Toyota Camry Solara 2003 test drive - 2008

All photos Toyota Camry Solara 2003 - 2008

There is no happiness in the world, but there is peace and Camry

Camry wants you to relax: the seat back is not installed in an upright position, whatever one may say, or rather, no matter how you pull the electrical control keys. Relax and sleep
Toyota Camry was and remains a bestseller of business class, despite the change of generations. Demand for the sedan remains stable, although a whole series of Japanese and Korean competitors appeared. What is Toyota Camry really? We took on the test the most chassis with a 2.4-liter engine, of course, with a machine gun, prestige in the top configuration.
Sometimes after several kilometers behind the wheel of a test car, the hands begin to involuntarily reach for the keyboard as soon as possible to write down the impressions of communication with something new about four wheels and with a motor. Only, of course, this new should be interesting, or even there will be nothing to share. It would be nice if it had something else to have a soul. And if there is no soul, then at least the characteristics are outstanding. And what to do if there is no soul, characteristics, too, but there is refuch.

For example, what to do when Toyota is incurring a test? Moreover, almost any model, well, except for all -wheel drives and sports, inaccessible in the Russian market. What to do if a bestseller gets on the fitting, not different from the iron, refrigerator or any other household appliances? The soul of this car will appear after 300 km, and just the hundredth owner will control the dream. In the meantime, things are like this. With the Toyota Camry of the previous generation a couple of years ago, I had one only association of the CU. Chronic fatigue syndrome. No matter how much I look, not to mention getting behind the wheel immediately wraps in sleep. The whole test turned out in the head in a short rhyme if you bought Camry, look from boredom, do not remember.
But the new Camry managed to please me for no reason: albeit not with my soul, but a powerful 3.5-liter engine (you definitely won’t die from boredom), as well as very brave and unexpected, albeit with an eye on Bavarians, design . Camry has ceased to be like an nameless household appliance, and now it can be seen in the stream and even try to chase with it. Not to mention reputation, it is unquestioning. Camry sets fashion for sharp slanting headlights, and powerful wheel arches, which all designers of the world are indulging now, according to marketers, speak of reliability and security. This is the same male instinct as a reaction to a woman with beautiful rounded hips, the subconscious suggests: it means that she will make a good mother for my children. In the Profile Camry, it was slightly heard in a height, hinting at the Bavarian seven, the trunk lid is supplemented again with narrow slanting lanterns.

And now the same Camry, only with a 2.4 -liter engine with a capacity of 167 hp, with a five -speed automatic. If the engine would not have done without enthusiastic reviews, and the moderately loud thrust of the gasoline engine along with stretched gears and a sluggish, albeit smooth, setting up the box switches. Sleep again. Camry wants you to relax: the seat back is not installed in an upright position, whatever one may say, or rather, no matter how you pull the electrical control keys. Relax and sleep. If the previous version of the bedroom was completely dreary, then there is even some kind of pajama-capture mood with elements of the high-tech kitchen. The bedroom with the kitchen is now equipped differently. The turquoise central console on gray plastic and inserts under a tree drank tea in the kitchen from Germany, put on his pajamas, kissed his wife and children at night, removed black and white accounting in a spacious glove compartment and sleep. By the way, you can now manage a climate control in the family even from the steering wheel is a rare option and is very convenient.
Optronic devices have small sectors, which hides the dynamics of the shooter. At the speedometer, the shooter is theoretically capable of deviating no more than 180 degrees, but really much less. The working sector of the tachometer is even 90 degrees.

