REDESIGNED CAMRY TURNS HEADS
The redesigned 2018 Toyota Camry is anything but mundane.
Its curvaceous hood is set over a two-piece grille that’s bookended by two side air intakes. The combination of its aggressive features, including character lines that sweep across the front and rear doors, bowed fender flares and a wide stance, give the sedan an athletic and upmarket appearance.
The aesthetic exterior improvements spill over into the interior, where the Camry’s extended wheelbase translates to a more comfortable cabin. The Camry’s driver and passengers actually sit about an inch lower in the 2018 edition, allowing for a more squat roofline and improved driving dynamics.
My hybrid tester’s plush leather upholstery helped justify the Toyota’s $34,507 price tag.
I was impressed with the overall improvements to Camry’s hybrid system. While most hybrid’s batteries consume nearly half of a sedan’s trunk space, Toyota has moved the battery forward, tucking it under the rear seats to provide more storage.
And Toyota’s new enhanced hybrid system provides a more spirited driving experience. A console-mounted shift lever on my XLE tester allowed me to shift the hybrid’s continuously variable transmission (CVT) to mimic a six-speed automatic trans-
mission. In addition to the traditional Normal and fuel-sipping Eco hybrid drive modes, the 2018 Camry also has a new Sport mode that produces increased power when stomping the gas pedal both off the line and passing on the highway.
The Camry Hybrid model is available in three grades that all share a power plant that incorporates a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine and an 88 kilowatt motor for a combined 208 horsepower. During my weeklong evaluation, my XLE model tester averaged 46 mpg in combined city and highway driving.
The base model Camry hybrid, the LE edition, which starts at $27,800, yields an even better fuel efficiency of 51 mpg city and 53 on the highway.
Thanks to improved soundproofing, the Camry was quiet and comfortable on the open road. The robust suspension provided just enough dampening to absorb road imperfections while remaining rigid enough to stay true through tight turns.
While gauges angled toward the driver produce a cockpit-style experience behind the wheel, the front passenger has a much more open and relaxing space thanks to a flowing and uncluttered dashboard. A mix of color tones and abundant soft touch points throughout the cabin created a comfortable driving experience. The Camry’s center console that’s wellproportioned and features a 7-inch touchscreen along with dual zone climate controls. A nine-speaker JBL sound system along with a 10.1-inch subwoofer provided distortion-free tunes from satellite radio and my smartphone music library via a Bluetooth connection.
My tester included a generous bundle of safety and convenience technology, including adaptive cruise control, automatic high beams and lane-departure warning.
The 2018 Camry, an eighth-generation edition of the sedan first introduced in 1982, has an improved, performance based hybrid system that offers stellar fuel efficiency, making it hard to beat.