Toyota Camry Ascent 2019 Review

Toyota’s eight-generation Camry is hardly bucking any sales trends, but it remains by far the most significant force in the sub-$60k medium-car segment.

Were you looking for a list of the Camry’s most meaningful competitors, only the Mazda6 makes a mark – even though that car’s sales so far this year are about one fifth of the Toyota’s dominant 62 per cent segment share.

Both cars in fact are among the few to record better year-to-date sales than for the corresponding period last year: the Toyota is up by 8.6 per cent and the Mazda by 4.3 per cent. This is in a segment that this year is 12.3 per cent behind 2018’s April year-to-date figures, in a total market also down by 8.9 per cent.

What it all proves though is that medium cars – well, the Camry anyway – continue to mean something, even if the market is not what it once was, and even if there’s significant fleet activity to help maintain the Toyota’s sales.

The Camry is the brightest star in a fading market segment.

So how good is this fully-imported “family” sedan which, in entry-level form, maintains a significant price lead over its main competition – Mazda6, Ford Mondeo and Holden Commodore (erroneously rated as a large car even though it’s only millimetres away from most mid-size sedans)?

Toyota pegs the base Camry Ascent at a recommended retail price of $27,790, which is close to $6000 less than you’ll pay for a base-model Mazda6 Sport ($33,490), Ford Mondeo Ambiente ($33,190) or Holden Commodore LT ($33,690), yet it comes close to matching them all in terms of equipment, accommodation and – except for the turbocharged 191kW/350Nm Holden – performance.

Although the Camry has never been seen as a dynamic mid-size sedan, the latest generation doesn’t do a bad all-round job sorting the ride-handling compromise.

The Camry progresses with a quiet absorbency, the steering is well-weighted, communicative and quick enough, and the grip from the 215/55R17 rubber compares with the bulk of its similarly-tyred competitors.

The somewhat lustreless 133kW/231Nm 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine (135kW/235Nm in more expensive variants) is down on power compared to Mazda6 (140kW/252Nm), Ford Mondeo 149kW/345Nm) and Holden Commodore (191kW/350Nm) but it’s helped along to a certain extent by its lower 1495kg kerb weight (the Mondeo Ambiente for example is 1605kg).

In terms of fuel consumption the Camry, as is the tendency in most respects, sits in the middle with a claimed 7.8L/100km (the Mazda6 scores 7.0L/100km, the Ford Mondeo 8.2L/100km). On test the Camry got pretty close with a figure of 8.1L/100km – on regular unleaded 91 RON fuel.

The fully-imported Camry replaced the last locally-built car in late 2017 https://www.motoring.com.au/toyota-launches-pricier-imported-camry-109909/.The range now offers the 2.5-litre four-cylinder Ascent, Ascent Sport ($30,090), SX ($33,390) and SL ($40,090), a widely-available hybrid across all variants – that adds a premium decreasing from $2,300 in Ascent to $1000 in top-spec SL – and a punchy new 224kW/362Nm 3.5-litre V6 in SX ($37,390) and SL ($44,090) form [Ed: essentially replacing the Aurion].

The Ascent may be the least-expensive Camry, but it doesn’t come across that way.
As well as presenting what some would see as a cleaner face than the somewhat overworked next-step-up Ascent Sport, it’s well-dressed inside with plenty of soft-touch surfaces (except the door sills), an Optitron LCD instrument display, a deep-binned centre console with vents directing airflow to the back of the cabin, and behind-seat pockets for rear passengers.

But although the lack of climate-control and the manually-adjusted and cloth-trimmed front seats may be acceptable, the missing sat-nav is something of a disappointment.
That said, the Camry is outstandingly spacious, with comfortable seating for five (back-seat passengers, though they get a centre armrest, tend to sit a little low, in a knees-up position without much under-thigh support) and a family-size 493-litre boot that can work with the 60:40 split-fold rear backrest to take on board an impressive amount of luggage.

Fate has made the Camry Australia’s default family car. Buyers with a more traditional need for an accommodating sedan with a big boot, adequate performance, respectable fuel economy and unquestioned reliability will find their needs more than met in the mid-size Toyota.

It’s not just the pricing that separates it from Mazda6, Ford Mondeo and the German-made, new-generation Holden Commodore: it’s also the fact that the Toyota Camry represents levels of tangible quality, solidity and reliability that have been proven over the years.

The let-down comes with its towing abilities: The Camry is not the most capable in its class with a braked capacity of 1200kg. The Holden Commodore’s rated 1800kg is half as much again.

As the only vehicle scoring five-digit sales in Australia’s medium sedan segment, the Toyota Camry is the closest thing to a spiritual successor to the Holdens and Falcons that once defined the volume car market.

Like the icons of the past, in basic form it does little more than make a solid job of giving customers what they want. In a market that has changed irrevocably, it’s unlikely that the Toyota Camry will ever do more than that.

How much does the 2019 Toyota Camry Ascent cost?
Price: $27,790 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 133kW/231Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 181g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2017)