It is very difficult to find fault with the Toyota Camry. It's smoothness, comfort, safety, and reliability are legendary. But I found that in driving it, I was very much isolated from the driving experience. It is, in my humble opinion, the car that a Buick buyer would expect.

The dashboard is backlit in an odd pale green light. This is about the only departure from ultra-conservative that the Camry's interior makes. The gauges sometimes get washed out a bit in certain lighting conditions but overall the gauges and controls are well placed, well designed and have the good quality feel that Toyota buyers expect. The seats are Goldilocks perfect. Not too hard, not to soft, just right. No real side bolstering but if you are driving a Camry, you are probably not going 9/10ths on that cloverleaf.

It's very quiet. The Camry shares a platform with the Lexus ES and it is apparent from the sound level while driving.

Wheels and tires are a sensibly sized 15" which hurts so much less at the tire store when replacement is due.

The 160hp 2.4 liter 4 cylinder responds very well. If this is a "drive by wire" engine, it is the best I've driven. Toyota engineers really spent a lot of time developing the power curve on this engine. It works smoothly and well accelerating the car as well as anything in it's class even if it does lack the feel and character of it's competition.

There's a lot of body roll in conering. It never gives you that feeling that it's too soft to control adequately in an emegency though. Likewise it does not encourage drivers to pitch it into a corner hard.

The Nissan Altima and Mazda 6 are more interesting cars with a sportier bend to them. They lack the Toyota's well earned reputation though.

I believe that priced correctly, Toyota could easily grab a few bits from the ES350 bin and make an ES240 out of the Camry that would make quite a few entry level luxury car buyers very happy.
Amount Paid (US$): 16000
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2005
Model and Options: LE Automatic