You have to applaud Toyota’s derring-do. The company CEO, whose name just happens to be on the headquarters building, has ordered his lieutenants to shake up the franchise midsize sedan. Leaden with a (deserved) sand-beige image, the Camry needed some invigoration and sex appeal, especially as more families were seen migrating from sedans to SUVs.
For 15 years, Toyota engineers have taken incremental, calculated risks while maintaining the core values that have kept the Camry atop the sales heap. Why change when the best-selling flavor of ice cream is vanilla, executives would parrot.
But for 2018, those risk-averse days are gone. Example one is the Camry’s daring new sheetmetal. Well, Toyota thinks it’s daring; buyers will judge for themselves how much you can spice up a family sedan. Toyota also is hanging on to an optional V-6 while most competitors commit to inline-fours. On top of that, Toyota lowered the Camry roof and seats by an inch, impairing a driver’s view over or through traffic and making it harder for gran and gramps to fall into and climb out of their new ride.
Who are these guys, and what other crazy risks have they taken? Have they forgotten the core competencies that everyone has affixed to the Camry nameplate? Curl up with a bowl of raspberry fudge gelato, friend, and you’ll find out.
More on the 2018 Toyota Camry:
- The 2018 Toyota Camry Spotters Guide
- 2018 Toyota Camry Prototype Drive Review: Tectonic Shift
- 11 Cool Facts About the 2018 Toyota Camry
- 2018 Toyota Camry Design Analysis: Camry Carrozzeria
Cabin and Cockpit
Moving to the longer-wheelbase TNGA architecture somehow made the Camry fractionally smaller inside. Rear legroom and shoulder room both lose 0.9 inch, and front headroom drops about a half-inch. It still feels big, open, and airy with excellent outward visibility, thanks to the lowered beltline. Gas-engine Camrys lose a negligible 0.3 cubic foot of trunk space, but the Hybrids gain 2.0 cubes and a 60/40 split-folding seat, thanks to banishing the battery to below the rear seat.
The primary and secondary controls are blessedly simple, with knobs and buttons placed right where you expect them (a task frustratingly missing from many automakers’ to-do lists). For you audiophiles, a fancy 800-watt nine-speaker JBL sound system boasts special circuitry that somehow divines which bits and bytes got cut while Pandora, Spotify, or XM/Sirius were compressing your jams, filling them back in to provide closer to CD-quality streamed music. Special A-pillar-mounted “horn tweeters” help to brighten and distinguish the lyrics and cymbals from the thumping bass emanating from the 10.1-inch subwoofer in the rear package shelf.
One user-interfacepalm: No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto availability. Toyota is feuding with both software companies for refusing to fully disclose the workings and security protocols of their back-end programming—so it developed its own app, called Scout GPS. It works in conjunction with Toyota’s Entune app to bring phone-based navigation along with the typical music streaming, news, stock, sports, and other apps to lower-level infotainment systems. (Top trims get embedded navigation.) The shortcomings: Your phone must be tethered via both Bluetooth and the cord and needs the Scout app live on the screen; there’s no easy way to push an address from your phone to Scout. It’s also a subscription service (free for three years then $25 per year).
Powertrain
Here’s what most Camry buyers need to know about the engines: The all-new “Dynamic Force” 2.5-liter makes 25 more horses and 14 more lb-ft of torque than the old one while boosting EPA econ by 4/6 mpg city/highway. (Four-cylinder XSEs get an extra 3 hp and 2 lb-ft on top of these increases, and the lightly contented base L model gets an additional 1/2 mpg city/highway.)
The redesigned 3.5-liter V-6 adds 33 horses and 19 lb-ft while boosting mpg by 1 city, and 2 or 3 on the highway. The Camry Hybrid’s full-Atkinson-cycle riff on the new 2.5-liter contributes 20 more horsepower and 7 more lb-ft than the old 2.5, offsetting a drop in electric motor output of 23 hp and 50 lb-ft. Through the miracle of inscrutable hybrid math, total system output somehow still rises 8 hp to 208, and EPA economy leaps from 40–42/37–38 city/highway to 44–51/47–53 city/highway (with the LE earning the higher numbers, thanks to a battery chemistry upgrade to lithium-ion). Oh, and a new four-point mounting system better isolates engine vibrations.
Detail freaks might be interested to know that these improvements are attributable to D-4 (direct and port) injection, a healthy boost in compression ratio from 10.4:1 to 13.0:1 for the 2.5, 10.8:1 to 11.8:1 for the V-6, and 12.5:1 to 14.0:1 for the hybrid 2.5. (Note that late closing of the intake valves means no air/fuel mixture is ever fully compressed by a factor of 14, but the combustion products always expand that much.) Other power/efficiency boosters include variable control of the oil and coolant systems and wide-range electric actuation of the intake-valve variable timing on the 2.5-liter gas and hybrid engines. The V-6 gets wider-range hydraulic control of its intake cams to permit occasional Atkinson-cycle operation.
