On one hand, buying a Toyota Camry is, if anything, a very sensible deed. Reliability, safety, plenty of interior space: it’s all very “left brain,” if you will. On the other hand, buying a Camry has rarely been, how you say, an emotional purchase.  But it could be. At least that’s how Toyota sees it.  Frankly, the way we see it, any time you’re spending five figures for anything, we think you should be at least a little emotional about it. So we welcome the many changes Toyota has made to its perennial best-seller for 2015 (some 2,000 of the car’s 6,000 parts are new), most of which were not made to help customers sleep better at night—the current car does that just fine—but to get customers excited to see one in their driveway when they wake up.  So do they? We went to the press launch for the new Camry in Hawaii to find out.  First off, what’s this? Is that style? Why, yes. Photos perhaps overemphasize the big grille, but the Camry’s more elegant body—1.7 inches longer than last year—impart a sense of grace it hasn’t had since the 1992—1996 Camry, which until now has been touted as the best-looking Camry in its 30-year history. Swoopy new headlamps and, on some models, LED hash marks running down their cheeks add a bit of edge. The rear styling is vastly cleaner than before, and includes a tasteful spoiler on certain models.  New for ’15 is an XSE model wearing monochromatic paint, blackout exterior details, and sexy 18-inch wheels (compared to 16-inch steel wheels/covers on LE models and 17-inchers on LE and SE models). If there’s a weak spot in the design, it’s the C-pillar garnish that pretends to be a window but isn’t. All told, while it may not look quite as harmonious as the gorgeous Mazda 6, it’s a huge step away from the contrived styling of the outgoing model and almost approaches beautiful.  Nearly every interior surface with which the driver or passengers interact has been changed—nothing as radical as the exterior redo, but the upgrades are welcome. The seats place the driver nice and high, and feature classy contrasting stitching, and a bit more soft (or soft-ish) touch stuff is found on the dash and door panels. Color schemes range from rental-grade grays for the appliance-like LE to sportier and more metallic with the SE to dark and intense with the aforementioned XSE, with its black leatherette/faux suede upholstery and red stitching. The XLE model continues as the most luxurious Camry, with leather seats and faux wood. The latter two models also get rear seat air vents and dual zone climate controls inside, as well as LED low- and high beam headlamps.  The gauges are also new, and the touch-screens are larger for the app-based EnTune infotainment systems on XSE and XLE V-6 models (7.0 inches vs 6.1 on the rest), which also get wireless charging ports behind a door in the dashboard for compatible handheld devices. Safety options come in the form of pre-collision system, automatic high beams, and blind spot monitor with rear cross traffic alert.  Under the skin, the biggest changes involve retuning the Camry’s shocks and springs for increased responsiveness without killing the creamy ride quality for which the Camry is known. On the mostly benign roads, it proved more responsive to inputs and less tippy in corners than their predecessors, with the XSE model aspiring to be somewhat fun (though, honestly, it doesn’t quite get there). That model’s brakes in particular are beautifully tuned, with crisp initial bite and a linear response.  Steering is also better than before, with the XSE model touting the most Germanic feel (i.e.: with a bit of heft and a bit of tactility through the wheel). And all models, including the hybrid, seem even quieter than the cars that came before them. That latter point is no surprise, given the added structural reinforcements and the insulating properties of the soft-touch interior bits.  While so much of the Camry is new, the powertrains are pretty much carried over from the outgoing models. The standard 2.5-liter inline four-cylinder makes acceptable power—178 hp and 170 lb-ft of torque—though you’ll need to wind it out pretty good to access it. With 268 hp and 248 lb-ft of torque, the 3.5-liter V-6 available in XLE and XSE models is far more powerful, but its coarseness at high revs makes it none too enjoyable to access that power. Expect the V-6 to hit 60 mph in about 6.5 seconds, with the four-banger taking about a second or longer to do the same trick.  Not surprisingly, since nothing has really changed under the hood, EPA fuel economy estimates remain the same as 2014, at 25 mpg city/35 mpg highway for the four-cylinder, and 21/31 for the V-6; hybrid models come in at 43 mpg city/39 highway for the LE trim, and 40/38 for XLE/SE trim levels.  At $23,895 and $24,665, respectively, Camry LE and SE models come in at virtually the same price as their predecessors, while the $26,975 XLE brings about $1,200 more equipment into 2015 for just $340 more than before. The XSE is priced exactly the same as the XLE. And as for the hybrid, expect to see MSRPs between $27,615 and $30,805, before options are added.  In spite of its innocuous appearance (or perhaps because of it) the Camry has been the best-selling car in America for the last 12 years. Now, after driving the quieter, more comfortable and more elegantly styled 2015 model, we’d say that the Camry’s sales crown seems as secure as ever. And alas, now it has something to offer to stimulate both sides of your brain.
Toyota has a well-earned reputation for building reliable, but bland cars that sell fast and in large quantities. But with the new generation of it's best-selling Camry, have they finally added emotion to the mix?