Car of the week – July 6 – Toyota Camry

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  • Shaping up for success: Toyota Camry.

    The Toyota Camry has always been an excellent car – it didn’t become the best selling mid-sized sedan in the world without having mass appeal, which was probably down to the fact that it offered tremendous value for money and is famously reliable.

    – Car of the week – July 2 – Infiniti Q70

    – Car of the week – June 25 – Audi TT Coupe 45
    – Car of the week – June 18 – Toyota Aurion Sport TRD

    It’s the most common vehicle you see on the UAE roads thanks mainly to the fact that almost every  taxi is a Camry but it has never really appealed as a car I would like to buy because, apart from the fact I didn’t fancy getting flagged down by someone trying to get home at night (only joking), I never found it a particularly good looking car – not ugly, but a little ordinary.

    Not anymore. Toyota who are constantly updating their vehicles to stay ahead of the game have given the Camry a complete makeover and the end result is that this iconic car has been given a new lease of life. 

    It has shrugged off its somewhat boring taxi image and is reborn as a very exciting looking piece of kit with more aggression and even more appeal as an affordable, yet emotionally evocative vehicle for younger drivers.

    The front of the new Camry now has real attitude, something that was sadly lacking in its predecessors, with a deep black mesh grille giving it a hint of Lexus, and sophisticated looking headlight clusters with LED Daytime Running Lights adding a touch of refined elegance. 

    The side view is sleek and the rear with integrated wraparound tail lamps adds to a stylish appearance nicely finished off on the most expensive model with 17-inch alloy wheels.

    From an exterior design point of view this new Camry is a triumph but the improvements inside are just as impressive, if not more so.

    I hate cheap, tacky plastic that is used in so many mid-range cars these days but the new Camry has ditched most of that and the cabin is totally transformed with a far more luxurious feel, particularly in the top of the range Limited edition which I drove.

    There are extremely comfortable leather and Alcantara sports seats and red contract stitching which you also get on the leather gear lever casing, leather steering wheel and dash. The door panels also have suede trim.

    The instrument cluster is nicely designed with a 4.2 inch info screen and the Limited comes with a 7-inch infotainment touch-screen, sat nav, a very good 10-speaker audio system and rear view parking camera. The rear view mirror has an auto dimmer and a compass which is a nice touch. There is also a push-button ignition.

    So from an aesthetic point of view the Camry has taken a huge step up-market and has done so whilst retaining the all important affordability and rock-solid reliability, but what is it like to drive?

    The car is powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine with 181 bhp and 235 nm of torque and is hooked up to a six-speed automatic gearbox with paddle-shifts on the higher spec models. 

    It also has something called flex-start control that proactively engages the lock-up clutch when starting off to ensure maximum power transfer efficiency at low engine speed which increased fuel efficiency.

    Although the engine responds reasonably well it was a bit sluggish to pick up when I put pedal to metal looking for instant performance. I found I had to use the paddle-shifts to get the best out of it, but generally, for around-town motoring, the engine is powerful enough.

    The handling is impressively agile and the car has stability control, improved suspension, better aerodynamics, ABS, brake assist, electronic brake force distribution and newly developed electric power steering all adding to the effortless, smooth ride quality. Toyota have also fine-tuned cabin noise to make this the quietest Camry ever built.

    The air con, which is of prime importance at this time of the year, is excellent and delivers fast cooling while remaining environmentally friendly. 

    Overall, the new bold Camry is a massive improvement on the old one and is so well put together that it really does feel as if you are driving a vehicle in a higher price bracket. There are four models available and with most expensive one costing just Dh105,900 you really can’t go wrong.

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