Toyota Camry test drive since 2011 sedan

New generation Toyota Camry Review - improved in everything

Updating the design of a long -term sales leader such as Toyota Camry is not easy. Of course, the model must be refreshed every few years, but there is no radical changes. Bold designer finds, which some of the strongest competitors of Camry resort to, will not help here, and there is no need for this.

Toyota does this out of its own reasons, because if you do not take into account the recent difficulties of the concern with advertising, at the end of 2010, Camry remained a sales leader, and in 2011 it can easily repeat this.

The new Toyota Camry 2012 remains a faithful proven Camry formula. Moreover, its dimensions, such as the total body length, its width and height, as well as the location of the wheels relative to each other, did not undergo absolutely no changes.

Before you start rolling your eyes with the question and where is the new one here, I would like to remind you that the Honda decided to increase its Accord to the size of a full -fledged sedan, and this happened a few months before a sharp jump in fuel prices, which made popular cars with more modest dimensions. The preservation of previous dimensions within the framework of the occupied segment in this light looks like a brilliant move.

But the immutability of sizes does not mean at all that nothing has changed in Camry 2012 at all. Changes affected the most important parameters.

It looks like ... Camry
In the spy images obtained earlier, you can see a familiar profile, but by getting the opportunity to consider everything in the details, you understand that the slightly sharpened corners and more stretched lines give Toyota Camry 2012 a rapid and energetic appearance, as if it had lost weight. It even seemed to someone that there was a subtle hint of Acura TSX in a good way, and some spoke out in the way that this should look like the new Subaru Legacy.

But the new form of Camry is primarily due to functionality. The new roof profile improves visibility. In the new Camry, you just look through the windshield, while sitting in the last year’s model, it was impossible to get rid of the feeling that you were looking out of the observation gap of the tank. And all this did not affect the space above the head, although this model never had such problems.

A little more sloping the roof line in the rear made it possible to allocate a little more space for the heads of passengers in the back seat (additional 0.7 cm), and the door of the new shape facilitates the landing on the rear seat. Also, according to designers, the rear passengers received more space for the legs (1.5 cm) due to a change in the shape of the front seats.

Improvements
It was here, inside, that Toyota specialists tried to change the idea that Camry had lost its former charm. Hard plastic sunk into oblivion, abound in the cabin of the previous model. There is no more faceless central console. The dull upholstery of the seats has gone the past.

Now there is a multi -level panel with pleasant additions, beautiful upholstery and, most importantly, a decorative line. The design of the climate control does not contradict common sense and goes well with the 6.1-inch sensory monitor of the audio system. The steering wheel on the adjustable steering column looks solid and pleases the eye when you get comfortable in a new driver's seat, offering more support than the previous one. In the 2012 model, the seats are covered with high -class material and all this is about the car in the average set of LE.

The chief engineer of Yukiyiro Okan, says that these improvements were the result of his experiment: he offered the owners of Camry and those who did not buy it to imagine that they have $ 100, and they can spend this money for revision. The question was that it was exactly that they would change those and others. The top three of the leaders just compiled the central console, the dashboard and seats, and they were the leader with a significant margin only there is a suspicion that the opeman-san spent much more than the indicated amount.

Under these pleasant and pleasing views, the materials are more high -quality soundproofing in the front and other steps aimed at reducing the level of road noise penetrating the salon. And, I must say, all this gave a tangible result now in the cabin is almost perfectly quiet.

New iron
If you drop a little deeper, a steel body made of better and stronger material will be found, which increases its rigidity and at the same time makes Toyota Camry 2012 easier than the previous model by 54.5 kg. Camry Hybrid is easier to 100 kg.

Reducing weight due to the use of high -quality steel allowed to add three additional airbags for the area of \u200b\u200bthe passenger’s legs and side pillows for passengers in the rear seat. As a result, Camry 10 now at all. Toyota is in firm belief that Camry 2012 will receive five stars in the security ranking if the government decides to test this model by hitting the wall.

Those of us who have not been in an accident will appreciate how lighter and hard the body improved handling and driving quality. After all, the suspension did not undergo any changes here as before MacPherson racks and a two-legged system in the back, only the rear side links were slightly modernized to more effectively compensate for the roll with insufficient rotation.

All the versions that we tested from LE with a four -cylinder engine to Xle from V6 under the hood and a rich SE go better than their predecessors. They seem more collected on the highway, irregularities annoy them much less. Most of all, we all, undoubtedly, liked the SE equipment. It offers tires of a larger diameter (17 inches for models with four cylinders, 18 for cars with V6), its springs are 15%tougher, shock absorbers by 50%, as well as a bearing connection on the front transverse link. The car eventually turned out to be quite assembled, and in our opinion, there is absolutely nothing to complain about.

The steering electric power capture (EPS) is now installed on the entire line of cars, the results of such a modification are ambiguous. Models with a six-cylinder V-shaped engine received a good centering and informative force on the steering wheel in a bend, which is especially clearly visible in the V6 SE configuration with its more sports settings. But the versions with four -cylinder engines seem dissipated and unaccounted for the background of the top version. With a more detailed study of this issue, it turned out that electrical amusers for models with V6 and four -cylinder engines come from different suppliers. One of them definitely needs to break the contract.
 
