Excitement. The Toyota Camry. Normally, these are two concepts that are kept on separate shelves. In separate rooms. Possibly in separate houses. Maybe even on separate continents.
That's not really a ding against the car, it's just that the Toyota machine is designed around fulfilling the exact opposite of the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." The Camry is designed for dependability, steadfastness, comfort. Raising your heart rate? Save it for the gym, Romeo.
However, over the past few years, I've heard a whisper or two. Toyota's 3.5-litre V-6 is actually cranking out some pretty solid power. The chassis response on the SE models is good enough that a colleague actually took a four-cylinder model on a racetrack and passed a few so-called sportscars.
Here's the sportiest version of Toyota's bread-and-butter family sedan, the Camry XSE. Could it be that excitement and Camry-ism have been forged together?
Design
From the front: meet Emperor Zurg. With a gawping, jutting lower grille dominating the front bumper, the current Camry looks a lot like the villain of Pixar's Toy Story, and especially so in my tester's Blue Crush Metallic.
As previously observed in a review of the Yaris, the folks at Toyota's design department are obviously looking over the shoulders of the Lexus team, asking themselves, "Hey, why don't we also produce vehicles with front ends like Philishave razors?" Happily, the rest of the XSE's performance-oriented equipment has the effect of balancing out the aggressive front end. The polished-face 18-inch alloys give the car a more menacing stance, and fill out the wheel wells. Overall, the shape of the Camry is relatively inoffensive, far less daring than something like a Mazda6. So far not much to get excited about, but let's take a look under the skin.
Environment
The first thing to notice about the Camry's newly redesigned interior is that it is once again a conventional layout, dressed up with a little sporty trim. Red stitching is the go-fast lipstick of the car world, and you'll find it here in abundance. So too is Alcantara a must-have if you're going to affect a sprightly personality.
However, perch yourself on the seats — more "on" than "in" — and you'll find that this does appear to be mere window dressing on an ordinary family sedan. On the plus side, that means all the traditional Toyota attributes are there: huge rear seats, a capacious trunk, a straightforward layout for the controls.
Fit and finish are quite good, though the number of blank buttons on a $35,000 car is a minor irritation. Also not likely to set anyone's heart aflame is the simple infotainment, which is easy to use, but slightly on the smallish side.
Practical touches abound, including a hard back to the rear seats that makes loading longer objects an easier slide when folded down. Still, as I sat high up in the Camry's driver's seat and prepared to tackle an onramp, expectations were modest.
Performance
Behind its wild 'n' crazy grille, the Toyota Camry packs a V-6 that sounds, spec-wise, like nothing remarkable. It displaces 3.5 litres, produces 268 horsepower at 6,200 r.p.m. and 248 foot-pounds of torque at 4,700 r.p.m. It runs on regular gas. It doesn't appear much different from other offerings.
However, even when paired to a conventional no-funny-business six-speed automatic, the Camry is surprisingly quick off the line. You may be more grown up than the guy in the GTI next to you, but if you choose to zip ahead in the merging cue, no problemo.
It's as smooth as anything at idle, quiet and composed as you expect a Camry to be. Rev it up and the '6 sounds quite good, but the real surprise is just how alarmingly quick the speedometer climbs if you keep your foot in. The XSE chirps its tires off the line and then just pulls and pulls, surging forward — and, like I said, all on regular-grade fuel.
Show the car a corner or two, and a second surprise emerges. Even though this car is smooth and unruffled over bumpier pavement, a considerable amount of effort has gone into tuning the suspension. It corners surprisingly flat, and relatively quickly, zipping through a mountain apex with excellent aplomb.
The tires are probably the weak point here, 225-series rubber that gives way if you overdrive the car into a corner. Try to left-foot brake to get the nose to bite and Toyota's don't-sue-us traction control kills the throttle.
But just listen to me: left foot braking, overdriving into a hairpin. This is a Camry, and it's being discussed as if it were a 5-series BMW! But that's the XSE, a mix of sporty contradictions to its mainstream roots.
Those Alcantara seat inserts, for instance, keep you planted when the side bolstering doesn't inspire confidence. The steering wheel doesn't offer quite as much feedback as it could — again, could be talking about a modern BMW here — but the strengthened chassis does. The XSE doesn't feel bred to be a racer, but its level of sheer competence is remarkable. And isn't that a Camry trait, to be remarkably competent?
Features
As mentioned, the XSE comes with a touchscreen interface that's a little on the small side, but very functional. The JBL audio system that comes with the package is excellent, and the car is also fitted with safety features like blind spot monitoring and a backup camera. Fully loaded, it's a little less than $34,000 plus freight.
Official fuel economy figures are a claimed 11.0 (litres per 100 kilometres) city and 7.7 highway. Highway cruising should net you decent figures, but the more stop and go you have, the more the four-cylinder option should beckon.
Green light
Sporty look; spacious interior; lusty V-6; surprisingly competent in the twisties.
Stop sign
Lots-o'-grille styling; infotainment a little smallish; still has missing button blanks.
The checkered flag
Finally, a little sporting appeal for the Camry, without losing a jot of practicality.
Competition
Honda Accord: ($24,050) Always a major competitor for the Camry, the Accord used to provide most of the excitement you couldn't get over at Toyota, with much the same reputation for reliability. In the past generation, however, size was up and fun was down.
The current Accord is a return to form for the company, and drives really nicely no matter what the trim. Add in a V-6 and it's genuinely quick and spacious. Heck, they'll even sell you a manual-transmission coupe version if you want to get a bit sporty. However, Honda still hasn't quite figured out the whole infotainment thing here, and the Accord's dash could use some simplifying. Still a strong choice.
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