New Toyota Camry prototype prototype



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The Toyota Camry has not been seen at British dealerships since 2004, when rising diesel has drawn attention to the global gasoline-based sedan and that the Japanese automaker has chose to focus on the Avensis of the European market. Now the name Camry is about to make a comeback to British dealers – thanks, ironically, to the current decline in diesel sales. And Auto Express had a taste of a prototype, before sales from the first quarter of 2019.

The first thing you'll notice about the Camry is that it's not at all a direct successor to Avensis (which has officially stopped). Toyota's British rival for the Ford Mondeo and Insignia Vauxhall had remained about the same size throughout his life, but the Camry is a bigger beast. Indeed, at 4,885 mm, it is longer than the already huge Ford – a reflection of the fact that this model is a huge seller in the United States, where it has to compete with other "midsize sedans" .

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The new model is based on the same Toyota New Global Architecture – indeed, a set of chbadis components and common parts that we have already experienced in everything from the current Prius at the C-HR crossover. In simple terms, this means that the new Camry is a front-drive sedan with MacPherson struts in the front and a double-wishbone forks at the rear.

It's also a hybrid – and only a hybrid, if you're a European customer. The American Camrys are equipped with a V6 or 2.5-liter four-cylinder petrol engine, but we are only offered the same 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine as part of an electrified configuration producing 215 horses – enough, according to Toyota, for a 0-62 mph The time of 8.3 seconds and a top speed of 112 mph.

The European Camry had a pinch and a tuck in the right places on its American cousins ​​- better quality cabin materials, different settings for power steering, and readjusted suspension, including what the driver did. Chief Engineer of the car, Masato Katsumata, calls it "more expensive dampers".

Toyota believes that greater recognition of hybrid powertrains could entice more buyers to consider the Camry for reasons of efficiency. to be in the stadium for the clbad. Engineers predict that the official average consumption could be about 66mpg, with CO2 emissions of 100g / km – although this still needs to be subjected to the more severe WLTP economy tests.

The compromise for this frugality of the Toyota hybrids of the past has tended to be a boring driving experience quite sterile, but the Camry is further evidence that the company is eating away at this compromise. This is not the last word in terms of driver involvement, but on a short distance on mixed roads near Barcelona, ​​the Camry is comfortable and refined, and its size and weight (about 1, 7 ton) make it less light, such as a punchy petrol 508, which is predictable enough for you to rely on in the corners.

The steering has a satisfactory weight, and it responds in a fast and linear way when you move away from everything straight. And body control is strong for a car that does a good job of composing imperfections of the road; The powertrain still has the potential to drive up the rotational speed if you suddenly need it to go from the front – but even this is less common than the Toyota hybrids of yesteryear. . At constant 70 mph, you'll notice that the gauge on the left side of the dashboard drops to "Eco" to indicate that the gas engine has been turned off – and the way the system is able to send it back in is incredibly smooth. Even when the engine is driving at a highway speed, it is not invasive and the road noise is also well suppressed.

The wheelbase of the Toyota is 2,825 mm – longer than that of the Insignia but 25 mm on a Mondeo. In practice, there is room for four people six feet in a reasonable comfort, with lots of knees and free height.

The boot is decent in size, with 524 liters (a hatch Mondeo manages 541). The Camry is a sedan, not a sedan, so even if you lower the rear seats, the size of the article might well be limited by opening in the cargo bay. Moreover, no real estate version of the car is planned; Potential sales are not sufficient to justify the development bill.

Toyota is still evaluating the final specifications, but given the company's modest targets for Camry sales in the UK, we expect high-end editions. This could mean an interior finish similar to our test car, which had quilted double stitching materials in almost all the right places and a logical layout, so slightly heavy button in the middle of the facia. It looks like Mondeo or Insignia, although the likes of the VW Pbadat and the upcoming Peugeot 508 may offer a slightly more upscale feel.

The infotainment system of our car was being tuned, but it looks like net touch screen and responsive that could be compromised by a shiny front coating that gives off glare. It will also be interesting to see if it is ultimately a Toyota that offers at least the opportunity to the user to bypbad the company's own systems and switch to Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. There is no sign for the moment.

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