As a sleeping pill, a dull, but, thank God, a barely distinguishable nagging motor. Under it, the bedroom with a kitchen accelerates. Without excitement, but confidently also confidently goes in a straight line, delighting with high smoothness. Nothing distracts. Camry reacts smoothly and accurately to the turns of the steering wheel. However, if you go calmly and in a straight line. On steep turns, the feedback is lost. The car is swinging and rolling so that it seems a little more and you can wake up. However, the non-disconnected stabilization system suppresses any deviations from a given trajectory quickly and efficiently, although the tendency to skidding with such a sleeping and valia settings of the chassis is completely unaware of the chassis. However, everything in the car dissuades everything in the car in seats of side support in principle. On the sides, powerful armrests with voluminous pockets. The rear sofa also resembles the shelter of a tired wanderer in soft chairs you drown once and for all. Moreover, it is desirable that the Sedokov be no more than two, otherwise the average will be in crowded: the matter is not in the dimensions of the car, but that the sofa is obscured specifically for two persons.
Under the dull motor of the motor at 4,500 rpm and in the fifth gear in the very speed parking of the Moscow Region called New Riga, the bedroom crawls to 200 km/h, according to the indications of optestone devices. The pulse does not increase, the pressure is normal, the money in the wallet, the mother -in -law with children in Cyprus. Even at high speed, the feeling of the car does not disappear, keep straight and not show off. Before turning, for obvious reasons, it is worth reducing speed, not this matter

In a light half -day, I look at the testimony of an on -board computer with one eye 12.6 per 100 km. Not bad for the check-show regime. Thoughts flow smoothly and measuredly. Life was a success and there are still people in the world who are so uninteresting to drive a car that they buy Camry. Gray, soulless, but such a reliable and status car. And these people are in percentage, by the way, the majority. And one more thing: after all, in principle, the reputation is much better than the soul. At least for tired of life and adult men standing on their feet, much less often for women. After all, when the soul is tired, the reputation remains.
And as for competitors, they never catch up with Camry. And it's not about the outstanding qualities of the machine, although they quite satisfy the generally accepted world standards. From the point of view of technology, it is almost impossible to achieve superiority in the business class. It’s just that buyers, having rolled up for three years on one Camry, without a shadow of doubt, direct their feet again to the Toyota car dealership, where, having handed over the old car to an unprofitable but convenient Trade-in, they purchase a new, exactly the same bedroom on wheels. If you're lucky, you will get a new version, already with a built-in coffee maker ... And if the stars turn up truly successfully, then not far from the Lexus LS 460 class bedroom.
Text: Leonid Pavlov. Photo by the author.

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Comfort
Stylish design

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Boring accelerated dynamics and handling

The price of the tested car is 1 012 000 rubles

Complete the test of the tested car
Frontary airbags
Side airbags
Inflatable curtains
Abs
Anti -boom system
The system of dynamic stabilization
Steering amplifier
Automatic transmission
Multifunctional steering wheel
Adjustable steering column in height
Adjustable steering column by departure
Steering wheel decoration with leather
Salon decoration with leather
Electric heating of the front seats
Rear -view mirror
Bluetooth kit for phone
Remote Central Castle
Climate control is two-zone
Electric drive and heating of external mirrors
Electr -glass lifts are front
Rear electric windows
Luke for long -meters
CD-audio system
CD changer
Light sensor
Rain sensor
Trip computer
Parctronics
Fog lights
headlight washer
Alloy wheels
Full -size spare wheel
Coloring metallic
Electroregulation of the driver's seat
Electroregulation of the front seats
Cruise control
Xenon headlights
Specifications
body dimensions, mm 535
Body
Body type 4-door sedan
The number of places 5
Equipped mass, kg 1525
Full mass, kg 1985
Length, mm 4815
Width, mm 1820
Height, mm 1480
Wheel base, mm 2775
Road clearance, mm 160
Engine
Basin type with injection and variable biases
Front location, transversely
Location and number of cylinders R4
Working volume, cm 2362
Cylinder diameter/piston stroke, mm 88.5x96.0
The degree of compression is 9.8
The number of valves per cylinder 4
Maximum power, L.S./rpm 167/6000
Maximum torque, Nm/rpm 224/4000
Transmission
Gearbox 5-speed, automatic
Front drive
Front suspension independent, mcpherson
The rear suspension is independent, two
Front brakes Disco ventilated
Rear brakes Disco ventilated
Tires 215/60R16
Dynamics
Maximum speed, km/h 205
Acceleration time 0-100 km/h, with 10.2
Fuel consumption, l/100 km
city cycle 13.6
country cycle 7.8
mixed cycle 9.9
Fuel tank capacity, l 70
Fuel AI-95 gasoline