Yes, Virginia, there is a bold-looking Camry
The 2018 Toyota Camry checks off pretty much all the boxes its target market demands.
That it doesn’t check off all the boxes an automotive enthusiast might demand really doesn’t matter to a market that has made Camry a top-seller for generations.
The trunk is huge. The passenger space is commodious. The ride is comfortable and the fuel consumption is parsimonious.
Breathtaking acceleration? In the four-cylinder version, at least, not so much. Razor-sharp handling? Camry’s not bad, but it’s no IS 300.
Neither complaint is particularly relevant. If that’s what you’re looking for, you aren’t looking at Camry anyway.
But if you’re looking for a family sedan with expected rock-solid reliability, Camry should be on your list.
The interior might be Camry’s best yet. With a tasteful blend of materials and a striking design, it’s almost a Lexus for those who aren’t quite willing to pony up Lexus money. There’s soft-touch on the dash, which is broken up by the main control panel, which transitions to a sharp accent panel above the glove box with some fancy horizontal striations.
Best of all, not a hint of cheesy woodgrain anywhere. On the tester, at least.
On its transfer from Calgary to Winnipeg on the press fleet, where cars make the 13-hour trek once every three weeks, the fuel economy dipped to nearly six litres per 100 kilometres. In the city, it averaged about 10 or less.
Not hybrid-worthy, but not bad, and acceptable given it takes no extraordinary measures to achieve fuel economy, such as a tiny, turbocharged engine. Instead, the four-cylinder version is normally aspirated and tips the scales at 2.5 litres of displacement.
Families with hot-rodding desires might step up to the 3.5-litre V-6.
Both engines are mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. I’m a big fan of lots of speeds in automatic transmissions in cars with torque. In cars with less torque, not so much. And that’s the case here. I found with the 2.5, the transmission hunted a lot, and was often needing to downshift several gears when you needed to get back on the throttle. That lag was disconcerting.
I think Toyota might be better off pairing the four-banger with a CVT, even if some of the purists are now cringing. I found the small-engine, CVT pairing in the Toyota CH-R much more fun to drive, much more responsive to throttle input.
One cool, new feature for certain Toyota models is Entune, which Toyota bills as an enhanced entertainment and information platform that uses your smartphone to stream music from the Internet, for navigation and for traffic and weather services to show up on your car’s video display.
What I like about it is it allows you to use your existing smartphone data instead of some systems that require you to pay for an additional data package. Even if you have to upgrade your data plan, it should still be cheaper than two separate plans.
I just wish Entune would sense when you’re not using it — as I was for the duration of my drive — and not give you an unnecessary warning about data usage every time you start the car.
That we had the 2018 Camry just as winter was setting in highlighted another issue: the touch
screen display doesn’t work so well with gloves. Which means when it’s -20C and you have the clear the Entune warning, you have to take your g-g-g-glove off to do it.
From the side and rear profile, I like the styling. From the front . . . I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I just can’t help but wonder if the extra lines crafted into that nose don’t risk becoming dated in very short order. In XSE and SE trim, in white and from the front, the car bears a striking resemblance to a storm trooper’s mask.
I will give Toyota credit, however: it is bold. And how often have you been able to put “bold” and “Camry” into the same sentence?