spwolf

i am impressed that mmarshal is impressed with the interior :-)

mmarshall

Well, of course, I simply call it as I see it. The old Camry, IMO, had a cost-cutting interior with a number of flimsy looking/feeling parts. That is definitely not the case with the new one....especially in the XLE trim, which, IMO, could pass for a Lexus inside. Go take a look at one yourself, and I think you will agree.

I'm not as impressed, though, with the new doors/sheet-metal, which have been made noticeably thinner and lighter. I'm not necessarily going to blame that on cost-cutting alone, though.....the new CAFE gas-mileage standards are driving a general weight-reduction in a lot of new cars.

mmarshall

Sure...anytime More coming up, as soon as the vehicles are available.

Have you seen it for yourself yet?

mmarshall

Sure...I already have one for the Veloster. It's on the review list.

I haven't reviewed the latest Beetle (but I've seen one), and I think you will like it. The ergonomics are now much better inside......and it doesn't have that silly flower-stem-holder any more. The roof is a little lower, though, so some headroom may be impacted.

scgt652

The only ones I've seen here are XLE V6s. Longo still has over 100+ of the 2011s.

Fizzboy7

A great review that will certainly be helpful to early buyers.

MM, did you not have a chance to take photos of your test car? Would love to see the non-press release stuff, as it often looks more like what we'd see on the road with our own eyes.
Thanks!

mmarshall

Longo is a well-known franchise......and has an excellent reputation. One of our most well-respected CL-members, and a very classy lady (who passed away a few years ago) worked there as a sales-rep.

mmarshall

Thanks.

I have a digital camera that seems to take good photos and uploads them onto my computer, but, for several reasons, I seem to have trouble transfering them from my laptop to the actual thread. So, in the meantime, to have at least some decent images to go with the text, I use Google-shots. Some of them are good, but not perfect.

And, except for some of the the images, you can rest-assured that none of what I actually write in the textual part of the reviews is taken from any other source. It is all my own work, my own input, and my own writing. What you see is what you get.

Sulu

I don't mean to be argumentative, but I must disagree about the body side mouldings. When I got my 2007 Camry, which did not come with body side mouldings, I ordered them from the dealer; they took about 2 months to arrive (my Camry was one of the first off the truck in early 2006). They were not well applied but I did not complain. Having spent the time, effort and money to have them installed, I was particularly conscious of how well they worked. They did not work well, nor do body side mouldings, even OEM ones, work that well, I find.

The mouldings are not always installed on the widest part of the car, as you would expect, even with OEM ones, so when you open your door the widest part of your car may still touch the car next to you. And, of course, they offer no help when you open your rear door.

Because the widest part of your car and the widest part of the car next to you are seldom at the same height, when the car next to you opens its door -- with or without mouldings -- it will touch your car metal more often than not, even if you have body side mouldings.

The only mouldings -- or bumpers -- that will help prevent your car door from dinging the car next to you, I believe, are those after-market ones that you add along the edge of the door. Ideally, car manufacturers could make the outside edges of doors flexible, i.e. add some sort of OEM moulding to the edge of the door.

When I traded in the Camry for my current 2010 Corolla, and despite the fact that my father had the dealer install body side mouldings on this 2010 Corolla (which he got a few months before me), I decide to go without body side mouldings on my Corolla. I try to be careful when I open my door in parking lots. I cannot, of course, stop others from dinging my car, but I have not found that there are any more dings, even without body side mouldings.

Sulu

Sorry, mmarshall, for forgetting to thank you for the review. Echoing others' comments, I have to say that it is nice to read a "real" review of a car -- especially a Toyota.

Nextourer

Excellent review, thanks mmarshall!

I have driven the Camry Hybrid at a press event if you wanted to compare notes. The pass-through for example is larger than before and still on the right side (the left seat no longer folds so just imagine that image you have above of the trunk and ignore the left side.

The analogue gauge is average mpg. Instant mpg is the row of LED lights (white) on the rim of the gauge (those silver "notches")

They had a Classic Silver LE and a Magnetic Grey XLE w/ Premium HDD Nav & leather/ultrasuede available for test drives. They were both pre-production versions.

joshthorsc

Great review. I also feel that the 92-96 camrys was the best generation out. I didn't like the interior feel of the last generation camryandr most of the toyota cars, but they are improving.

mmarshall

No problem with your arguement. I agree that poorly-designed or poorly-located mouldings are often not much better than having none at all......I've mentioned that several times in other threads. That's why, when I stick them on myself (which I've done a number of times, both on my own cars and as a favor for other people), I try to put them on high enough, and/or at the widest-point of the doors. Many of those that come from the factory tend to be mounted a little too low. Another problem is rear-doors, on the car next to you, that stick out a lot at the top but curve back in sharply at the bottom...they can (and sometimes do) ding you at a higher spot than the protective mouldings can reach.

The almost-foolproof solution, of course, is to have mouldings that can cover all parts of the door, but having too-many (or multiple) mouldings running down each side of the car would look ridiculous.......and I certainly don't advocate that.

mmarshall

Thanks.

Toyota management now realizes the cost of having expanded too quickly over the years......vehicle quality suffered, and also, in some cases, led to Federal safety investigations. We saw some improvement in the last new Highlander, and now we are seeing some in the new Camry. However, I was not impressed with the build-solidness or ergonomics of the new 3Gen Prius sedan. I took some criticism for that here in CAR CHAT from other CL members.....I respect their opinions, but I'm also standing by my own.

mmarshall

No problem. The best thanks I can get is if it helps other people make good car-buying decisions with their hard-earned dollars. The average person, today, spends about six months' wages on a new car......that's not chump-change.

Yes, the quality of auto reviews/write-up in the auto-press, TV shows, magazines, newspapers, and consumer publications can vary enormously. Some of them are excellent, informative, and well-done.....others amount to little more than a waste of the reader's time and/or print-space.