I’ve always had a hard time getting excited about the Toyota Camry, despite its ever-increasing level of technical perfection. It has always seemed about as appliance-like as a car could get. Last year when the car was redesigned, Toyota made a half-hearted attempt to offer a Camry for people who desire a bit more excitement by adding an SE trim line. Though the differences between this trim line and other Camrys are fairly minor—a stiffer suspension, blacked-out details on the exterior and metallic details on the interior—it is a good start. I intended to drive a Camry SE last year, but ended up driving a four-cylinder LE (base trim) instead. (For my review of that car, click here.) So for 2003 I gave it another try.

Since I last drove the Camry, I’ve also driven the current Nissan Altima and Honda Accord, redesigned in 2002 and 2003, respectively. These cars provide the Camry with the stiffest competition it has ever faced. In SE trim, how does it stack up?

Toyota Camry Reliability

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Styling

The current Camry looks much like the previous generation Camry, just taller. That’s because it is taller by nearly three inches, a very significant amount. More in person than in photos this makes the car look strangely tall and somewhat slab-sided, despite the use of a sweeping character line along the bottoms of the doors to disguise the additional height. Thankfully, the 16” five-spoke alloy wheels optional on the SE help here. With them the bodyside no longer appears awkwardly tall.

With the redesign wheelbase increased by two inches, resulting in better proportions. With the previous generation Camry the wheelbase looked too short for the length of the car, especially compared with competitors like the Accord. Now the proportions are satisfactory, if extremely conventional. For leading edge wheels-pushed-to-the-corners styling you’ll have to look elsewhere.

The details that attend the SE trim line do as much as possible to lend flair to the car, especially from the front. Most notable are the integrated foglamps, which make the bumper appear less massive, and blacked-out headlight surrounds and grille. The SE includes a tasteful standard spoiler, but these became a cliché some time ago.

My largest issue with the Camry’s styling continues to be the huge taillamps. I notice these every time I pull up behind a Camry. Though I suppose this is the point, aesthetically they appear absurdly tall. Couldn’t they be just a bit smaller?

Overall, in SE trim I find myself warming to the exterior appearance of the Camry. With the 16” alloys, the proportions look right. In darker shades the car’s lack of curves and sheer surfaces lend it an elegant character, to which the wheels and trim add a touch of sportiness.

In the interior, appliance-like styling is taken to an all-new level. Nothing crazy like you’ll find in the Echo or MR2. It could not be more generic. The dash if virtually flat from door to door. This makes the radio and HVAC controls a bit difficult to reach without leaning forward, though once you reach them they are simple to use. The door panels, fitted with long flat armrests, are similarly flat.

The main thing I would like to see changed with the styling of the Camry’s interior is the center of the dash. The radio, climate controls, and center vents form a unit with a line around their periphery. As this unit is wider than the center console, and the center console rises to join the dash a few inches back from its front surface, it seems as if this interior was designed for a bench front seat—say, in a Buick—and thus as if the center console is tacked on. The Camry isn’t even available with a bench seat. A more cleanly integrated center console that flowed up into the control area would look both more upscale and sportier.

The SE trim adds some helpful details. The leather-wrapped three-spoke steering wheel unique to the SE both looks and feels good. I especially like the gauges. The champagne faces are perhaps a bit too trendy, but the detailing of the delicate needles, inset minor gauges, and gear indicator all indicate that someone with a very finely tuned aesthetic sense spent a great deal of time here. So many instruments these days are plain, crude, or both. For example, note the Cadillac CTS’s thick needles, the absurdly small tachometer in the Mercedes C and E, the artless positioning of the Altima’s minor gauges, and the overly large size and overly plain font of the Accord’s luminescent speedometer. Why is this so hard? Sure, the Camry’s gauges aren’t perfect, but compared to these others I enjoyed looking at them.

Aside from the special instruments, the SE includes trendy metallic-style interior trim. For 2003 Nissan has added large expanses of this stuff to the Altima. Sorry, but the revised interior still seems chintzy. In the Toyota both the amount of trim and the details of its execution are tasteful. The interior may be plainly styled, but every bit exudes quality. Even the textured cloth upholstery looked a number of grades higher than the mousy velour in the Altima (at least in black). In EX trim, the new Accord matches the Camry SE in interior quality, but does not exceed it.

