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Jokes aside looks fine but I have no reason at all to even look at one in passing, throw the 3cyl and a manual trans in and then I would stop and look.
Update for anyone interested. I got to do a couple of hours of driving today on some terrible Los Angeles roads/highways and came away with two additional thoughts that didn't surface initially...
1) the XSE suspension is a lot rougher than I originally thought (I believe someone commented about this regarding the last gen). There's a big section of the 405 highway here that cuts through the western side of the city. It's only been about 15-ish years since it was last overhauled, but it drives like a northern highway damaged from frost heaves. Bump-bump-bump-bump-bump... The XSE didn't love that, nor any of the city streets filled with potholes. This is definitely not as tight, nor as luxurious in terms of driving feel, as the ES (especially the ones with the upgraded F Sport suspension).
2) the dynamic or adaptive cruise control -- which adds Traffic Jam Assist this year with the Premium Plus package -- works impressively well. Dynamic cruise control combines a radar cruise control system with lane centering to essentially let the vehicle drive itself as long as you are holding the wheel and paying attention. It appears to work at all speeds, and can be turned off in favor of a standard cruise control. Lane centering can also be toggled on and off. Traffic Jam Assist, for stop-and-go traffic, works below 25mph and adds the ability to go hands-free to the equation. BUT it requires a subscription and uses a camera to monitor drivers. There's an option to opt in or out of camera recording, but I believe you need to opt in to use the feature fully. According to Toyota, it "only records during certain situations, such as a vehicle crash." Which, based on some recent controversies about digital vehicle monitoring, I'm not sure if I trust.
But even without TJAssist fully engaged, the dynamic cruise control seems to function at both stop-and-go and highway speeds. You just need to keep your hands on the wheel. Overall, the system was generally excellent, accurate, and safe, even when other vehicles cut in front of me. It's definitely a more relaxing way to commute in heavy and moderate traffic.
The only two flaws I noticed, which are semi-related, involve accelerating back up to speed when traffic opens up. It seems a little slow to react if you're going from, say, 10mph to 40mph or above. It seems to get stuck of sorts in the mid-20s, which makes me wonder if this is somehow related to the system turning Traffic Jam Assist on and off as the system reaches its maximum 25mph speed. Still, it's not that hard to goose the accelerator pedal and then let the system take back over if you want.
So how does it actually drive? Assist systems like that on mainstream cars are 10-15 years behind so don't matter as much for a review IMO plus they have nothing to do with how the car drives
Yes the shiny plastic is a Toyota play to force upgrades to their Lexus equivalent for less shiny plastic. Same thing as omitting rear sun shades for their RAV and Camry - so you’d go for the NX and ES.
Its actually hilarious as it doesn’t cost more to make less shiny plastic.
So how does it actually drive? Assist systems like that on mainstream cars are 10-15 years behind so don't matter as much for a review IMO plus they have nothing to do with how the car drives
Are you asking how the assist works, or how the car drives, overall? The review linked above in this thread's first post covers my first impressions driving experience.
The comment you replied to was intended to be supplementary.
Are you asking how the assist works, or how the car drives, overall? The review linked above in this thread's first post covers my first impressions driving experience.
The comment you replied to was intended to be supplementary.
The actual driving, body response, suspension response, steering, damping etc....the Camry is usually neutral/stiff with exaggerated initial turn in and non-linear response.
The pre-touch-screen-after-thought for the last gen is actually a better design. They could have just made the screen have smaller bezel instead of tacking on a separate screen. In fact, if Toyota weren't so lazy - it's where the current design is with the GX, Land Crusier etc.
04-18-24, 05:46 PM
