Toyota Camry 2018 review

It’s a brilliantly simple concept with, presumably, brilliantly complicated control software, which is why Toyota engineers get the hump if someone calls it a continuously variable transmission. Combined, maximum power is 215bhp, with fuel consumption likely to be confirmed at an official 61mpg (although we saw 40+ mpg on the trip computer).

All of those drive shenanigans aside, it’d also be slightly disingenuous to say Camry replaces Avensis, because, as befits a car they sell more than 400,000 of per year in the US alone, it's bigger. At 4.89m long, it’s between Ford Mondeo and BMW 5 Series in length, while at 1840mm wide across the doors, it's just narrower than a Mondeo, but at the top end of the D-segment either way.

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 doesn’t take long to be impressed by the way the Camry steers. Colloquially, engineers throughout the industry talk about a 50-metre test – how a car feels as soon as you get in it. Its control weights and low-speed steering and ride tell you quite a lot about how much you’ll like it later on. And the Camry’s smooth, accurate, if relatively weighty steering and easy responses mark it out as a pleasing companion in those first yards.

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.