

derived from Formula 1, which makes this family car maker's involvement in elite racing seem slightly less bewildering.

No panels are shared with the current device, but it's mainly a case of upgrading the Camry's off the rack suit to something sharper. Some of the tailoring works.

Even on 17-inch alloys, the bulky body looks under tyred (though, practically speaking, it isn't). That pays off with ease of egress through huge rear doors.

The only practical objections to the current Hybrid are an inability to tow and its truncated boot. Technically, the former can't be helped, but with 430-litres stowage the latter question mark over its family suitability is addressed.

It's within that the changes are most marked. Occupant space is fractionally improved and the enhanced materials have a look and tactile feel that wouldn't appear out of place in Toyota's luxury Lexus line-up. When you hear yourself making approving noises about the door insert materials, you know you've landed in a comfortable place.

Performance is up, juice use is down, due to a new 2.5-litre four cylinder that in conventional form puts out a class competitive 135kW/235Nm. “New”, that is, to Australia it's been in US-built Camrys for some time, hence Okane-san looks a bit abashed when we wonder why Toyota hasn't moved to a more efficient direct injection model a la VW, Hyundai and, soon, Mazda.

Even so it will, he says, use less than 8L/100km of basic unleaded. Logically the Hybrid could challenge Holden's Cruze diesel manual for the title of the leanest locally made car the current Hybrid uses 6.0-litres over the 100, the cheaper and smaller Cruze consumes 5.6.
Seven airbags as standard is one better than the class average. These, and new items such as automatically dimming high beams, will ensure the current model's five star crash safety rating is readily retained
Toyota's desert proving ground is a mighty facility, in which all conceivable road conditions are encountered. We take the opportunity to repeatedly push these pre-production Ataras on a high speed freeway run, then over broken (all too Australian) bitumen, through a skidpan dotted with witches' hats and along a coarse chip suburban-like strip.
Never synonymous with performance, the new Camry's improved output is immediately apparent, getting it off the mark smartly and pulling quickly and cleanly through its six gears, cruising easily up to its electronically limited 180km/h. Backing way off for the slalom, it's almost bemusing to find a Camry responding this smartly to steering inputs (which will be further refined for Australian production), the stability program triggering only under determined provocation.
Absent is the acquatic lurching half expected in an American made car. Thisd bodes promisingly for locally developed and manufactured model.
While we're by no means talking of sport sedan dynamics, this Camry clearly has a capability that will be more than enough for most people most of the time.
It's the petrol electric version that most impresses though, with its almost instantaneous, completely linear power delivery and eerie quietness at speed, when the only noise is the whistle of wind past the wing mirriors. Now possessed of practical storage, this could be the pick of the Atara range and the hybrid sedan that breaks through to the mainstream.