Toyota Camry 2018 review

It's based on Toyota’s recently introduced TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture) platform, whose advantages, Toyota says, include a low engine location, which allows a low dashboard, thus lowering (improving) the centre of gravity. There’s also lots of high-strength steel in the body, apparently meaning the A-pillars are thin and the body stiff, while the battery for the hybrid system fits beneath the back seats, as does the fuel tank. And the rear suspension is by fancy double wishbones, doncha know.

Not that it’ll matter, because big saloons are big and boring to drive. But hark! Here’s Masato Katsumata, Toyota’s global chief engineer for the Camry. His first gig in the company was as a handling engineer, while he’s also been senior vice president for R&D in Europe. And he owns an early Celica.

“We want to create emotion in a hybrid system,” he says. The rigid body, particularly where the steering is mounted, “contributes to realising dynamic performance”. This, it’s fair to say, would be a bit of a departure for the Camry, no? But European models get different dampers from US cars, plus bespoke tuning of damping, springing, anti-roll bars and steering. So let’s see.

It rides pretty well at all times. You can sense that the centre of gravity is low; there’s limited roll and pitch but it can also feel like it’s carrying a fair degree of weight low down. It’s solid, secure and stable, but it lopes along, un-fleet of foot as a 1670-1735kg, near five-metre-long saloon is bound to be. It’s agreeable, capable and comfortable transport, but it’s not, like, say, a Kia Stinger, shockingly dynamic transport.

Neither is the engine/motor combination quite as ‘emotional’ as it’s claimed it is. But, you know, that’s actually fine. What the Camry does is bring you internal combustion and electric power and meld the two in expertly seamless fashion. Ask for a lot of acceleration and you get it, accompanied by a monotonous engine drone, but in general driving, the petrol unit is far more muted, mooching between power sources with genuine skill. I’m not sure anybody else does that better.

This all compounds to make the Camry an excellent cruiser. The kind of car you could get out of three hours while barely registering that you’d been in it at all.