Improved consumption
Nowadays, when each liter of fuel is on the account, it is difficult to shame Toyota for the fact that it was decided to use weight loss to improve fuel consumption, and not to accelerate.

The now standard six -speed automatic gearbox has the same gear rates as before, although the last transmission is now located below, and a tendency to block the engine speed converter is observed throughout the speed range. The mechanical transmission is now not installed (a minute of silence), but the SE equipment is equipped with steering wheel switches that allow me to amazingly quickly and easily switch to engine speeds lowered with synchronization.

The convenience of the operation of this car in urban conditions on the country roads where we tested it is quite difficult to evaluate, we can only say that this 2GR-FE V6, which develops 268 hp, is a cut and very appropriate. According to our estimates, he is able to disperse the Toyota Camry 2012 from zero to hundreds in about 6.6 seconds (the result of 2007). Toyota specialists claim that Camry 2012 should spend about 11 liters/100 km in the city and 7.8 liters along the highway, which leads us to 9.4 liters per 100 km in mixed mode, which is almost a liter better than last year's indicators.

The basic 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine cannot be called a novelty, but for most Camry it will be an improvement, since now it has become more powerful (178 hp) than before. It is expected that acceleration to 100 km/h will be approximately 8.5 seconds, a consumption of about 9.4 liters per hundred when moving around the city and 6.7 liters along the highway.

Improved hybrid
The most significant improvement and a huge step forward was the decrease in the fuel consumption of the hybrid model of Camry. The previous model of this hybrid spent 7.1 liters in mixed mode in the segment, which was very good against the background of competitors. Then the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid 2011 appeared with a 6.3 -liter consumption in mixed mode, pushing Camry closer to outsiders. But with the release of Toyota Camry Hybrid 2012, the picture changes dramatically. It is expected that in a mixed cycle the beginner will consume no more than 5.8 liters per 100 km, which is 1.4 liters better than the model that he replaces. In the city alone, the consumption should decrease from 7.5 to 5.7 liters.

For this, it is worthwhile to thank a new recuperative brake system that increases the range due to the conversion of an even greater amount of energy obtained during braking. And the refusal to use last year’s 2.4-liter engine without the Atkinson cycle in favor of a new 2.5-liter power unit with the above cycle is a definitely more effective strategy in comparison using a narrow revolutions combined with the variator.

As a pleasant bonus, this new engine, coupled with the main electric motor, is about 200 hp. Instead of the previous 187. And our right leg is a witness to this that this new Camry Hybrid is not lazy and does not hesitate.

In addition, some parts of the hybrid installation decreased in size, so that the current converter moved from the trunk to the subpoor space. This, in turn, made it possible to relocate part of the batteries and increase the capacity of the trunk from dubious 300 to quite competitive 370 liters.

Improved price?
The total price picture, given what you get by purchasing Toyota Camry 2012, is very rainbow. Officially, prices were not yet voiced, but none other than the head of Toyota Motor Sales Bob Carter hinted that the cost of the most massive LE set with a four -cylinder engine and automatic transmission will not differ from the cost of the current model, i.e. It will be in the region of $ 22,700. But he did not stop there, saying that the difference between LE and more sports SE and a more chic Xle, which now amounts to $ 1,265 and $ 4,025, respectively, should be significantly reduced. Camry Hybrid will be offered in two trim levels: more modest and, accordingly, cheap will be LE, and more generously equipped with Xle. Moreover, they will cost less than their predecessors.

This was made possible thanks to the saving through the use of the machine equipping strategy with options borrowed from Honda, in which 1399 theoretical configurations (excluding color) were reduced to 36 due to the proposal of options for options and only a few separate options for additional equipment.

The cost of the Toyota Camry 2012 maximum maximum will undoubtedly be higher than a similar model of the previous generation, due to such high -tech novelties as a monitoring system of blind zones, the Entune system, which allows you to connect a smartphone, two navigation levels and a premium JBL audio system with ten speakers .

None of the above will prevent some enthusiasts from ridiculous, quite doubtful in terms of the revolutionary of the Toyota Camry 2012 newlyer, but it has always been so. As before, Camry is aimed at the very heart of the automobile market, where the quality, efficiency, high safety and comfort have always ruled the ball.

The new Toyota Camry 2012 and Camry Hybrid are a significant step forward in all of these directions. From our point of view, the proven Camry formula will nevertheless allow the new model to again get a loud title in the coming year.
 
        
Technical characteristics of Toyota Camry LE
The type of engine is gasoline, 4-cylinder
Working volume (cm3) 2 494
Power (L.S. at rpm) 178/6 000
Torque (Nm at rpm) 170/4 100
Front drive
Automatic gearbox 6-speed
Front -line pendant Independent type MacPherson
Suspension of the rear independent multi -link
Front ventilated discs brakes
Brakes of the rear discs
Length (mm) 4 825
Width (mm) 1 825
Height (mm) 1 480
Wheel base (mm) 2 775
Clearance (mm) 160
Equipped mass (kg) 1 435
Fuel consumption 11 city, 5.9 track

Source: Insideline