Accommodations

I suspect that Toyota’s main goal with the interior styling was to make the car feel as open and roomy as possible. In this it succeeded. Last year’s increases in height and wheelbase translated into generous headroom and more legroom than most people can use. The Camry is very roomy, front and back, and owing to the flat dash and door panels feels even roomier. Though the Altima and Accord have nearly identical interior volumes on paper, the Camry feels roomier than either of them. The Accord even feels a bit tight in comparison. In the front seat this lends the Accord a slightly sportier character. While the Camry’s interior is wide open, the Accord’s envelops you.

The front seats are appropriately firm, neither too soft as in the Altima nor too hard as in various German cars. Lateral support is largely absent, which could pose a problem if the car is driven aggressively. (The Accord does a bit better here.) I drove a car with the cloth, and this good-looking (at least in black), grippy upholstery helped hold me in place. The leather, as nice as it looks, could be a problem.

Where the Camry pulls ahead is in back. The height of the car’s roof makes it possible to mount the rear seat fairly high, so it provides very good thigh support—something all too rare even among larger sedans. The Altima rear seat comes close, but isn’t quite as comfortably shaped. The Accord’s rear seat is mounted lower, and legroom is not as generous (despite what the specs suggest). A fifth person can fit in the middle of the Camry’s rear seat, but because the seat bulges out and is firmer there that person will not be comfortable.

The trunk is similarly spacious, noticeably more so than that in the redesigned 2003 Accord. For more cargo room, the rear seats fold down in two halves. (This is how it is generally done, but with the Accord the seatback is not split, so it’s all or nothing.) Although I would like to see a larger pass through—the one in the Camry is quite short vertically—I would be hesitant to buy a sedan without this feature.

On the Road

The Camry’s 192 horsepowerV6 trails those in the Accord and Altima by about fifty horsepower. Though not as fast as those cars, it is still a quick car. Especially in normal driving, with shifts around 3500-4500 RPM, the Camry feels nearly as strong as the others. I cannot say why the Altima does not feel even stronger than it does, as it also has a significant torque advantage. Tall gearing? With the Accord, the narrowness of the advantage is easier to explain. Although the Accord produces nearly fifty more horsepower, these follow from better high-end breathing, such that the power peak is nearly 1,000 RPM higher. The two engines, both 3.0 liters, produce about the same amount of torque, and the Camry’s torque peak occurs at lower RPM. Consequently, up to about 4,800 RPM the Camry’s six produces at least as much power as the Accord’s. The Accord’s automatic transmission does have an additional gear, allowing the first few gears to be shorter than the Camry’s. This gets the engine up into its powerband more quickly, so that even with equal power at lower RPM the Accord is a bit more powerful at any specific speed. All in all, with these engines kept below 5,000 RPM they all feel nicely torquey. Floor the accelerator, and the Honda and Nissan will both soon pull away from the Toyota. In sum, whether the Camry’s peak power disadvantage is truly a disadvantage depends on how you drive.

Given its much lower power output, I would expect the Toyota to use regular unleaded. Strangely, this is not the case. Like the Altima V6, it requires premium. Amazingly, the Honda engine, despite producing by far the most power per liter, both has the highest EPA mileage ratings by one to three miles per gallon and uses regular.

All three V6s are very smooth and generally refined. The Accord’s is by a small margin the quietest—muffled even at full throttle—while the Altima’s is by far the loudest. The Camry’s might be a happy medium, loud enough to be sporting but never so loud as to be intrusive. Like the Accord six, this engine sounds like luxury. No American-engineered V6 comes close.

The automatic transmission shifts very smoothly. It’s major weakness is the lack of a fifth gear. I fully expect Toyota to add a gear and boost horsepower within a year or two. This is a core product, and surely Toyota will not fail to react to Honda’s powertrain advantages.

