Being the new “Family Truckster” for the 21 century, the Toyota Camry sedan has become the most popular car purchased over the past several years. With its proven reliability and excellent value for your money, Toyota now sells more than 400,000 copies per year of this sensible four-door sedan.
But what makes this car so great? Why has this single car become so popular? I just had to find out.
Obtaining access to this vehicle was simple. I am employed by a Mercedes-Benz dealership where we have over 50 new Camry LEs available for rent free-of-charge to any customer who comes in for service. Since I work in this department, I am able to drive several of these cars a week.
However, the hard part, in the end, was trying to understand why people would buy a car that really isn’t all that great. I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s go back to the beginning.
The Toyota Camry was redesigned back in 2007 and drastic measures were taken inside and out, most of them for the good. The new Camry received all-new sheet metal that was given a lot more visual appeal than the older models.
Gone are the frumpy headlamps and boring grill. It their place is a more pronounced snout, with a bolder grill treatment. The headlights are smaller, and more rectangle, giving the front-end a slightly more aggressive look. In the rear, the unappealing and large taillights and non-descript rear end now has a more pronounced trunk lid and shorter, squared-off taillamps. In addition, a newly incorporated crease at the bottom of the bumper has added additional style. Along the side, it is still the same, but Toyota has removed the side moldings and created a crease from the front fender all the way to the rear door.
This new design is not only makes it look more aggressive, but accentuates the slight increase in size. The wheelbase has increase 2.2 inches to 109.3, width is up one inch to 71.7 and height has increased 0.8 inches for a tall 57.9 inches. Even with its increased size, overall length is unchanged.
With the enlarged exterior, the Camry feels much larger inside. Headroom in both rows is ample for anyone over six feet. Leg room is very good as well. Three people can sit in the back in reasonable comfort.
Speaking of the interior, Toyota has also turned up the looks on the inside to match the new, more powerful exterior. The new dash looks much better this time around, with varying hues of colored plastics, larger and more hand-friendly HVAC knobs, and a retro-looking radio display that has cool-blue lighting behind it. Even the gauges are better, with a matching blue glow emanating from them at night.
Being this is 2009, there are plenty of toys to play with, even in the mid-level LE. Standard are power everything, tilt/telescoping wheel, single-disk CD stereo with 6 speakers with an auxiliary jack for your MP3 player, and cruise control. Also, there is an eight-speaker JBL premium stereo with built-in Bluetooth, a power sunroof, and Toyota’s Vehicle Stability Control with Traction Control can be added.
Sitting inside this newly-designed interior, you will noticed the seats are now a little more forgiving on your backside than before, but still very comfortable and supportive with excellent lumbar support. While lacking on side bolstering, the material that is used in this trim level is super grippy and makes up for a flat seat. The rear seats are nicely sculpted and have a comfortable rake to the seat back. Storage is ample, with a gigantic space under the armrest as well as underneath the ventilation controls. All controls are within easy reach, and all buttons and knobs are large enough for all size of fingers.
Mechanically, however, everything else has carried over basically unchanged. The base engine is a 2.4 liter DOHC four-cylinder producing 158 horses and 161 lb ft. of torque. (There is a larger 3.5 liter V6, but one was not available.) Attached to this engine is Toyota’s five-speed automatic transmission (a five-speed manual is also available). It is a very good and smooth engine, with good mid-range torque for passing power.
It seems as though this car has the makings of coming out with gold stars and a trophy. But there are two huge problems with this vehicle. The first problem is the horrendous driving experience. It simply has no soul underneath the new body.
The Camry rides on an all MacPherson strut suspension with an independent, two-link rear. The handling is sound, with nice turn-in from the nicely-weighted rack-and-pinion steering and surprisingly flat cornering from the suspension. But the car doesn’t transmit any information to the driver. There’s no feedback from the front wheels nor does the car build any force when you’re off-center.
The only sense of connection you get from the front of the car is the nose understeering off the road, and 16-inch Bridgestone Turanza EL400s screeching in protest. You simply steer until the tires scream “Uncle”. The brakes are mushy at best and require a significant amount of effort to apply braking pressure, so don’t expect them to help you much controlling the understeer. Then there is the ride, which is comfortable on smooth roads and soaks up small bumps well. Throw in any large heaves, craters or expansion joints, and the Camry becomes a 3,000 lb. bobble head, bouncing around like a SuperBall.
If the handling is a slap in the face, the five-speed transmission is a punch to the stomach. Under slow, mundane driving styles, it is simply okay. The upshifts are crisp, but the downshifts are far too slow, and you must press down hard on the gas pedal to get the transmission to downshift more than one gear. Push the Camry any harder, and the transmission refuses to cooperate. Upshifts lurch and downshifting confuses the transmission into a hunting game, which usually ends up in a higher gear than you want.
And when you’re sitting on the side of the road wondering what you’re doing in this car, you look at the interior and begin to notice problem number two.
Toyota quality? It doesn’t exist in this Camry. The plastics look very good at first glance, but feel cheap and tinny on closer inspection. There are large gaps in between pieces, especially on the center console where the soft vinyl from the top of the dash stops and thin plastics take its place. And who thought the horizontal lines in the radio display lens looked like a good idea?
I know I am being hard on the Camry, and it rightfully deserves it. Your drive, whether it is during your daily 9-5 slog in rush hour or the curvy road to Grandma’s house, should have some sort of feeling to it. You should slide behind the wheel excited to drive, and arrive with a smile on your face.
The only thing Toyota gives you with their Camry is a gigantic dose of Novocain, but you still feel the pain every time you’re behind the wheel.
Let dealers compete for your business and have the upper hand in negotiations before going into the dealership by getting a free quote at Yahoo! Autos.
Base Price: $22,145
As Tested - $24,435
Architecture: Front-engine, front-wheel drive five-passenger mid-side sedan
Drivetrain:2.4-liter DOHC I4 with five-speed automatic transaxle
Length: 189.2
Wheelbase: 109.3
Mileage: 21 mpg city, 31 mpg highway
Weight: 3307 lbs.
Options: JBL eight speaker six-disk CD changer, power sunroof, Bluetooth connectivity - $2,290
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