Confessions of an Import Humper

[enzl]

While I'm usually the first to jump into new product, I had, up until today, not had the pleasure (?) of tooling around in a new gen Camry...

Severe dissapointment, bordering on real issues. The interior of this 4 cyl LE was, in a word, rentalcarolicious...

Of note:

Bad plastics, everywhere.

Crooked fittings and moldings, everywhere.

And worst, a weird seam where your hand naturally grabs the door pull. Felt unfinished and potentially harmful.

Now, it looked OK, in a generic, modern way, but you can see where Toyota has cut corners. Not Nissan Altima bad, but dissappointing.

Oh, did I mention the driving experience? Not really necessary. Exactly as expected. It was quiet and gave an illusion of quality that surely kills come test drive time.

Gut reaction is the Fusion, 6 or Aura are more than competitive, back to back. The key is to get 'em into the dealerships, however. Not sure if that will happen anytime soon.

Edited September 22, 2006 by enzl

[pow]

The only decent Camry is the SE V6. The ride is bumpy enough to give an illusion of sportiness, and the engine is biblically powerful for such a car.

The Camry Hybrid seems like a nice, compromise-free green car, but it's soooooooo boring.

[Flybrian]

The Camry Hybrid seems like a nice, compromise-free green car, but it's soooooooo boring.

196502[/snapback]

Trunk space and that awful green color you may get stuck with.

[ToniCipriani]

The only decent Camry is the SE V6. The ride is bumpy enough to give an illusion of sportiness, and the engine is biblically powerful for such a car.

The Camry Hybrid seems like a nice, compromise-free green car, but it's soooooooo boring.

196502[/snapback]

But the SE is ugly though...

And yes, I've seen it in person. It is bad.

[regfootball]

Trunk space and that awful green color you may get stuck with.

196519[/snapback]

if you are a computer software or hardware engineer and work at say, seagate. I'll check the parking lot again this weekend. I alread saw one hybrid camlee being driven by (stereotyping here due to visible cues) what one would assume to be a computer scientist sort of dude.

It took me all of 5 seconds to find all the cheap plastic in the new Camry when i sat in one at the auto show back in march. the new camry interior is nothing to say much good about. one part i recall was some door insert or something made of vinyl over a backing which was pulling out of its place in the door. The vinyl had so much slack off its backing and was bound to rip open. the dash plastics adn door plastics were crappy in spots.

Edited September 22, 2006 by regfootball

[GMman]

if you are a computer software or hardware engineer and work at say, seagate.  I'll check the parking lot again this weekend. I alread saw one hybrid camlee being driven by (stereotyping here due to visible cues) what one would assume to be a computer scientist sort of dude.

It took me all of 5 seconds to find all the cheap plastic in the new Camry when i sat in one at the auto show back in march.  the new camry interior is nothing to say much good about.  one part i recall was some door insert or something made of vinyl over a backing which was pulling out of its place in the door.  The vinyl had so much slack off its backing and was bound to rip open.  the dash plastics adn door plastics were crappy in spots.

196549[/snapback]

So why are there so many meatheads out there that believe that the camry is so superior to AMERICAN cars? If you ask folks who drive those stupid looking cars why the drive them, they'll tell you because they think the quality is so much better than everything else out there.

As far as looks, the camry is just dog ass ugly. :rotflmao:

[Guest YellowJacket894]

. . .And that awful green color you may get stuck with.

Probably the worst shade of the color since Ford painted the first batch of '74 Pintos in that oh-so-loveable Baby $h! Green.

[FAPTurbo]

. . .And that awful green color you may get stuck with.

Probably the worst shade of the color since Ford painted the first batch of '74 Pintos in that oh-so-loveable Baby $h! Green.

196878[/snapback]

Yeah, but if you don't have it, how will you be able to show the world and your neighbours and friends that you care more about the environment than they do, and that their straight internal combustion engines are causing the world to degrade and it's all their fault, BUT it's not yours because you drive a Hybrid!...

Edited September 23, 2006 by Captainbooyah

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Yeah, but if you don't have it, how will you be able to show the world and your neighbours and friends that you care more about the environment than they do, and that their straight internal combustion engines are causing the world to degrade and it's all their fault, BUT it's not yours because you drive a Hybrid!... 

What? Oh. I'm sorry. I was watching The Simpsons.

[mustang84]

I've read a lot of complaints about the interior quality on the new Camrys...stuff rattling and coming loose, etc. One guy even commented something like he's seen the cost-cutting going on at Toyota since '97. It sounds like the gap is finally closing.

As much as we may not like Toyota's massive growth in the market, we do have to give them credit for getting GM and Ford where they are today in terms of quality. I doubt they would have raised their standards without the heated competition from Toyota and Honda.

Edited September 23, 2006 by mustang84

[regfootball]

hey, TOYOTA has become an American compnay, just what they always wanted......how do i know? Now they have resorted to cheapening their interiors like all the other American car comapnies have had to!

Toyota, you've finally did it!

Edited September 23, 2006 by regfootball

[Flybrian]

There has been a noticable declining in general quality with the Camry as its popularity has grown. The pre-'97 models were supurb and well-assembled. A friend of mine had 192,000 on her '94 when she finally pitched it and the materials held up very well. '97-01 models were still rather well-assembled, but anything above '02 is mediocre at best. The plastics are hard, the assembly quality is simply not at those hallowed levels, and the entire car itself was nothing short of 'merely acceptable.'

[scotthendersonfan]

I agree with the above poster. The newer Toyota's are nothing like some of the older one's which were rock solid in every way. Yes, the newer cars look better and have more gadgets but the older Toyota's were overall better because they were simple, but built very well.

If Toyota takes it's eye of the ball (which in Toyota's case, is quality), they'll be headed down from here. They need to go back to the fundamentals that got them here if they're to remain on top - i.e. simple cars, built extremely well.

[bobo]

Toyota's been taking costs out of their cars, to the benefit of their bottom line, but I find most Toyota interiors to be dreary places to be. It also provides more differentiation for Lexus, whose interiors are very inviting and top notch.