New Toyota Camry review, test drive

The new Toyota Camry is better looking, better equipped and more comfortable, albeit a little on the expensive side.

Published on Oct 25, 2012 08:26:00 PM

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Imagine what it’s like sitting on your favourite sofa – that’s how good the Camry’s rear seat is. The deep seat base makes for excellent thigh support and the squarish roofline makes for plenty of headroom. The seat back is perfectly angled and there’s enough place to stretch out. There are front-seat adjusters placed on the side of the seat, so the rear-left passenger can easily slide it forward for more legroom. The seats are also placed at a nice height, so it’s easy to slide in and out of them. Toyota knows the Camry’s strong point is its rear seat and so, has left no stone unturned to make sure this new Camry’s seats are the best. The front seats are equally nice to sit in and both have eight-way power adjustability.

From the driver’s seat, the Camry feels wide and that’s partly because of the big dashboard. Interior quality is another place where the Camry has been substantially improved. All the bits that you experience first – the steering wheel, the gear lever and the controls – feel rich and proper, and we like the uncluttered layout and sufficiently big switches. The interior may not have the sheer solidity of the Skoda Superb’s cabin, but it’s not far behind. The stitched-leather effect for the top half of the dashboard is nice, wood finish is quite convincing and the Playstation-like steering-mounted controls are interesting. We did think the rear air-con vents were a bit cheap-looking, but that’s the only serious complaint we can level at this cabin.

The Camry’s dash strikes a nice balance between pleasing design and functionality. We particularly liked the multi-layered dials with the real-time fuel consumption indicator and a meter that shows you how economically you are driving.

Storage spaces are plenty. The glovebox in particular is huge, and there’s a big cubbyhole between the front seats. To improve cabin space, Toyota has used thinner door pads, and this probably explains why the door pockets are unusually narrow. The boot is much smaller too – this new Camry gets only 484 litres of space as against the old car’s 535 litres.

It’s pretty well equipped though. Standard features include dual-zone climate control, keyless entry and go, fully powered front seats, Bluetooth connectivity, parking sensors, cruise-control and a 2-DIN touchscreen audio system with aux-in and USB ports. There are some important features missing though — in addition to quite a few airbags, this Camry doesn’t get a sunroof or a reverse camera.