ROAD TEST: Toyota Camry V6 Undistinguished addition to saloon range

Press, 28 July 1989, Page 37

ROAD TEST: Toyota Camry V6 Undistinguished addition to saloon range

By

PETER GREENSLADE

PROBABLY, IT ALL stems from those far-off days before Toyota got its act together. It was a time when Japan’s big carmaker was spewing out lines of less than distinguished cars. The front-drive Corollas and Coronas changed all that, but Japan’s No. 1 carmaker has not entirely riddled itself of its old image. What is more, Toyota New Zealand gives the appearance of being just as enthusiastic about the latest undistinguished line as I remember the old distributor was about the Toyota Crown, unleashed on the motoring press corps at Rotorua years ago. Under New Zealand’s new automative regime, firms such as Toyota can assemble cars and more or less import freely the models not tacked together in this country to round off their ranges. The Johsonville-based company has elected to import completely built up V 6 Camrys and Cressidas at the rate of 50 a month to round off the saloon car range. As Toyota is New Zealand’s best-selling brand, thanks to the Corolla and Corona ranges, about 300 Camrys and Cressidas do not amount to much each year, but the fact is that most European car importers would be very happy if they could muster that number of buyers for their respective brands.

Automotive high technology

The Camry-didn’t impress me greatly when I sampled it on the North Island press launch last March. Recently, I’ve got to know it a : little better, and although I can appreciate its obvious better qualities now, I’m afraid it is not the sort of car that would have led me to have left home and mother when I was footloose and fancy free. The Camry looks like what I imagine was one of the drawings BMW chucked in the wastepaper basket when the earlier 5 Series design concepts were being considered. It is not a bad looking car if you happen to be into straight up and down saloons for betterheeled families, but it is certainly not one that is going to set your street alight. It is a bland sort of car, reminiscent of a model of the older 5 Series BMW. Perhaps I should explain that in my book a model is, at best, a poor imitation of the real thing. But don't be dismayed about the Camry. Under that bright and shiny metallic overcoat reposes some of the better Japanese automotive high technology. At present I believe it is far too good for the package and, as I believe the pverage New Zealand car shopper continues to be attracted by the plumage rather than the gut, I’m not too sanguine about the Camry’s future.

Basically, the gut of a Camry comprises a transversely mounted 24-valve V 6 engine with four belt-driven camshafts and multipoint fuel injection. It subsists on 91 octane unleaded petrol and is not the sort of power unit one is likely to encounter often, even during a week’s study tour of exotic cars. This jewel has a capacity of 2507 cu cm and disappointingly develops a mere 117 kW at 5600 rev/min and produces peak torque of 215 Nm at 4400 rev/ min.

Torque below expectations

Those figures are disappointing, particularly that for power output, while the toruqe figure does not come up to expectations on the road. Even in Europe where, even though authority regards fast cars more benevolently, one would be more prone to paper one’s living room with speeding tickets with a quad-cam car, but one cannot help wondering whether a Camry would even qualify. Of course, it would, but there would be nothing exciting in the way it would go about it. I suppose it all boils down to an absence of European character. After all, Rolls-Royce owners buy prestige and social status. They put a big premium on luxury and comfort. A Ferrari might cost more, but its owner gets kicks from travelling everywhere at 200km/h and not with sublime comfort, although safety is at an entirely acceptable level. To me, at least, the Camry is neither fish nor fowl and one can forget about good red meat. If the V 6 engine is deceptively smooth, the Camry’s automatic transmission is out of this world, it is so good. The quad-cam engine is matched with an electronicallycontrolled four-speed overdrive transmission with power and economy modes. This is a system that even a resourceful driver will find difficult to catch out. Even in response to minor questions it won’t trip up and when the going gets serious it is an event when very occasionally it is, in fact, caught out. This was a transmission that I would advise all other manufacturers, who have ambitions towards building better cars, to copy — and that advice applies equally to the European high performance luxury carmakers. Although the macho engine does not come up to expectations in practice, allied to the transmission, it is part of one of the. best drive trains it has been my delight to get to know. It is a pity that I can’t say the same thing about the all-depend-ent suspension, comprising MacPherson struts all round with stabiliser bars and gas-filled hydraulic shock absorbers, that at the rear being located by independent dual links. The Camry is on 5.5JJ x 15

alloy wheels fitted with 195/60 VR 15 tyres. The wheels, with their low profile tyres, stick to the road as well as anything else, but in spite of its engine-speed-sensitive, power-assisted rack and pinion steering, the Camry feels ponderous when driven in the manner to which it should be accustomed. Unlike the older 5 Series BMW, it assumes rather exaggerated roll angles in corners and tends to run wide or oversteer, although not to excess. I found the steering just too light; an involuntary shudder could possibly move the car across the road quite substantially, yet it is amazingly stable running in a straight line. On the regular test circuit I found it no more outstanding than at least a dozen other similarly priced cars. In fact, I’m almost tempted to say that such cars as some of the lesser Renaults, Alfa Romeos, Citroens, Peugeots and so on, have evidently been conceived, designed and developed with more passion than the Camry. So too have the Corolla and Corona. The thing that struck me as I drove it over the test course was not so much the fiery fervour with which it got on with its job, but the disarming ease with which it accomplished the task. Certainly it was not with the expedition that I expected of a car of such specification, although I must admit that the run was accomplished with no sweat — either to the driver or to the Camry. In itself the Camry feels a taut, well-braced chassis and solid enough, to boot. The structural joints have been reinforced, providing excellent body rigidity and very little body-generated vibration and noise. In fact, this is a car that implacably rolls along in almost uncanny silence.

Comprehensive instrumentation

Inside there is almost everything that opens and shuts, including a six-way adjustable driving seat, automatic air-condition-ing, AM/FM electronic radio/ cassette with four speakers, headrests adjustable in the four ways in front and integral in the 60/40 split folding rear seat, a comprehensive illumination system for ease of entry at night, comprehensive instrumentation, power-operated windows and central door locking. It is all there and the package is gift-wrapped in quality carpet, upholstery and trim. For people who wish to get from A to B in totally unflurried comfort a V 6 Camry could be the answer at $45,000, but somehow I don't think it would go down all that well with those who like a little spice In their motoring diet. From where I sit, there are some Europeans which do it all so much better and for less money.