CAMRY SPORTY — HONEST!
Don’t overlook bestselling sedan — it’s well made, quick, genuinely agile
The Toyota Camry has been a hot commodity for so many reasons. Be it reliability, comfort or its relaxed driving demeanour, it did it all in style — well, a rather staid style, perhaps, but as a family car, it set a high standard.
The one thing it was not noted for was hunkering down and displaying poise through a series of switchbacks. But believe it or not, that likable trait joins the Camry’s arsenal for 2015, especially as displayed in the XSE V6.
In the past, Toyota could be rightly taken to task for focusing too closely on ride quality: the Camry floated over the worst road imperfection without the horrible head tossing so common in many similarly sized rides. In this case, the XSE’s sport-tuned suspension, anti-roll bars and large P245/45R18 tires combine to deliver a sporty drive. Compared to Camrys of yesteryear (they porpoised through a corner!) it really did take a set heading into a corner and it held that flat attitude through the apex and on down the road.
The feel and feedback afforded by the steering was, likewise, crisp and not as light as before. In the end, I relished finding a twisty section of back road and letting the XSE canter through the esses at a pace that belied its old “comfy” sedan status. The plus is that, in imbuing it with some decent road manners, Toyota did not abandon the ride quality — it remains comfortably cushioned.
Before the test, I would have wagered good money the Camry would behave like a boulevardier and not a sporty sedan — and I would have lost! Nobody will mistake it for a BMW 3 Series, but it’s accomplished nonetheless.
The V6 also puts some rewarding spring into the XSE’s step. While the 3.5-litre lacks many of the technologies that are commonplace today (such as direct injection), it functions just fine, thank you very much.
To begin with, it spins out its 268 horsepower and 248 poundfeet of torque smoothly; it never felt stressed, even as it reached for redline. Conversely, its silky idle and quiet highway demeanour made it just about perfect for all driving applications.
The power is fired to the front wheels through a six-speed manumatic with paddle shifters. Toyota is obviously taking this sporty thing to heart. The transmission mirrors the engine in every respect. The ratios extract the best from it and each shift slips by, all but unnoticed. It is one of the slicker boxes around, regardless of origin.
The cabin then takes a leaf out of the exterior’s book: there is more substance than ever before. The materials are very good, as are the fit and finish, and the red stitching on the crash pad, steering wheel and seats added a sporty theme. The seats themselves are a little pew-like, in that there is not a lot of lateral support, but that is not to say they are uncomfortable. On the contrary, they proved to be ideal for buzzing about town and held the riders reasonably well through a corner.
The JBL sound system is worthy of mention — it blasts crystal-clear sound through 10 well-placed speakers. The XSE also featured blind-spot monitoring and cross-traffic alert, along with a rear-view camera.
The only nit to pick was the seven-inch touch screen. It proved rather small real estate for displaying the two or three panels of customizable information. I put the navigation in one half and the audio functions in the other side of the two-panel setup. The three-panel look splits one of the halves in two, which makes those facets way too small. True, touching the navigation screen did open it up to full screen, but it reverted to two/three-panel theme moments later. The map was not large enough to be as useful as it could and should be. That aside, the rest of it worked nicely: pairing a phone was simple, and switching radio stations was painless.
The back half of the cabin brings an acre of space — the 2,775-millimetre wheelbase certainly helps matters here. There’s a ton of legroom, ample headroom for a six-footer and no central tunnel intrusion, which means the back seat will accommodate three adults easily.
Then there is the apartmentsized trunk. At 436 litres, it makes light work of a family of five’s luggage. I also like the fact the back of the split/folding rear seats are finished with a hard plastic shell — it makes sliding in a longer item easier and provides some protection to the rear seat riders should the cargo crash up against the seat during a panic stop.
Many consumers overlook the Toyota Camry because, in the past, it was devoid of sportiness; the new XSE adds that dimension. As I said, nobody will mistake it for a European speedster, but it does everything very nicely, which makes it a more compelling purchase than ever before. After all, it has been North America’s most popular passenger car for 13 years straight and, with the XSE in the lineup, that’s not about to change. Overview: Family sedan with sporty overtones Pros: Comfortable family cruiser, V6 performance with economy, sportstuned suspension that imbues it with decent road manners Cons: Needlessly busy and too small central screen, deck-lid hinges not boxed in Value for money: Good What I would change: Simplify the navigation/infotainment system (give it a single panel display)