2018 Camry and Camry Hybrid Official Thread

What happened to a lot of GM marques like Oldsmobile is that people weren't growing into them, and the existing customers were dying out of them.

 

if they change the camry too radically, the same might happen.

 

Toyota has had a problem with new cars for younger buyers. We can put it down to 3 things

Handling
Looks
Infotainment.

Often, like happened to me, I got a used toyota, for cost reasons while in college, but then when they have a decent paying job they choose something else. For me it was lexus (one car in between), then I traded down to a prius.

Infotainment is still behind in the new camry but its a lot better than the 2010 prius I bought, and changed out the head set.
Looks, well, still not good but at least different, I have no idea who it really appeals to. The fusion seemed to be designed well for looks, but not for packaging in the segment. This at least brings the camry closer.
Handling - It appears to now be good enough to not be a reason not to buy the camry. ;-)

Toyota says that the current gen Camry SE has been attracting younger (compared to the traditional 57 yo median age before) drivers.

On the hybrid, car and driver seemed to say the braking software is much improved from the previous version. They say the suspension is tuned differently and for them not as well. Let's face it, hybrid buyers skew older, and they probably tuned the suspension for a 60 year old driver. IMHO that is probably the right thing in the LE hybrid. The SE hybrid though? Wth. Why don't they allow you to buy lithium and 16" tires? They should allow people to buy the better handling hybrid without the stuff that hurts fuel economy, and grr handling. Maybe even let them buy a 1.4 kwh lithium batter in that upgrade (it would fit, it's smaller than the 1.5 kwh nimh in there now), that is the size in the fusion. The fusion hybrid although slower from a start, feels more responsive while driving. Its probably because of the more powerful battery, which allows software to be more responsive, without overheating. Still that is a minor quibble based simply on the preliminary information, which is overwelmingly positive.

Anyway. Good Job Akio Toyoda. You have not quite made the camry fun to drive which is hard in one generation, but it looks like it is a lot more fun and efficient than the camry before. This is definitely a step in the right direction with the new management.

 

agreed. if the next hycam isn't squishy and luxurious like the present one, these 60+ year olds may be looking around.

 

Note that improved suspension designs can give a composed, comfortable ride while also improving handling.

 

My friends called me old for buying a Matrix.

There is the Avalon hybrid for them.

 

i would go for it, but my wife thinks it's too big. i wonder what it will get for mpg's with the new system.

 

It's larger than the European 7th-generation version, being contemporaneous with that model. (Note that the European 7th-gen was just a facelift of the 6th-gen, which we got in the US.) It's closer when compared to the 8th-gen, though, but the US car is still bigger. And then there's the Škoda Superb, which isn't as long, but is quite a bit wider, having a larger on-road footprint as a result.

I'll list the top-three midsize transverse engined models in Europe (per this site, Passat, Superb, Mondeo - the only three in the top 100) and the US (per this site, Camry, Accord, and Altima), with their counterparts in the other region (so that means the US Passat (which is both the Euro Passat and the Superb's counterpart), the Fusion, the Avensis, and the Renault Talisman (that's seriously as close as I can get to an Altima counterpart), with no real Accord counterpart any more (Honda's closest offerings are the Civic and the CR-V, but I'll post the previous Euro Accord)) and selected generations other than current.

Body styles will be the default body style - that means sedans, or for the Superb and Mondeo, liftbacks, and I'll use base models (so height may be slightly higher than high efficiency models, length may be slightly shorter). Width will not include mirrors, as is standard.

Vehicles will be sorted in decreasing overall length.

	Model	Chassis	Region	Length	Wheelbase	Width	Height
1	2017 Honda Accord	CR2/3	US	4890 mm (192.5")	2776 mm (109.3")	1849 mm (72.8")	1466 mm (57.7")
2	2018 Toyota Camry	XV70	US	4879 mm (192.1")	2824 mm (111.2")	1839 mm (72.4")	1445 mm (56.9")
3	2017 Volkswagen Passat	NMS	US	4875 mm (191.9")	2803 mm (110.4")	1834 mm (72.2")	1487 mm (58.5")
4	2017 Nissan Altima	L33	US	4874 mm (191.9")	2776 mm (109.3")	1829 mm (72.0")	1468 mm (57.8")
5	2017 Ford Mondeo	CD391	Euro	4871 mm (191.8")	2850 mm (112.2")	1852 mm (72.9")	1482 mm (58.3")
6	2017 Ford Fusion	CD391	US	4871 mm (191.8")	2850 mm (112.2")	1852 mm (72.9")	1478 mm (58.2")
7	2017 Volkswagen Passat	B8	Euro	4866 mm (191.6")	2791 mm (109.9")	1832 mm (72.1")	1456 mm (57.3")
8	2017 Škoda Superb	B8	Euro	4861 mm (191.4")	2841 mm (111.9")	1864 mm (73.4")	1468 mm (57.8")
9	2017 Renault Talisman		Euro	4849 mm (190.9")	2809 mm (110.6")	1868 mm (73.5")	1463 mm (57.6")
10	2017 Toyota Camry	XV50	US	4849 mm (190.9")	2776 mm (109.3")	1821 mm (71.7")	1471 mm (57.9")
11	2011 Volkswagen Passat	B7	Euro	4769 mm (187.8")	2712 mm (106.8")	1820 mm (71.7")	1470 mm (57.9")
12	2015 Honda Accord	CU1/2/3	Euro	4725 mm (186.0")	2705 mm (106.5")	1840 mm (72.4")	1440 mm (56.7")

All dimensions for the Fusion except for height were copied from the Mondeo, as the inch conversions were the same on the Ford US site.

 

For those of you that can read Japanese, the 2018 Camry is now up on toyota.jp at:

トヨタ カムリ | トヨタ自動車WEBサイト

A "Beautiful Monster" ...

 

Yesterday I went deeper in the japanese site and found the Camry price: from 3.3Myen. That's 35% up against the 4gen HV Prius (starting 2.4Kyen).

 

base models each?

 

Yes, prices "starting from".

 

More Japan Camry info:

2018 Toyota Camry Debuts In Japan, Hybrid Only - Auto News - Carlist.my

The article states that the Japan Camry has the following fuel efficiency specs:

"33.4 km/L for the entry-level Camry X" Is this likely the LE here in the US?

"Camry G and G Leather return 28.4 km/L due to the vehicle's weight" Are these likely the SE and XLE here in the US?

These fuel efficiency numbers are greater than the US EPA estimates by a wide margin.

33.4 km/L = 78.5 miles/gallon(US)

28.4 km/L = 66.8 miles/gallon(US)

I'm not familiar with how fuel efficiency is estimated differently between the US and Japan. Any thoughts?

 

japan tests show way higher than here. i don't think there's a correlating percentage you can use.

 

if that holds over here, the base camry will be 32k. that's unlikely, but we'll have to wait and see.

 

Japan's tests are the easiest official ones out there.

 

2018 now on the toyota.com website:

2018 Toyota Camry Hybrid Mid-size Car | Smart tech. Bold thinking.

 

Test drove 2018 Camry LE, SE yesterday, took another sit in an LE today. Ruled it out. No go. Have to get XLE or Hybrid SE or above to get electric parking brake/Brake Hold/ Full speed radar cruise features. That plus the narrow, jutting into my hips seat cushion are deal breakers.

2018 Accord will have Sensing standard on all trim levels which has e park brake/hold/ adaptive cruise with low speed follow. Check that out in couple months.