Toyota Camry 2015 Review

The Camry leads the medium segment with a 44 per cent share that is sold predominantly to the fleet market. Toyota hopes this Camry refresh will attract more private buyers with its new sheet metal, electronic safety equipment in premium Atara SL and a new sports grade, the Atara SX. If that doesn’t work, there’s always the chunk sliced off every Camry’s RRP.

Praising a Toyota Camry’s ride and handling balance is not how you might expect a review to begin for Toyota’s dependable but dull medium sedan.

Yet Toyota has added a bit of spice to the bland fare that has been the signature dish for Camry. The locally engineered sports model in the range, the Atara SX, has 18-inch wheels — a first for Camry — upgraded suspension and a quicker steering-rack ratio to get the average Camry driver’s pulse registering at least, if not racing.

While the Atara SX’s steering has a slight artificial resistance off-centre, it is hard to find much more to criticise about its dynamics. The steering has good turn in, feels linear in response and offers good feedback. The Bridgestone Turanzas are grippy and body roll is minimal. Ride is more abrupt than the rest of the range, but not unpleasant.

While the Atara SX’s handling is a like slipping on a pair of running shoes, the rest of it is like running in baggy pants and a jumper. The leather seats need more support when generating the cornering forces the Atara SX is capable of and the 135kW/235Nm  2.5-litre four felt like it needed a bunch more power and torque.

While the Atara SX is the ‘sports’ Camry, it’s fair to say it only brings it up to the same standard as some of its competitors’ non-sports models. The Mazda6, Subaru Liberty and Volkswagen Passat have similar sports DNA as standard.

The Atara SX equipment list includes a body kit, rear lip spoiler and leather seats. It is not offered as a hybrid.

While the Atara may be the headline act for the new Camry range, Toyota concedes it is destined to be a bit player. Toyota Australia’s senior executive director, sales and marketing Tony Cramb said that sales of the Atara SX would represent "a small proportion of the mix”.

The majority of Camry buyers choose the entry-level Altise. Like all new Camrys, the Altise has LED daytime running lights, a reversing camera and a preload differential (which improves straight line stability). The Altise also gets a new folding ignition key, a 6.1-inch display and static guidelines for the rear-camera display.

The Altise drives much as it did before, and while the new exterior looks sharp, inside it’s pretty much the same dull ambience, in spite of the new trim and steering wheel. While the carry-over dashboard, with its stitched vinyl cover, still looks the part, the door cards and other trim look cheap. At least it is a comfortable, relatively spacious cabin.

The H and HL names have been ditched for the hybrid models. Instead, they take on petrol model naming and have three grades instead of two.

The Camry Altise, Atara S and Atara SL are available as a petrol or a hybrid.

The hybrid Altise also has keyless entry and ignition, auto dual-zone air-conditioning, hill-start assist control and a revised instrument cluster with Optitron main dials separated by a multi-information display.

The Camry hybrid drives much as it did in the last iteration, with it able to run on the electric motor alone until about 60km/h or until it meets an incline. As before, the boot space is restricted due to the battery fitted between the boot and rear seat.

Specifications are much the same for petrol and hybrid Atara S models, with 17-inch alloy wheels, power driver’s seat, leather steering wheel, rear parking sensors and Toyota Link — which will soon offer Pandora internet radio.

The Atara SL gets the full safety suite of autonomous braking, active cruise control, lane departure warning and rear cross traffic alert. This is in addition to key Atara SL features such as power front seats with memory function, premium audio with sat nav, front parking sensors and leather seats.

An equipment anomaly is the lack of sat nav in any grade except the Atara SL.

Buyers of the Atara SL, can also tick the options box against the 18-inch wheels and suspension package (although wheels are silver instead of the Atara SX’s gloss black), but they have to take the electric moonroof as well. The moonroof is available as a $1950 stand-alone option while the 18in/moonroof package option is $2950.

When it’s all said and done, the new Camry gets a lot more than you’d expect for a mid-life upgrade for a whole lot less. It is a fitting swansong for the last Australian Camry.