New Toyota Camry review, test drive

The radical changes on this car are on the surface. With a complete revamp of the sheet metal, the new Camry looks like a Lexus and this works in its favour. The swept-back headlamps and the large chrome grille are the highlights of the nose and there’s more than a hint of sportiness in the protruding chin and fog lamps, which sit well inside the front bumper. You could argue that the nose is quite generic, but it does look quite attractive in the flesh. 

 

The defining feature of this Camry though is the roofline. It swoops less than the old Camry’s and you can imagine the headroom this shape liberates on the inside. The rear of the Camry is dominated by those huge tail-lamps and that thick slab of chrome that Indians seem to love. It’s an uncontroversial shape and Toyota hasn’t taken any risks. 

 

Despite its size, the Camry’s wheelbase isn’t as big as you would expect. However, this isn’t as big an issue as it sounds — the Camry’s interiors are really well packaged.

 

Ride comfort has always been a Camry hallmark and Toyota has heavily revamped the suspension  on this Camry to improve just that. It carries over the MacPherson-strut layout in the front, but the multi-link setup has been redesigned to improve body control. There’s more sound insulation stuffed into the wheel wells to keep out unwanted road noise and the stiffer bodyshell does its bit too.

 

In a bid to keep costs down, the Indian Camry comes with just two airbags and no traction control. This is not good in a segment where six airbags and some form of electronic stability program are par for the course. ABS is standard though.