2007 Toyota Camry

The Toyota Camry, America's best-selling car for seven of the last eight years, has a solid reputation for quality and reliability. But it's also been considered solidly unexciting by some. Those preferring something less mainstream and commonplace in the sea of sameness have opted for something else among the many excellent choices, foreign and domestic, in today's midsize family sedan market. The Camry, like the Honda Accord, set the bar high in this competitive class.


Toyota's emphasis of the complete Camry redesign for 2007 was to not only improve it in every way, but also to infuse a little more excitement into both the way it looks and the way it drives. While styling is subjective, we think the Camry's new look is definitely more curvaceous, but still conservative. The driving dynamics are a bit more athletic, though still biased toward the soft side. One exception on both counts is the sporty SE model, which projects a stealthy aggressiveness. Another is the all-new 268-hp 3.5-liter V-6 engine, good for a 0-60 romp in the sub-7-second range.

Styling

The 2007 Camry's exterior, a departure from the upright style of previous models, shares Toyota's shapely new sedan look with its larger stablemate Avalon and upscale cousin Lexus ES. Its length is unchanged, but its wheelbase is 2.2 inches longer and both tracks 1.2 inches wider than before. This gives a more visually stable stance with the wheels pushed toward the corners. Its hood, flanks, and decklid surfaces have more complexity and character, with high-tech projector beam style headlights.


The SE, with its lower ride height on bigger wheels and tires, black honeycomb grille, smoked headlamps, and aero appendages, looks decidedly more athletic than the others. Those others are a price-leader CE, an up-market LE, a top-grade XLE, and a full Hybrid, which Toyota says boasts an impressive aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.27.


The new Camry's interior is also more modern and stylish than before. The cowl (windshield base) is pushed forward, the (two-tier) instrument panel lowered, the seatbacks slimmed, and front-seat adjustment travel increased for more real and perceived spaciousness. Larger footwells and a half-inch more legroom better accommodate back-seat occupants, and the rear seatbacks recline in XLE models. Instruments are larger, more readable and better illuminated, with a different look for each model. Most controls are easier to read and operate, storage cubbies are plentiful, and there are two 12-volt outlets in the console.