Upgrading from six to eight transmission ratios means first gear now provides the engine about 18 percent better leverage for lustier launches, and the top gear ratio down-speeds the engine by 17 or 24 percent (I-4 or V-6), earning crucial EPA highway points. Another fuel-sipping feature is complete torque-converter lockup in all but first gear. Paddle shifters come on SE, XSE, XSE V6 and SE Hybrid models, with the latter’s coaxing six “gear” ratios from the Hybrid’s CVT. When in Sport mode, the SE Hybrid provides extra electric assist, hastening acceleration relative to the LE Hybrid. Each engine sounds great when working hard, and all variants should zoom to 60 mph at least a few tenths quicker than their predecessors.
Our biggest powertrain complaint is with the eight-speed’s calibration. It’s plenty smooth when driven gently, but there’s a “Sport” button on XLE, XSE, and V6 models, and there’s an S shifter gate next to the D position on the shifters. These features should sense aggressive driving and hold lower gears through high-g corners and downshift while braking for a curve, but they don’t. Another tranny gripe: Mash the gas to pass on a two-lane road with either engine, and there’s a split-second of contemplation then a swap to an intermediate gear and finally a tardy arrival in the optimal gear. Those Hybrid SE “gears” are strange, too. During wide-open throttle runs, hitting the (+) paddle has little noticeable effect. Pulling the (-) paddle for a “downshift” convincingly increases engine noise but without much deceleration or regen braking.
Ride & Handling
Camrys have been known for comfortable rides, but nimble handling typically has been way down the engineers’ kaizen wish list. Yet it’s the eighth-gen Camry’s biggest improvement. This might be the best-riding and -handling Camry to date, thanks to its lower body, 1.9-inch wheelbase stretch, almost inch-broader rear track, and new control-arm and toe-link rear suspension. (Those who cut and paste the press kit will call them “double wishbones,” but technically they are not.)
Cornering is flat and unflappable with good neutral balance in all variants. Mild efforts at hooning the rear loose with late braking and steering wheel flicks are stonewalled, and careful steering into turns evinces no plowing understeer. I occasionally had to remind myself that I was, indeed, driving a Toyota product.
The electric steering assist expunges any record of road grip levels (as on nearly every other midsize sedan), but effort levels are appropriate, and the ratio feels natural, never quickening or slowing unexpectedly as the wheel is turned. Even the LE Hybrid’s tall-wall 205/65R16 Firestone FT140s hang on tight in the fastest curves, issuing only the faintest hint of squeal right at the limits of adhesion. Those tires are the comfiest-riding, but even the XSE V6’s 235/40R19 Michelin Primacy MXM4s manage a reasonable level of suppleness on all but the sharpest road edges. Per usual, the Camry has endless sheets of sound-deadening material to permit easy conversation at highway speeds—until those rare moments in a Camry when wide-open throttle is called for. Then the non-Hybrids wail with an aggressiveness apropos of the hot new styling.
Safety and Value
Toyota expects to ace all crash tests and safety ratings with 10 airbags and the Safety Sense P system standard on all models. The latter brings precollision braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure assist, hill-start assist, auto high-beams, and dynamic radar cruise control to every Camry. Trim levels beginning with an X get sonar parking assist, rear cross-traffic braking, blind-spot monitoring, auto-hold brakes, and an electric parking brake. Drive Start Control prevents the car from jumping forward or backward if the shifter is moved while the accelerator is accidentally depressed.
As for value, Toyota is charging for the improvements made to the Camry. A new rental-grade stripper L model starts $425 above the 2017 LE, at $24,380. The rest increase by anywhere from $930 (LE, which now gets standard 17-inch aluminum wheels) to $3,580 for the XSE V-6. The best deal is probably the LE Hybrid, where the $1,010 increase over 2017 buys that lithium-ion battery, bigger trunk, and 12-mpg EPA-combined rating bump.
Based on one day spent driving five Camrys 25–30 miles each, we’re warning Honda to bring its A+ game with the 10th-gen Accord—which also hits dealerships this fall. With this brazen, bold effort, Toyota is seriously fortifying its position as king of the midsized sedan.
| 2018 Toyota Camry | |
| BASE PRICE | $24,380-$35,835 |
| VEHICLE LAYOUT | Front-engine, FWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan |
| ENGINES | 2.5L/203-206-hp/184-186-lb-ft DOHC 16-valve I-4; 2.5L/176-hp/163-lb-ft Atkinson-cycle DOHC 16-valve I-4 plus 118-hp/149-lb-ft electric motors; 208 hp comb; 3.5L/301-hp/267-lb-ft DOHC 24-valve V-6 |
| TRANSMISSIONS | 8-speed automatic, cont. variable auto |
| CURB WEIGHT | 3,250-3,600 lb (mfr) |
| WHEELBASE | 111.2 in |
| LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT | 192.1-192.7 x 72.4 x 56.9 in |
| 0-60 MPH | 5.5-8.2 sec (MT est) |
| EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON | 22-51/32-53/26-52 mpg |
| ENERGY CONSUMPTION, CITY/HWY | 66-153/64-105 kW-hrs/100 miles |
| CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB | 0.37-0.76 lb/mile |
| ON SALE IN U.S. | July 2017 |
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