Sadly, no manual is available with the V6. Then again, I didn’t care for the shifter in the four-cylinder Camry, so maybe this isn’t a huge loss. Those who want to shift for themselves will probably be happiest in the Accord among these three. It has by far the best shift quality, and the 160 horsepower four feels fairly powerful and is the most refined four I’ve driven. The Altima V6 is available with a manual. I still need to drive the car with that combination, but based on my experience with the four/manual combo I’m not very hopeful I’ll enjoy the shifter. All in all, I’m holding out hope that the upcoming Mazda 6, with an available V6/manual, will be a much better driver’s car than any of these.

When I drove the Camry LE last year the seat bolsters seemed way too soft. I had no such problem this time, though I’m not sure the foam in the SE’s seats is any different. Rather, the difference could be that I spent less time pressed against the bolsters. Two reasons come to mind. The first I’ve already mentioned: the SE’s unique cloth is fairly grippy. The second is likely more influential: the SE leans quite a bit less in turns than the LE. It even seemed to lean a bit less than the firmly sprung Accord EX. While clearly still no hard-edged sports sedan, the Camry SE exhibited much more stable handling than my earlier experience led me to expect.

I now see that the SE is available with either summer performance tires or all-season touring tires. Either is much better than the weak, squeally tires on the LE. I am not sure which of the two the car I drove had. They were Bridgestone Turanza’s, but these could be either depending on the specific model. I’d personally opt for the all-season tires if they stick as well as those on the car I drove, as these had more than enough grip relative to how the car liked to be driven.

And how is that? Well, the Camry SE has a pleasantly solid, fluid feel when driven moderately hard. The stable handling I’ve just described contributes to this, as does the fluid, moderately firm steering. Still, the car does not ask to be driven aggressively. In my mind it’s a very good touring sedan, but not a sports sedan despite that rear spoiler.

The SE’s firmer suspension not only does not harm the ride, but improves it. The LE felt a touch bobbly, like an entry-level Buick. Though the SE’s suspension reacts more firmly to bumps in the road, it never reacts abruptly, and in general the ride remains impressively composed. It felt much more upscale than the LE. (A third, luxury trim line, the XLE, supposedly shares suspension tuning with the LE. Still, I would not be surprised if the XLE’s lower-profile tires lent it a richer-feeling ride.) The Accord EX felt a bit less firm. The Altima 3.5 SE felt much firmer, with little benefit to handling but with a serious detriment to that car’s ride. All in all, the ride-handling balance of the Camry SE’s suspension is surprisingly good.

With the 1993 Camry Toyota incorporated the lesson’s learned in making the big Lexus extremely quiet into its mainstream sedan. The current Camry, two generations along, further raises the bar in this area. Even on the highway this is a very quiet car. Engine, road, and wind noise are all low. With its redesign, the Accord is now also very quiet, but I though the Camry still had a small advantage in this area. All other sedans I’ve driven in this price range, including the Altima, are noisier.

Unlike in the Altima, but as in the Accord, I noted very little torque steer in the Camry. Just one more area where the Honda and Toyota lead every other car in this class in refinement. Some would argue that the VW Passat is equally refined, but I personally find it’s handling tippier and ride busier. The Passat does have that distinctive German feel, but for me this has somehow failed to translate into driving enjoyment.

Pricing

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Last Words

As much as I hate to say it, I enjoyed driving and looking at the Camry SE much more than I expected to. The roominess, comfort, quality, refinement, and general competence of this car are all impressive. Even in SE trim the Camry is still not a car that asks to be driven hard. But as a touring sedan it is very satisfying. The suspension manages to both ride and handle well. The SE is certainly much more appealing both aesthetically and dynamically than the base-level LE; the extra $1,440 is money very well spent.

My main reservation involves the new Accord, which performs better, uses regular gas, virtually matches the Camry in refinement, and costs significantly less. Among family sedans the Camry is a very good choice, but the Accord is a better one unless maximizing rear seat comfort and trunk volume—or simply the Toyota brand—is a high priority.

Update: For 2004 the Camry SE gets a 3.3-liter six, five-speed automatic, and more standard equipment. The latter plus more aggressive dealer discounting makes the Accord now the more expensive car, tilting the advantage back in the Camry's favor.

Also for 2004 Chevrolet is introducing a thoroughly redesigned Malibu that comes much closer to matching the Camry. For my review click here.

To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough up-to-date new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

Amount Paid (US$): 26,505
Model and Options: SE with Package 3 and air bag package