Toyota Camry 2.0

The new version Toyota's best-selling executive car looks set to stay at number one...

What's New
The basic structure of the new car does have its roots in the old Camry's chassis, but things have been substantially revised. For one thing, the new Camry's wheelbase is significantly longer. Specifically, it's grown by over 5cm, which means much more interior leg room.

That said, both the size of the boot and the height of the car have actually been reduced by a small degree, although you'd have to be pretty familiar with the old car to notice. Space, on the whole, is still very generous, though, so not to worry.

Aesthetically, the new Camry is a big step up over the old car. While you wouldn't call the previous version ugly, it did have a pronounced ability to disappear into the background, so bland and innocuous were the looks.

The new Camry is a totally different proposition. In fact, it looks almost as if it should sport Lexus badges instead of Toyota ones. The new car looks considerably more muscular, its overall form more filled out and balanced compared to its predecessor.

The official version that we get here differs from the parallel imported Japanese domestic models chiefly around the nose and the rump. The former gets a large chrome grille that comes off as a lot more distinctive than the JDM version's body-coloured affair, in fact, most of the people we've asked seem to prefer the official version's looks.

The interior is an enhancement of the old car's basic layout. All the controls - and there are many of them - are neatly laid-out and impeccably labelled. You even get striking-looking Optitron instrument gauges that sport a 'tiered' construction. Imagine looking at a wedding cake from the top down and you might get some idea of how they appear.

Equipment levels are super high. You get four airbags, dual zone climate control with a Plasmacluster ionising and air-cleaning function, an integrated stereo with a built-in six CD changer, electric seats for both front and rear passengers, as well as steering wheel mounted audio system controls and cruise control.

There are even satellite controls for the front passenger seat that rear passengers can access, now that's a proper towkay-spec feature.

Generally speaking, the quality of the materials used is pretty much beyond complaint, and things are put together as per Toyota's usual standards. However, our test car did have an unusually wobbly-feeling centre console. This was probably an aberration.

How it Performs
The 2.0-litre four-cylinder powerplant in the version shown here musters 147bhp and 190Nm of torque. It's mated to a four-speed automatic transmission. A 2.4-litre engine option is also available and if you go for the bigger engine, you get a five-speed automatic gearbox that comes with a tiptronic feature.

The 2.0-litre engine's output doesn't make for very exciting performance, but crucially, Toyota has focused plenty of attention on tightening up the Camry's handling characteristics.

The first thing you notice is that the steering is considerably weightier. It's still light by most standards, but the extra heft helps to make you feel more connected to the driving experience. Body control has also been seen to, in order to complement the revised steering setup.

You can chuck the Camry about with a reasonable degree of abandon, something you wouldn't want to do at all in the relatively wobbly old car. There's a very decent level of front-end grip, so turn-in response is always nice and crisp.

The Camry is still meant for wafting about, so it isn't the best thing for a spot of sporting driving. That said, the handling improvements have made a big difference to how nimble the Camry feels in traffic. It is a very big car, but you can actually slip it into gaps in the traffic flow with a surprising amount of fluency.

The four-speed gearbox goes about the business of shifting gears pretty well. However, the fact that it only has four forward gear ratios to choose from does hamper its operation somewhat. The 2.0-litre engine can feel short of grunt sometimes, especially if you're tackling an ambitious overtaking manoeuvre, and on these occasions, the gearbox has a bit of trouble making its mind up over which gear to be in.

On the whole, though, when you're just cruising around, the 2.0-litre's performance should be more than adequate. And besides, it's best to enjoy the Camry's appointments and comforts at a nice and relaxed pace. Ride and refinement are both great, with road noise in particular much reduced over the old car.

How it Stacks Up
The last Camry's big sedan segment dominance was virtually undisputed, and this new one already seems to be cementing that position. At the time of writing, local distributor, Borneo Motors, had already collected some 1,300 orders.

It's got much more road presence than its predecessor, it's handsome, well-equipped, comfortable and it's wearing the Toyota badge. This last fact alone would be enough to seal the deal for many owners. The only real problem would be deciding which version to get.

The 2.0-litre version gets a tonne of standard equipment, so that's the value for money check box well and truly ticked. If you do feel that you want more performance, the 2.4-litre version is yours for a $6,000 premium. The 2.4-litre also gets extra niceties like keyless entry and a fancy push button starter, as well as HID headlamps.

Technical Specifications

MODEL Toyota Camry 2.0 (A) ENGINE Engine: 1,998cc 16v in-line 4 Max Power: 147bhp at 6,000rpm Max Torque: 190Nm at 4,000rpm TRANSMISSION 4-speed automatic TOP SPEED 188km/h 0-100km/h 12.5s