Cars
Automotive Review: 2015 Toyota Camry
By Frank S.
Washington, editor,
AboutThatCar.com
PONTE VEDRA, Fla., –
The Toyota Camry has been
the bestselling car in the
United States for 12 years.
Ten point two million have
been sold and more than
half, 6.6 million, are still on
the road. So why change it?
We never got a definitive
answer. Explanations like
we made it more premium,
more fun to drive or more
emotional were tossed
around but that doesn’t real-
ly answer the question. That
tells what was done, not
why it was done.
A reasonable guess is that
the competition is getting
better and in an effort to
stay in front of the pack it
was decided to improve the
Toyota Camry now rather
than later when it might be
too late.
The oomph remained the
same. There was four a
cylinder-engine that made
178 horsepower and 170
pound-feet of torque. It got
25 mpg in city driving, 35
mpg on the highway and 28
mpg combined.
The V6 made 268 horse-
power and 248 pound-feet
of torque. It got 21 mpg in
the city, 31 mpg on the high-
way and 25 mpg combined.
Both engines were mated to
six speed automatic trans-
missions. The Hybrid still
put out a combined 200
horsepower generated by its
electric motor and 2.5-liter
four cylinder engine.
That is about all that went
unchanged on the 2015 Toy-
ota Camry. The automaker
made about 2000 adjust-
ments on the latest model.
All of the changes were
designed to improve the
car’s riding characteristics,
styling and its interaction
with drivers and passengers.
To improve the 2015
Camry’s ride, Toyota rein-
forced the body structure
with more spot wells to bet-
ter rigidity. They stiffened
the suspension and widened
the track to get more
responsive handling.
On short test routes here
the car did handle better,
turn-ins were crisper and the
suspension seemed sturdier.
It was hard to tell whether
center stack, they installed a
4.2-inch
TFT
screen
between the gauges and
they installed some soft
touch surfaces on the dash.
A quick tactile test revealed
that they could have been
softer but it was a step in the
The automaker made about
2000 adjustments on the latest
model
resistance to noise, vibra-
tion and harshness had been
improved; in this part of the
country the roads were
smooth, elevation was non-
existent and surfaces were
pretty homogenous.
Toyota also wanted a
Camry that was more
expressive. So they gave the
2015 edition a new bumper
and an attention grabbing
grille. The character line
was more prominent and
extended from the front
fender flares through the
doors and through the rear
quarter panels.
The car did look good and
the design was expressive;
that was something really
new for any Toyota.
It would be foolish to
make these sorts of changes
to the substructure and to
the exterior of the Camry
without improving the inte-
rior. Designers restyled the
right direction. And as with
any competent mid-size
sedan, the back seat was
spacious and capable of car-
rying average size adults in
comfort.
Toyota upped the ante in
terms of equipment too. The
2015 Camry can be outfitted
with a wireless charging
system for cell phones.
It also tightened the seals
on windows and doors and
increased insulation to
make an already quiet
Camry quieter for 2015. It
worked; we never heard the
engine or the transmission
during normal surface street
driving; no matter what trim
line we tested, all that was
heard was the sound of the
car cutting through the
wind.
There are five versions of
the 2015 Toyota Camry
including the hybrid. The
LE with a four-cylinder
2015 Toyota Camry
engine starts at $22,970, the
SE starts at $23,840 with a
four cylinder engine, the
XLE with a four cylinder
starts at $26,150 and the
XSE with a four cylinder
engine starts at $26,150.
Only the XLE and XSE can
be equipped with the six
cylinder engine and they
both start at $31,370.
The Hybrid comes in
three trim lines the LE, the
SE and the XLE. Starting
prices are $26,790, $27,995
and $29,980 respectively.
Prices do not include the
$825
freight
charge.
With the new Camry, Toy-
ota has served notice that it
is becoming more aggres-
sive in terms of styling,
engineering and equipment.
That could be bad news for
its competitors.
V Y Peterson Treads
Tough Terrain in New Book
This extraordinary collection of poetry
and fictional prose, chronicles the
realities and disparities of divorce,
relationships and mental illness, within
communities of color.
Portland author V.Y. Peterson hopes,
with her work, to acknowledge the
adversities that are present in
communities of color, that are
impacting life everyday such as: AIDS,
divorce, incarceration and mental
illness. She has written countless plays,
poems and short stories, that outline
her desires for a greater America.
Fruits of Our Labor: MY Words, MY Harvest can be purchased at
authorhouse.com, Broadway Books in Portland and amazon.com.
February 18, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 9